Stuart Elliot at CCNY's Lunch w/Leaders

For nearly 25 years, Stuart Elliott was the advertising columnist of The New York Times writing the weekday advertising column to a circulation of 1.8 million readers. His weekly e-mail newsletter, In Advertising, was required reading for anyone in the media and communications business. And on Thursday, March 19th, Stuart Elliott was CCNY's guest in the Ad/PR lecture series Lunch w/Leaders to an SRO crowd.

Interviewed by BIC Program Director Nancy Tag in a Q&A format, Mr. Elliott had a lively back and forth with students as he nimbly displayed his deep expertise of advertising past, present, and future.  While admitting that he's not a good forecaster of trends (he confessed that he didn't think Facebook would ever catch on with adults), he predicted that the rise in social media would create even greater opportunities for advertisers in the next five years. He advised students to study "just about everything" in order to be competitive for the industry. He also mentioned that while there are fewer "three martini lunches" than in Mad Men days, today's fast paced professionals could really use a bit more relaxation. Other topics included how to advertise to digital natives and ethical dilemmas he's faced while covering the advertising business.

For the last five years, the Lunch w/Leaders lecture series, which is co-sponsored by the CCNY AAF Club, has hosted industry powerhouses and thought-leaders such as George Lois, Michael Roth, CEO of IPG, Barri Rafferty, CEO of Ketchum North American, Keith Reinhard of DDB, Roy Eaton, Faris Yakob, among others.

Our first Lunch w/Leaders lecturer of the spring semester, Mr. Elliott received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He lives in Manhattan where he enjoys immersing himself in politics, popular culture, American history, and nostalgia, especially old advertising.