If there was one thing attendees heard plenty of at the 4As conference, it was the need for accountability, reports The New York Times.

But despite the overarching theme of accountability as it relates to actually moving the sales needle, attendees were also encouraged to be creative. The creativity being shown by agencies and others, the speakers at the conference said, needs to be grounded in what experience and research shown can be successful.

This change is thinking is changing how creative teams are working. Howard Draft of Draft FCB says teams there are using customer data as part of the creative process. Other agencies, too, are looking at or already have found ways to bring hard research into the planning of ads.

There was also discussion of consumer-generated content and how its power can be harnessed. One person said that, with ad avoidance being so popular, people are paying more attention to what they do watch.