Marketing and media · Trade
How to get featured in Adweek
How to get featured in Adweek: how its reporters cover brands and agencies, how to pitch news, and how the Adweek Voice contributor pitch form actually works.
- Website
- adweek.com
- Owner
- Shamrock Capital
- Lead time
- News: same day to a few days. Voice pieces: Adweek aims to respond to pitches within two weeks, and publication timing depends on editing.
- Last verified
At a glance
Audience. Brand marketers, agency leaders, media executives, and the people who work for them.
- Brand marketing
- Agencies and account moves
- Creative and campaigns
- Media and publishing
- Ad tech and programmatic
- Social platforms and creators
- Marketing leadership
- Staff reporting
- Reporters and editors cover brand marketing, agencies, media, platforms, and creative, with news on account moves, executive hires, campaigns, and industry business.
- Contributed articles
- Adweek Voice publishes contributed articles from industry practitioners, pitched through an online submission form. Editors may rewrite drafts significantly and authors assign copyright to Adweek.
- Opinion and op-eds
- Voice is the opinion and perspective route. Adweek prioritizes timely pitches, such as a response to a creative activation or a piece tied to an industry or global event.
- Press releases
- The Voice form explicitly is not for press releases. News announcements should go to the reporter covering the relevant beat.
Pitching Adweek, step by step
Map your news to a beat: brand marketing, agencies, media, platforms, or ad tech. Read that reporter's last month of stories.
Pitch news briefly, with the brand, the numbers, the people, and the timing in the first lines. Campaign news needs the creative and credits ready.
For a Voice piece, use the contributor pitch form. State the purpose, core thesis, supporting evidence, and the specific value to marketers.
Disclose your title, organization, and any financial or business relationship with companies you mention, as the form requires.
Pitch the idea before writing the full draft. Adweek encourages this so editors can shape the angle.
If you do not hear back in about two weeks, treat it as a pass. Adweek says it cannot respond to every proposal.
How Adweek decides what to cover
Adweek covers the business of brand marketing: the brands that spend, the agencies that make the work, the media companies and platforms that sell attention, and the people who move between them. Its reporters work beats, and its news agenda leans on things the industry can act on: account wins and losses, CMO hires, campaign launches with real budgets behind them, platform changes, and shifts in how media is bought.
A story fits when it tells marketers something about competitors, partners, or their own careers. A campaign is newsworthy if it is from a brand people know, shows a clear strategy, or does something the category has not seen.
How to pitch Adweek
For news, pitch the reporter who covers the beat. Lead with the facts: who, what, how much, and when. For campaigns, have the creative, the credits, and a strategist available. For account moves and hires, confirm the details are approved for release before you pitch.
Exclusives and early access matter in a trade press this competitive. If you can give one outlet first look at a meaningful announcement, say so plainly and set the embargo.
Contributed articles and op-eds
Adweek Voice is the formal route for practitioner perspective, and Adweek publishes clear rules on its pitch form. A pitch should state the article’s purpose, its core thesis, the research or experience behind it, and the specific value to marketers. Timely pitches with a quick turnaround are heavily prioritized, as are exclusive behind-the-scenes perspectives on campaigns, events, and conferences.
Authors must disclose their title, organization, and any financial or business relationships with companies cited, and whether material is embargoed. Adweek does not accept previously published work, and accepted authors assign copyright to Adweek. Editors may ask for structural changes and rewrite drafts significantly. Provisional acceptance is not a guarantee of publication.
Frequently asked questions
Does Adweek accept guest posts?
Yes, through Adweek Voice. Pitches go through the contributor form, and Adweek encourages pitching before writing a full draft.
Can you pay to be featured in Adweek?
Editorial coverage is not paid. Adweek sells advertising and sponsorships through its business side, which is separate from news and Voice.
How long does Adweek take to respond to a Voice pitch?
Adweek says it tries to respond within two weeks but cannot respond to every proposal because of volume.
For brands and agencies, earning Adweek coverage usually means pairing a real business story with a spokesperson who can explain the strategy behind it. That pairing is central to how a PR-led agency runs media relations in the marketing trade press.
Mistakes that get pitches ignored
- Sending press releases through the Voice form. Adweek says not to.
- Submitting previously published work. Adweek does not accept it.
- Contributed pieces that promote your own agency or product without disclosing the relationship.
- Evergreen thought leadership with no timely hook.
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