The 4As (American Association of Advertising Agencies) has appointed Brad Mehl executive vice president-product and Missy Mans executive vice president-integration, program management & innovation.  

Both roles are new and are part of 4As CEO Justin Thomas-Copeland's ongoing makeover of the organization, refocusing the group on the development of products that bring greater value to its 600-plus members.  

Mehl brings more than two decades of leadership experience building and scaling research, events, content, data and commercial product portfolios. Most recently he was managing director, strategy and operations at Boundless Markets, the Rutherford, New Jersey-based customer insights and growth agency. 

Mans was previously with Stagwell's Colle McVoy, where she served as senior vice president of operations. There, she led enterprise initiatives spanning AI strategy, M&A integration, business transformation, and more. 

Mehl and Mans both report directly to Thomas-Copeland, who said the two executives "bring value to our members on Day 1. During this time of intense disruption across our industry, agencies are reinventing themselves faster than ever before and they expect the organizations that support them to move with the same pace, ambition and imagination. That's exactly what we're doing with these new capabilities and bringing our 4As-as-a-service strategy to life." 

Thomas-Copeland also disclosed that the organization will be releasing its first new product--4As Intelligence—on Aug. 25. Currently in beta, it's intended to be an on-demand, AI-driven platform and query service providing member agencies with quick access to the organization's proprietary research, industry studies, and other content.  

In this instance, said Thomas-Copeland, on-demand means being able to use the product anytime and anywhere, including being able to access information from the platform via phone app. "It's 4As on a screen, in the room," where and when it's needed, he said.  

4As-as-a-service is how Thomas-Copeland describes the broader modernization strategy he is implementing. “The most important brief I have given myself is to ensure the 4As has a place in our industry for the next 108 years," he said.  

Thomas-Copeland joined as CEO in May and soon hired a handful of new executives (in addition to Mehl and Mans, Sylvia Banderas, head of people, talent & upskilling and Danita Harris, director, philanthropy & partnerships, 4As Foundation). 

He's also creating new partnerships including one with New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, designed to create a pipeline to the industry for entry-level creative talent. He's looking to do similar collaborations with other groups in the entertainment world.  

The makeover is also focused on new ways of working. One example: 4As partnered with Machine Cinema to bring "GenJam," to its members. It's a creative-AI workshop that brings together the creative community with pros from AI agencies and member agencies to tackle a brief.  The first session was with McCann, the second with Mother, with more to come.