Happy birthday, ACB

The Advertising Checking Bureau is celebrating this month the 90th anniversary of its founding. It was founded in 1917 as a service to provide newspaper tearsheets to advertising agencies as proof that their clients' ads ran; they created the co-op auditing business thirty years or so later.

"We are proud of our long standing heritage and the accomplishments of the company over the past 90 years, especially in an industry where consolidations are prevalent and corporate resilience remains unique. The cornerstone of our success rests on the provision of excellent customer service in a challenging and highly competitive business community." said Brian McShane, President ...

I worked there for several years, but don't hold that against them; they shook off that mistake and have prospered since. Among their more distinguished alumni are Rob Hand, who went on to start up a competitive service, Medianet (now TradeOne), and now is with Oracle; Steve Isaacs, who also founded a competitor, CCI; and Art Fiordaliso, now CEO of a third competitive firm, AAS.

Ninety years -- it's good to know there's something older than me.