Well before Active International grew into a 600-person organization driving the media barter space, it was founder Arthur Wagner, struggling to make a buck. He had an office in Manhattan, standout sales skills and not much more.
“I didn’t draw a salary for two years,” he said. “I didn’t have expense money. If you weren’t in New York, I couldn’t see you.”
The media barter world was filled with shady operators when Active launched 40 years ago, Wagner shared, and clients liked that the new player played it straight.
“They became more than happy clients,” he said. “They became advocates, and they started to go and tell their friends, ‘Hey, if you need something like this done, this is the only place to do it.’ ”
Brooklyn Born
Wagner grew up in Brooklyn, went to Tilden High School, and did not attend college, outside of a half semester at Brooklyn College. He picked up odd jobs where he could, including selling household appliances and hearing aids.
“I went out and I worked,” he said, “and it took me quite a while to be able to make a living.”
Wagner eventually found career-oriented work at a television rep firm, Kaiser Broadcasting, and learned the nuances of selling TV ad time. But he yearned to run his own business. After a decade at Kaiser, he founded Active.
He had experience in ad sales. He had contacts in television. He had a gift for numbers, as noted by most everyone who has worked with Wagner.
He even had a rent-free office. Wagner’s wife’s family was a “big deal in the music business,” he said, and they gave him an some space.
Wagner built his client base one by one, and Active International, which invests in media assets today to secure media properties below market value in the future, began to take off.
Arthur really is a salesman, an absolute sales guy, at heart. He lives and breathes sales and his passion and aptitude for sales is exceptional.”
Dean Wilson, Active International
Jack Myers got to know Wagner when he took a job as a U.S. sales representative for a group of Canadian TV stations and Active International helped sell the stations’ media. He described Wagner as a mentor and an “incredible ally.”
“Arthur consistently demonstrates a visionary approach,” Myers said. “He has always stayed ahead of industry trends and built innovative strategies that in many ways redefined what barter was. He has navigated really complex business challenges with creative solutions that work for the benefit of everyone.”
One strategy that redefined media barter is the trade credit that many said Wagner established for the industry. “Arthur created the currency for that,” Active International president and CEO Bill Georges said.
Wagner always brings stellar sales skills to a negotiation, his colleagues shared. “Arthur really is a salesman, an absolute sales guy at heart,” said Dean Wilson, global chief operating officer, Active International. “He lives and breathes sales and his passion and aptitude for sales is exceptional.”
Forty years after it launched, Active International has offices in Pearl River, New York; London; Paris; Dusseldorf; Madrid; Milan; Sydney; and other locales around the world. In Wagner’s Pearl River office, a Standard Directory of Advertisers dated to 1984 sits on a desk and reminds the founder of the company’s launch.
The company’s hundreds of employees are like family to Wagner. “Arthur is incredibly loyal, and very family oriented,” said Georges. “Not only immediate family, but Active family — it’s clear how much he cares about both.”
Immediate family includes his wife Ellen, and children Irv and Dara, with both kids still at Active after long stints.
All In
Wagner splits his time between homes in New City, New York, north of New York City, and Boca Raton. At age 84, his golf days are sadly over, but he remains an active poker player, where his knack for numbers serves him well — as do Wagner’s people skills.
“Odds never take an off day, but people do,” he said. “People have good days, people have bad days. You can study them, you can play the people rather than your cards.”
People may indeed take a day off, but Wagner is still turning up at work, leading Active International. He cannot imagine not being in the game.
“Arthur loves sitting at the poker tables in Las Vegas, and sitting in his office in Pearl River is the same principle,” Myers said. “He just loves sitting at the table.”
