The birth of a Bay Area Interactive Group points to a rejuvenated high-tech community in San Francisco.
Designed as a trade association for interactive marketers, publishers and agencies, BIG (www.sfbig.com) has 40 corporate members who work for agencies such as Organic, Carat Interactive, Universal McCann and AKQA; tech firms like Maven Networks; media entities like Reuters, BusinessWeek Online, Google, MSN and Yahoo; and marketers such as Visa.
“With the dot-com fallout, we were just devoid of a social and networking community, and BIG seeks to re-establish that,” said Molly Parsley, marketing and public relations manager at San Francisco-based AKQA and communications co-chair of BIG.
The association’s kickoff event is set for Oct. 7 in San Francisco. The event’s Signature sponsors include 24/7 Media, Fathom Online, Google, MSN, Yahoo and ValueClick. The hospitality sponsors are Advertising.com, Atlas DMT, Reuters, Ask Jeeves and The New York Times.
Guest speakers will include CBS MarketWatch executives Larry Kramer and Scot McClernon.
