R/GA chairman/CEO Bob Greenberg

For the past several years, almost every Boards Summit speaker has identified a need for drastic change in both the culture of advertising and in the way business is done. This year it appears that change is finally happening. On the second day of the 10th annual Boards Summit, the focus largely shifted off creative inspiration and on to changing business models. And who better to start the day than R/GA chairman and CEO Bob Greenberg, a man who has reinvented himself several times throughout his 30-year career?

Greenberg didn’t mince words with his keynote address, “The Production Model Is Dead”, predicting that more and more agencies will bring production in-house to better compete for integrated business and save money. Using several examples from recent Apple and Nike advertising, he proposed that the future of commercial advertising will be product demos mixed with metaphor.

The day continued with talks by TWBA Worldwide chief digital office Colleen DeCourcy and YouTube’s head of marketing Chris Di Cesare. Other highlights were The Lookinglass Consultancy founders Charles Day and Chris Tardio’s discussion with three producers who’ve initiated major changes in their companies, Amber Music’s Phil Mossman’s panel on new developments in music and advertising and the emotional rollercoaster that was this year’s Directors to Watch screening. The day wrapped-up with a rousing and often hilarious series of presentations from top industry figures in our “Town Hall: Envisioning the Future” session and a round of cocktails at BBDO’s Directors Lounge event.

Through it all, delegates, speakers and bloggers tweeted the day away. Check out the Boards Twitter feed for all our tweets (and re-tweets) and read what attendees had to say via the official Boards Summit hashtag: #boards09.

Check out a selection of photos below from the various sessions, the lunch with producers round tables and the BBDO Directors Lounge below.

(All photos by Stephanie Noritz)