Matathia's reputation as a marketer stems from a distinguished career of 25+ years in agency account management. He went to "school" on the Procter and Gamble business at Grey Advertising, becoming the youngest management supervisor in the agency's history. He joined Chiat/Day's fledgling New York office in 1984, and as client service director helped the agency to become the first successful West to East Coast agency migration. In 1990, he assumed responsibility for Chiat's Canadian operation, as president. In three years, he more than doubled the billings of the office and saw it named Strategy magazine's Agency of the Year two years running (1991, 1992).

From there Matathia was promoted to president of Chiat/Day New York. Securing important new assignments from Coca-Cola (the Fruitopia launch), America Online, Redken, and Harman Consumer Group, the agency was returned to stability and profitability. During his tenure as president, Matathia also helped realize Jay Chiat's vision of the "virtual office," transitioning the agency to this revolutionary work style in 1995. He then managed the physical merger of TBWA and Chiat/Day, including the integration of the former to the virtual environment.

After Chiat/Day's sale to Omnicom and subsequent merger with TBWA, Matathia sought to expand his global perspective by taking on a new challenge within the TBWA International network. He became chairman of TBWA Italia in 1996. Midyear, he also assumed operating responsibility for the Department of the Future (DOF), a venture he cofounded with Marian Salzman in New York in 1994, which then relocated to Amsterdam two years later. By the end of 1996, he assumed full-time tenure as CEO of the Department of the Future, splitting his time between the European base and establishing a North American presence. In addition to providing a powerful weapon for agency new business, the DOF was instrumental in generating a significant press profile for the agency's new thinking style regarding trends, change, and consumer behavior.

Matathia joined Young & Rubicam's Brand Futures Group (rebranded as The Intelligence Factory in June 2000) as its chief executive officer, in December 1998. The business was an extension of the DOF brand originally launched within the Chiat/Day advertising agency in 1994.

While based in Amsterdam with the DOF, Matathia co-authored Next: Trends for the Near Future, based on the DOF's weekly trendletter, Fame+Flame. Initially published in the Netherlands by Anthos under the title Trends Voor De Toekomst, the book ranked number one on the nonfiction best-seller list for a number of weeks; a mass-market edition was published in Holland in spring 1999. Editions of Next have now been published on four continents. In Australia the book rose to number four on the nonfiction bestseller list (Sydney Morning Herald) after two weeks on the market and was on the Reader's Feast Business and Management top ten list for 1998. Next is also available in North America (Overlook Press), Germany (ECON), Norway (Cappelan), the United Kingdom (Harper Collins U.K.), and China (Locos). Most recently, a Spanish-language edition was published in Spain and Latin America by Planeta (February 2001). The book has been serialized in The Futurist, Information Strategy/The Economist, the Daily Mail (U.K.), the Guardian (U.K.), Australian Financial Review, and CIO magazine. Press coverage has been broad and deep, including features in Fast Company, The Times (U.K.), and the Toronto Star.

Ira Matathia in the Media

On Mentoring: "Young people have the techno-skills but not the management experience to run big operations…it may be a reflection of the post dot-com boom return to common sense—a recognition that real experience and real success actually count for something." —Wall Street Journal Europe, November 13, 2000

On Change: "The only certainty for the future is the accelerating rate of change. With 'internet time' and fast paced globalization, marketers have to be up on trends and social change faster than ever before." —Advertising Age, June 12, 2000

On common sense: "The larger the industry is, the harder it is to move. No matter how much incremental revenue movie theaters attract by innovations in space utilization, if one were looking for a simple solution for curing exhibitors' woes, it would be to make better movies." —Dow Jones News Services, October 13, 2000