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How to get featured in Ad Age

Getting featured in Ad Age: how its reporters cover agencies and brands, how to pitch news, and how its op-ed process works now that all pitches use one form.

Website
adage.com
Lead time
News: same day to a few days. Op-eds: check the timeline stated in Ad Age's submission guide.
Last verified

At a glance

Audience. Marketing, agency, and media executives who follow the advertising business closely.

  • Agencies and holding companies
  • Brand marketing and CMOs
  • Creative and campaigns
  • Media and platforms
  • Account reviews and moves
  • Marketing technology
Staff reporting
Reporters cover agencies, brands, media, and creative on defined beats, with news on account reviews, executive moves, holding company results, and campaign launches.
Contributed articles
Ad Age publishes outside op-eds in its opinion section. Since December 2025, all op-ed pitches and drafts must go through its Google submission form.
Opinion and op-eds
The opinion section takes industry perspective pieces through the submission form described in Ad Age's own how-to guide; pitches by email or direct message are no longer accepted.
Press releases
Releases are background for reporters, not copy to be republished. Pitch news directly to the reporter covering the beat.

Pitching Ad Age, step by step

  1. Read Ad Age's recent coverage of your category and identify the reporter who covers your agency, brand sector, or media topic.

  2. Pitch news with the facts up front: client, scope, budget where shareable, people, and timing.

  3. For campaigns, have creative, credits, and a strategist ready on the day you pitch.

  4. For an op-ed, read Ad Age's how-to guide first and submit only through its Google form.

  5. Keep op-eds argued and specific to the industry, with a clear point of view a marketer can act on.

How Ad Age decides what to cover

Ad Age covers the advertising business as a business. Its reporters follow agencies and holding companies, brand marketers and CMOs, media owners and platforms, and the creative work that connects them. News that moves money or people tends to lead: account reviews and wins, executive changes, holding company results, and major campaign launches.

For a company trying to get in, the question is whether the story tells the industry something it did not know. A new agency hire is news if the person is significant or the hire signals a strategy shift. A campaign is news if the brand is known, the idea is distinctive, or the business result is real.

How to pitch Ad Age

Pitch the reporter who covers your area, after reading what they have written recently. Lead with the facts. For account news, confirm the client has approved the announcement. For campaigns, send creative and credits with the pitch and offer the strategist or CMO for a conversation. For data, explain the method and sample up front.

Exclusives carry weight in a competitive trade press. If you offer one, offer it to one outlet, set the timing, and honor it.

Contributed articles and op-eds

Ad Age runs outside opinion pieces, and it changed its process in December 2025. According to its own how-to guide, all op-ed submissions must now go through a Google submission form, and pitches or drafts sent by email or direct message are no longer accepted. The guide covers the updated process, article length, and submission timeline, so read it in full before you write.

The pieces that get through are argued, specific, and useful to marketers. A sharp view on how agencies should price AI work, backed by experience, fits. A thinly disguised capabilities deck does not.

Frequently asked questions

How do I submit an op-ed to Ad Age?

Use the Google submission form linked in Ad Age’s how-to guide. Ad Age says it no longer accepts op-ed pitches or drafts by email or direct message.

Editorial coverage and op-eds are not paid placements. Advertising and sponsored content are sold separately and are distinct from the newsroom.

Who should I pitch at Ad Age for news?

The reporter who covers your beat, whether agencies, a brand sector, media, or creative. Read their recent stories first.

Agencies and brands that earn Ad Age coverage consistently tend to treat each announcement as a story with a business point, not a release. That is the discipline behind how we run media relations for marketing and media clients.

Mistakes that get pitches ignored

  • Emailing or messaging op-ed pitches to editors. Ad Age now requires the submission form.
  • Op-eds that promote your agency's services or a client's product.
  • Campaign pitches without creative, credits, or anyone available to explain the strategy.
  • Sending the same exclusive to multiple trade outlets at once.

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Profiles describe public editorial processes and are reviewed periodically. Digitize is not affiliated with Ad Age. Spot something out of date? Email [email protected].