Why Wieden, Goodby haven't joined the 4As

What goes on at the 4As is hardly one of the burning issues of our time, still, it's been enjoyable to see outgoing president-CEO O. Burtch Drake (known simply as "O" to his friends—kidding!) let it all hang out and actually complain about what's wrong with the business: clients who call reviews at the drop of a hat, clients who put way too much credence in USA Today's Super Bowl ad poll, and prominent shops that just won't join. Now, following up on its coverage last week of Drake's speech to the ANA's Agency-Client Relations Forum, Ad Age asked two of those prominent shops—Wieden and Kennedy and Goodby, Silverstein—why they haven't joined, and the answer boils down to money. In Wieden's case, the shop is still stinging from its rejection by the 4As when it was a startup which was viewed as having questionable finances; for Goodby, the shop just finds the dues too damn expensive. On that note, you have to ask: if one of the main virtues of the 4As is that it lobbies on behalf of the industry, and your shop is in the industry but not a member of the 4As, won't you benefit from its efforts anyway?