In the spirit of reconciliation, the two parties met on Wednesday 12 August 2015, with the intention of clarifying the sentiment of the ACA membership, to address any misconceptions regarding the ACA email to its members and to move forward in a positive way.
After discussion, both agreed that while the wording of the internal memo may have given the impression that the ACA, as a representative professional body, was specifically targeting AdReview, this was, in fact, not the case. Nor was there malicious intent behind it or any desire to malign the reputation of Tony Koenderman and the judges and participants of AdReview over the years.
"In our note to members, we dealt with the broadly-held feedback of member agencies towards an award concept," says ACA Chairman Mike Gendel. "There was neither a stated nor an implied snipe at Tony, whom we regard as a respected journalist and commentator on our profession. While the ACA has policies and guidelines, in regard to industry awards each agency has the freedom of choice to support any award."
AdReview has accepted the good faith of the ACA. "We accept that any apparent slur on AdReview was not intentional and that AdReview has the right to pursue any field of commercial activity it chooses," says Tony Koenderman.
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