When the IAB announced its appointment of Randall Rothenberg to its CEO post (set to replace Greg Stuart in January), a colleague and I wondered aloud about whether this could mean the always-publisher-centric org was planning on branching out to include marketers in its membership fold. Rothenberg was hired, in part, for his experience as a CMO and connections in that world.
I had the chance to chat briefly just now with IAB GM Sheryl Draizen who (as I’d expected), said the IAB would definitely not be going after corporate marketers and advertisers to extend its membership base. The AMA is the place for marketers, she added.
“It’s become increasingly more important for CMOs to understand what’s going on with interactive,” Draizen told me, and that means, she continued, the IAB needs to be there to help build bridges between interactive media and marketers.