Spotlight DataTalks Interview with Sandy Ghuman: International Womens Day
Why do you think it is important to celebrate International Women’s Day?
International Women’s Day was founded to commemorate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women, and I am a huge advocate! It sets the scene for key challenges such as gender equality and equal pay (with focus on the workplace), as well as many other factors in day to day life.
Whilst I am not here to provide an education as to why International Women’s Day came about, it is certainly something to celebrate and take stock on how far we’ve come. I wouldn’t be sat here writing these answers if it wasn’t for the sacrifice of many. However, for as many achievements we have made over the years, we are still so far from perfect. Movements such as “Me Too” and recent headlines discussing women’s safety when out walking, or running, are all stark examples of how far we still have to climb.
And it’s these downfalls – these living breathing challenges that women face day to day – which is why it is paramount that men and women across the globe celebrate International Women’s Day. The more we discuss these things in the workplace, around friends, with family, the more we will make a difference. Without conversations from global and diverse points of view, change won’t happen.
Have you faced any barriers in your career due to being a woman? If so, how did you overcome them?
I haven’t personally faced huge barriers around career progression as a woman (without getting deeper into being a full-time working mum!), although there are countless scenarios where I have been wary of situations and could have let them prevent me from progress, had it not been for my character.
A quick example is when I enquired about a role a few years back, and the general bias language used when listing out a job description was starkly obvious. The hiring director, when detailing the job specification, referred to what “His” responsibilities will be, what “He” will look after, how “He” will need to, etc. Even small areas such as these can be enough to make you feel less qualified before you’ve even begun.
There are also many areas of work and life situations that have been more male dominated, and that can often make females feel less adequate. In the corporate world these situations tend to be centred around decisions made across high profile projects or to lead certain projects. More times than not, I find myself in meetings (being the only woman meetings of around 20+ attendees), attending social networking events (typically a corporate ‘boys night out’), involved on speaker panels (woman-only events, possibly a tick-box exercise), attending exec meetings (by default the exec members are male), frequenting corporate hospitality events (that are not always thought through with female attendees in mind) and so on and so forth. It has long been the norm, but I am happy to say it is evolving.
In a non-corporate environment, I grew up helping my parents in the markets (again a very male dominated area, in terms of dealing with wholesalers, the market operators, and the other traders). From an early age, I watched my mum be the driving force in these environments competing and dealing with the bullishness around her. I was also thrown in the deep end myself to help in the family business as the eldest of three from a very early age, and at that time it just felt the norm.
I’d say some of the biggest challenges in both life and work environments are centred around cutting through the noise, getting a seat at the table in the first place, having a voice and being heard.
Overcoming (and doing myself proud) in these environments has usually been around:
- Being confident in and believing in my contributions
- Not taking things personally or allowing my confidence to be knocked
- Not allowing myself to feel intimidated and reminding myself I am here because.. I am doing this because.. although it is sad how we often justify to ourselves that we actually deserve to be here
- Trying to understand the thinking and behavior of others to cut through the noise and deal with the tasks at hand
- Compromising and being accommodating in certain situations
- Simply talking – talking to other women, empathizing, giving praise and sharing experiences.
Above all, believing in myself. Recognizing I have been invited to speak, participate and share because I am talented and skilled, not just because I am a woman or even a woman of color. It’s all about believing in who you are, and the rest will follow.
How can we encourage more women to pursue entrepreneurship or senior leadership roles in their career?
This is something I am truly passionate about. As with so many things in the business place, there’s no one size fits all approach. It’s a multi-layered approach that needs to be filtered from both the top down, and vice versa. The entire organization needs to stand for gender equality and career progression; this needs to be fully cemented into the culture for progress to truly be made
How? Well, it starts with education. For both men and women. Businesses should invest in diversity and equality training, and make this a priority across their HR channels. In addition, there needs to be an active approach to pushing unbiased HR policies to ensure every interview process is neutral in its delivery.
What’s more, women need to be equal to their male counterparts, so that when they progress in their careers, they are setting off from a level playing field. And it’s this gray area where I see so many problems. I have worked with some incredible, talented women in my time, and so often they are starting the race from 500 yards behind. The balance still has a long way to go.
Whilst business infrastructures and cultures need to change, and I believe this will take a very long time to see results, there are other ways women such as myself can help encourage others to step forward. My tips are:
Be kind and open: You’d think women would support women. But on the odd occasion, you see women competing against each other. Don’t adhere to this toxic narrative, and ensure you are kind and open to all females within your workplace and industry, and encourage them on their path.
Mentor and inspire: Whether it’s informal or a more formal setting, I think women in leadership roles should regularly mentor and inspire their female colleagues – even if they sit in a different department in the business. Tips on how to present yourself, how to manage political situations etc., are all aspects of work life that can be tricky to navigate without guidance.
Empathize & Feedback: Acknowledge the tough environments we may find ourselves in and don’t be afraid to talk, share, learn, evolve and provide feedback. It can be a lot of work, but often taking on the challenges to knock those barriers down by not giving up is really powerful.
Continue to educate and increase awareness: And lastly, I guess it is about not being afraid to speak out about these issues. It’s not about blame, and it certainly isn’t about men versus women. It is about collaborating and making the discussion topic one to not be afraid of.
Take time to reflect: We often go about our daily routines and accept what we encounter as the norm. Sometimes just taking a step back and reflecting on situations can act as a stark reminder of the reality of unconscious bias that one may have experienced, or still exist, or even the enormity of change and education that is still needed.
Is there anyone that inspires you in your career?
Now, I’m going to keep my cards close to my chest, so as to not put anyone on the spot! However, during my career there have been a few inspirational women that I have been in awe of. One that springs to mind was a very senior woman who was on the executive team of a very high profile company. She was the only female exec amongst circa 12 male counterparts, and was someone whose division I reported into for five years.
Her presence and profile throughout those five years was composed, professional, calm, softly spoken, extremely passionate and unemotional (in the good sense) with a strong but fair business approach. This strong exterior enabled her to cut through the murky male-heavy environment and seek respect from her fellow peers – not because she was a strong female, but because she was talented. And that really shone through.
On my last day I told her I was so proud of her as a woman sitting and surviving on that exec, and to my surprise she got emotional. At that moment I realized how tough it is for a woman in a senior position, despite how they might compose themselves in the workplace. I was so glad I told her how inspirational she was, but it also reminded me not to wait too long to say it next time. We need to praise each other more often – not so much that it becomes an empty compliment, but to encourage and show support.
Coincidentally, this particular lady recommended I put myself forward as a company rep (to be a spokesperson on behalf of and represent a constituency of 350 employees) and I was subsequently voted in. I owe so much to this woman (you know who you are!) and I am forever grateful.
If you could have dinner with three inspirational women, dead or alive, who would they be and why?
Oh, fantastic question!! So many, but my three would be:
Our dear Queen Elizabeth II: I mean, why not?! As our longest reigning monarch situated in a very strict, long-standing institution you could learn so much from her and how to overcome unexpected hurdles.
Kamala Harris Vice President, The White House: She is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well as the first African American and first Asian American vice president. I’d love to hear her story, what inspires her and what motivates her.
My mum: Sadly I lost my mum suddenly and way too early, at a time when I was at the start of my career and juggling being a young mum myself and working full time. At the time, I was quite oblivious to the real barriers and challenges one faces due to being a woman as it was simply the norm. I also never fully recognized or appreciated her own fight to survive, to be heard, to thrive and to lead. I would love to get her thoughts on how things have evolved even (albeit in baby steps) and also to reflect and recognize the challenges she faced, and celebrate how she overcame them.
What future do you see for women in Marketing/MedTech?
We are seeing more women in MarTech roles – and senior ones at that – and I am personally seeing evidence of this through some of my recent client engagements – which are predominantly led by women. This is really refreshing to see especially as these client engagements have turned into long term client partnerships, often based not only on the great work we are delivering and the value we create, but also the general admiration and respect we have built for each other as ‘Women in Tech’. What is even more refreshing is that the ladies are also open to talking and learning from each other’s experiences. I feel like we are creating a real community, and that is something I am hugely proud of.
I also think that some of the initiatives seen by the big players in the industry, helping their female leaders to find their voice and increase their profile in a male-dominated industry, is evident.
I also see some incredible talent here within Silverbullet. Our female experts with technical minds and creative outputs are supporting the incredible growth our company is witnessing. I hope to both inspire and learn from my peers, and ensure we at Silverbullet continue to celebrate female talent across the globe.
Silverbullet’s 4D Context Outcomes Engine is now live with Reticle.
The newest partner to the 4D Dimensions Marketplace allows advertisers to target emotion to reach the right audience at precisely the right moment.
New York 1st March 2022: 4D, a division of Silverbullet, today announced it has partnered with emotional AI company, Reticle, as it continues to enhance its Context Outcomes Engine offering. 4D is excited to partner with Reticle who joins its Dimension Marketplace network which supports advertisers as they seek solutions to target the right audience at the right moment.
Reticle’s Emotional AI has a taxonomy of 19+ emotional signals, enabling advertisers to match the emotional tone of their ad with prospective advertising placements to enhance ad viewing experiences. With this partnership, Reticle’s leading position in emotional targeting will now be added to 4D’s Dimension Marketplace, offering brands the ability to maximize brand-building impact and serve ads within the placements where audiences are most receptive.
4D’s Context Outcomes Engine is transforming the contextual 2.0 landscape, allowing advertisers to step into the post-cookie world with confidence. Traditionally, contextual and brand-safety data for display, video and audio was only available through simple methodologies of analyzing the text on a web page. Now, with 4D and Reticle coming together, marketers can put every advertisement into context by understanding the nuance of the content it sits within, and identifying an emotional connection it has with consumers.
Jonah Cait, VP of Strategy & Product at Reticle comments, “beyond sentiment, emotion has not been applied to media targeting in a scalable and nuanced fashion. With Reticle joining 4D’s Dimension Marketplace network, advertisers are now able to contextually account for emotion in their brand campaigns, elevating emotional resonance, impression quality, and ad viewing experiences.”
“This partnership is truly a powerful combination for marketers to have in their back pocket. To easily tap into emotion targeting from Reticle layered onto context targeting via 4D within one platform, makes it that much more effective for advertisers to reach consumers at the right moment.” says Silverbullet’s VP of Partnerships, Norman Au.
4D and Reticle technology combined, demystifies how emotion can be understood, and is the difference between placing an ad, and making an ad matter to the consumer. Tapping into emotion targeting has never been easier with Reticle in 4D’s Dimension Marketplace.
Silverbullet supports RSMB to enhance and empower UK broadcast measurement
Silverbullet partners with experts in methodology, statistical design, and quality control that underpins the UK media measurement industry.
Outside of BARB, RSMB provides measurement solutions for a range of clients including RAJAR, IPA TouchPoints and Sky’s CFlight, which is currently being enhanced to include ITV and Channel 4. Silverbullet will support RSMB across a myriad of data-centric focus points to enhance their capabilities and help them realise greater business efficiencies whilst providing continued strategic improvements throughout RSMB’s delivery for BARB.
“Silverbullet’s Marketing Services division will support RSMB with their data and technology strategy, with a strong focus on quality control, dashboard development and visualisation, data engineering and machine learning – all aimed to support RSMB as they step into the new marketing era. We are delighted to work with RSMB, as we continue to strengthen our global broadcaster client base.” Says Sandy Ghuman, Managing Director, Data Strategies at Silverbullet.
“RSMB have earned a reputation for innovation in audience research methodologies that have helped the UK media research industry meet the challenges of rapid changes in consumer media use. We selected Silverbullet as our technology experts to help us continue to innovate and future-proof our offerings in order to support our clients needs.” Says Debbie Hurley, Research Director, RSMB. “Silverbullet’s incredibly strong broadcaster client base and industry knowledge meant they were the perfect partner for us, and we’re excited to continue our journey with them.”
The TV and video market is highly dynamic and going through seismic change; consumer expectations and usage habits are changing rapidly in the age of video-on-demand, connected TV and mobile media consumption, creating a complex measurement landscape. The future of media measurement lies in ensuring that the measurement moves at the same pace as the audience and the rate of technology. Today’s announcement sees a very exciting partnership that will inspire the future of measurement in the UK.
About Silverbullet: Silverbullet Group is a data and digital transformation company that delivers future-proofed solutions for a privacy-first, post-cookie era. Their combination of technology and expert professional services encompasses first-party data strategy and customer journey activation advisory, adtech and martech services, and a contextual intelligence engine that generates powerful business outcomes and customer-centric experiences. Headquartered in London, UK, the Group employs 70+ people in five countries, across The Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific.
About RSMB: RSMB was established in 1987 to offer high quality design and operations in the field of television audience measurement. Since then, they have earned a reputation for innovation in audience research methodologies that have helped the UK media research industry meet the challenges of rapid changes in consumer media use. RSMB has been a contractor to BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board) since 1989 and this relationship will continue until at least 2029.
Behavioral Targeting is here to stay? Think again.
Top Four Trends Marketers Need to Be Aware of for 2022
Behavioral Targeting here to stay?
Behavioral targeting has long been the foundation of digital advertising in the cookie-based era. Most digital marketing campaigns were launched based on the information from third-party cookies to target the right customers. Behavioral targeting has highly impacted our daily lives, and many folks still think that it is here to stay. But is it?
In this month’s Debunked edition, we invite Umberto Torrielli, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Silverbullet and 4D, to discuss why behavioral targeting is no more, and the four trends marketers need to be aware of in 2022.
A look back.
When we talk about behavioral targeting in general terms, we simply mean that technology is used to learn something about a consumer based on what they have done in the past. This insight can then be used to predict what that person is going to do next.
The way that has been done to date, is centered around exploring what the behavior of a customer has been historically, putting that person into a category or segment, and then leveraging that data to say what we expect this person to do next. This has been the bread and butter of adtech for years.
The problem is, for behavioral targeting to work, given the onus on learning from past behavior, it needs to be tied to some kind of history, like browser history, to figure out the things that customers like. What cookies have done historically is store this information about where users have been online, and this was tracked by third-party cookies.
As third-party cookies are being deprecated, behavioral data will cease to exist and will no longer be accessible. For marketers, this sparks a problem as the industry has spent countless dollars building technology to support an outdated methodology.
Think again.
While behavioral targeting looms in the past, marketers need to think ahead and explore new ways of working. And, a big part of this re-think is centered around contextual. Here are some key trends marketers need to be aware of in the next year:
- Privacy is becoming more and more important
- Privacy legislation is going to get more stringent across the globe. Digital marketers must face the challenge of campaign disruptions and figure out partners and solutions to continue performing.
- Context targeting is here to stay
- Context targeting is a future-proofed and 100% compliant solution for advertisers, especially global brands, to launch marketing campaigns in a privacy-first, post-cookie era. Context can be powerful to target the right customer with the right content at the right moment.
- Advanced technologies are empowering the advertising industry to generate better performance
- AI and machine learning have been used more widely in the adtech industry to reach target customers at the right moment. This new technology is a powerful tool to generate insights and empower marketing campaigns to perform better.
- Video context is on the rise and all marketers are talking about it
- Video is becoming one of the major marketing tools for advertisers to create more engaging user experiences, which makes video context an essential part to launch in-the-moment marketing for customers.
As the privacy-first, cookie-less era is fast approaching, marketers need to face the challenge head on, and start to put the building blocks in place. Our advanced Context Outcome Engine, 4D, is here to help you step into the privacy-first era with confidence.
Click to find out more about 4D today!
The Most Important Driver to Success.
Top Four Trends Marketers Need to Be Aware of for 2022
In my previous role at one of the large marketing cloud stacks, I was employed as one of many Client Success Managers tasked with growing accounts across their data management platform. I quickly realized that many clients were struggling on the day-to-day running of their new technology platform. “What we find,” the head of Customer Success told me at my original interview, “is that our products our more mature than our client”.
To me, it seemed obvious; if I was to grow an account, the client needed to be successful. If the client was to be successful, they would need to operate their technology, and operate it well. And, to operate successfully, the client needed to understand exactly what it is they invested in, to properly engage with the platform. And, if they were to properly engage with the platform, then someone would need to teach them. And that person (in this case me), needed to know their stuff.
However, I soon discovered that traditional consulting services can only take you so far. It was clear there was an increasing need for deep expertise to truly support clients in the understanding of these platforms and for organizational change and ownership to take place. And so here-lies my creation of the post-implementation consulting services, or “expert services” if you like. (To be clear, when I say “created” the service, what I really mean is that I was just the first person to try and do it).
I have seen and consulted on a lot of data platform projects. Many have succeeded, yet some hit a brick wall. Why? Well, this could be a myriad of circumstances such as poor-quality data, limited use cases, client-side political turmoil, vendor side political warfare, regulations such as GDPR, lack of budget, and most recently to note, the death of the cookie.
However, amongst the successes and not so successful, there is one definitive, common underlying factor at the heart of the success story, and it has nothing to do with match rates, clean and reliable data, naming conventions 🤓, or good consultants (all, by the way, are undeniably essential), but it simply lies in strong leadership.
Let’s look at an example, shall we? During my early days as an Expert Services Consultant, I enjoyed one of my most successful projects of all time with a huge telco in Europe. The business was witnessing every problem imaginable: politics gone wrong across vendors, limited understanding of the technology on the client side, criminal match rate issues, poorly scoped contracts, and in some cases terrible data sources. Yet, it didn’t matter; at the heart of the project was a strong leader (and a robust naming convention 🤓).
The leader had several qualities that are essential to successfully running a technology project, which included all the vital ingredients we hope to find within our clients when we start projects together.
The perfect recipe for success:
- Ingredient One: No fear of technical detail: “If your culture doesn’t like geeks, you are in real trouble.” (Bill Gates) What really set this strong leader apart was their willingness to ask technical people on the client side, vendor side, and agency side to bring real detail to the table; document it, QA it, and then truly understand the technical importance at a strategic level.
Let’s get technical for a moment! 🤓 purchase=complete (a piece of code, and specifically a key/value pair) isn’t a mere technical nuance, it’s the vital attribute that ultimately tells the business a visitor has already logged in, browsed, added to cart, and finally purchased. Deploying this in the right way and understanding where you can (and can’t) do this, who is responsible for it, what other variations are possible, and how it fits into your overall naming convention unlocks your most valuable users. Pretty important, right?
The strong leader used this level of detail to meticulously plan with all technical stakeholders and then extrapolated it out into a high-level strategy that business stakeholders could follow. Not an easy task, but one that made an incredible impact during the project.
Takeaway: the most successful clients are those that either have a good grasp on technical detail or who are willing to surround themselves with technical people, welcome and trust their input, and then effectively translate technicality into business practice.
- Ingredient Two: Political skills: “A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first, and honest people are screwed first” (Chanakya) What makes the implementation of technologies across businesses interesting is that they cut across multiple stakeholders and business units that have different, and oftentimes opposing goals. At any one point in time, IT, operations, marketing, media, CRM, BI, and others can find themselves working on the same tactic or initiative, all with varied ambitions and desires. If you find synergy you will unlock a treasure trove of insights and performance. However, add in friction, and you’ll create a political nightmare.
Not only does this lead to project failure, it leaves the key stakeholder extremely vulnerable. I shouldn’t need to tell you what happens when a well-paid exec screws up by spending precious time and money on a project that delivers no value. Responsibility turns into accountability.
But, articulating ROI doesn’t happen by magic – it happens through teamwork, graft, negotiation, good governance, naming conventions 🤓, and compromise. The strong leader at the telco had this and encouraged this attitude in abundance.
Takeaway: My team and I spend a lot of time upfront on our projects gathering requirements and building consensus between teams before we implement or configure anything. This process means that shared objectives can be created and agreed to and ensures that wider buy-in is fostered from the ground up.
- Ingredient Three: Salesmanship: “Like it or not, we’re all in sales now” (Daniel Pink) Whilst almost half of the strong leader’s time was spent in the detail, the other half was spent touring different departments explaining what the project was aiming to do, clearly defining how it would happen, and what the benefits would be. The most important quality to note here included setting expectations. From day one the project was set up to succeed through realistic and achievable ambitions articulated with precision and clarity across the entire organization.
Patience is key. You can’t expect to run an hour zoom call with a team you may not know in depth, who have limited understanding, or who may not have the time to invest in your ambitions. Building a long-term relationship with key decision-makers will not only make the work an enjoyable experience but will inspire peers (and drive adherence across the board to your well thought out naming convention 🤓).
Takeaway: Spend as much time with key stakeholders on the detail to prepare collateral for all that can be presented back to the business in an easy to digest way. We sometimes talk about setting a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) here at Silverbullet, which enables buy-in from many departments, but there’s always a focus on those quick wins and smaller achievements which often keep a project alive.
- Ingredient Four: Pivotability: “Shit goes wrong!” (Me and, deep down, every consultant you will ever work with). In my case working with the telco, one of the key use cases ahead of the kick-off was the ability to target consumers who had read an email, visited the web store, and added to cart – all with a compelling data-driven ad creative off-domain to ensure that they were reminded to return to the telco’s online shop in order to complete their purchase. The problem, however, was that the tech couldn’t support this use case. Third-party cookies, even in their heyday, weren’t set up to enable that type of convoluted customer journey at scale (especially off-domain). So, the use case needed to be tweaked and a minimum viable solution was built in its place. This dampened the use case expectations, however it delivered, and ROI was attained.
Takeaway: Technology can’t do everything, and when you are relying on so many different teams and departments, things may not go to plan. And, that is ok. There should always be a plan B, and a strong leader who is able to roll with the punches in order to progress and get things done.
To conclude. Traditional consulting can only take a business so far. What we try to do at Silverbullet is grow confidence across multiple departments and try to encourage and support the main stakeholders to approach each project from a position of strength (and an excellently thought-out naming convention 🤓).
Spotlight DataTalks Interview with Ian James, Co-founder and CEO at Silverbullet
Five questions to unveil the secrets to becoming an entrepreneur.
1. Tell us a little about your background and how you got to where you are today.
I first entered the world of Advertising and Technology on the direct brand side, where I was the first Global Head of Digital for Bacardi. During my time with them, I adopted a huge passion for bringing digital marcoms into the broader business, using insights to drive smarter business decisions. This passion grew, as I went on to hold roles such as International CEO of Acxiom, and Chief Digital Officer for Starcom MediaVest Groupe.
During my time at Acxiom, I noticed that clients were becoming increasingly confused as to how best to make sense of all the new tech and data innovations they saw coming through, and I sensed that there was a real opportunity here. Subsequently, in 2016, myself and co-founder Umberto Torrielli launched the Silverbullet Data Services Group.
It has been one hell of a journey since Silverbullet’s founding six years ago. Where we began as a deep expert consultancy business, we now have a marketing services division who design, implement and manage first-party data centric strategies for global brands, alongside an incredible ‘post-cookie’ product called 4D, designed and built for the modern marketer looking to survive in the cookieless future.
2. How do you inspire your people on a daily basis?
You’re only as smart as the people you surround yourself with, and that is key in building highly successful and driven teams. We are a collective force of experts, salesmen, marketeers and innovators who live and breathe data, technology and all things digital.
In terms of how I inspire the team, well this is all down to the incredible leadership team I have surrounded myself with; I lean on these guys to inspire, encourage and enhance their teams on a daily basis. But, we also have a core set of values at Silverbullet, which we ensure stays true throughout our daily work. These are:
Be bold with integrity: We are bold, honest and not afraid to challenge the status quo.
Our employees all strive to fulfil the group’s mission in being the leading data and digital transformation company, approaching every aspect of Silverbullet’s existence with bold ideas. We are a family, built from creative thinkers, technical pioneers and ambitious leaders, who all have a voice no matter where they sit within the organisation.
Diversity of Thought, Equal in Passion: We are global thinkers, and have a shared passion for success.
In a world where virtual togetherness is just as important as face-to-face, our teams are more connected than ever, with a passion to create something really special for our clients by integrating diversity into everything we do.
Captivated by our Clients and Each Other: We are captivated by our clients challenges and opportunities.
Silverbullet submerge themselves into our client and customer’s day-to-day needs, as well as their long term goals.. In a world surrounded by technology and innovation, our team understands the importance of humanity and support, no matter what the challenge ahead brings. We live and breathe data and technology, so our clients don’t have to.
Work Hard, Play Hard: We have created a fun, cheeky workplace to make work less like, well, work.
Our team all work extremely hard to ensure the smooth running of a pioneering business. And there is always time for fun. We work hard and we play hard, because we believe that truly is the recipe for a great working environment.
3. What is the secret to your success?
The common thread that has sustained itself throughout the lifespan of Silverbullet, is how we attract very smart individuals. Hiring an expert team is the secret to our success. We have handpicked the best talent from the Marketing Cloud marketplace, the programmatic ecosystem and the general (m)ardech landscape. Without this team, we wouldn’t be who we are today.
Outside of the team, I have a huge network of founders, investors and genuine industry veterans who I learn from every single day. Running a business is no easy feat, especially in an industry that continuously goes through unprecedented change and challenges. It’s a noisy place to be, and so to be able to cut through the noise and offer something truly different to clients is hard.
I do believe that being willing to change direction, and listening to what your customers want is vital. We have been nimble and humble at every stage of our journey, and I believe that is the secret to our success.
4. How do you manage work and life balance? We often see leaders who work around the clock – How do you strike the right balance?
I am a true believer in taking time to recharge when you can. I actively encourage my team to have regular socials. We are working for a huge chunk of our lives, so why not make some friends along the way? Beers in the office, work outings and the odd fancy lunch can really help when you’ve had a tough week at work.
From a personal standpoint, I ensure adtech doesn’t run my life! I’m a keen scuba diver, and love to head out to the water when I can. I adore sports, particularly rugby and cricket. I try and ensure I carve out time away from my desk, to take those well deserved breathers when I can. It’s often where my best thinking takes place.
I find when you don’t balance your work and personal life as much as you possibly can, things slide, wrong decisions get made, and it doesn’t create the best working environment. It’s all within the word balance – find what works for you and do it.
5. What’s the best piece of advice you would give to someone who wants to step into an entrepreneurial chapter of their career?
Great question, and not one answer I’m afraid! I guess the first piece of advice would be to be brave. Sounds obvious, and of course there are many other factors to consider such as being a creative thinker, having a business head and understanding your marketplace like the back of your hand. But, having a fearless personality (to a certain extent!) will set you in good stead.
Both for the good, and the bad. Oftentimes being brave will enable you to explore avenues perhaps you wouldn’t in any other situation. Challenging the status quo in such a digital and crowded world is never a bad thing, and often pays off. But, in the same light, learning from failures not only builds strength in character, but often works out in the end in some manner. I would always celebrate the things that haven’t gone right, just as much as the things that do. It would be boring if everything was plain sailing, right?
So yes. My tip for the day is be brave and don’t be afraid of the challenges along the way.
How To Guide: Become The Broadcaster Of The Future
The past twelve months have created a seismic shift in the TV-video landscape transformation – driven by data to become increasingly automated and accountable – where the audience becomes just as important as both content and context.
To ensure traditional broadcasters continue to lead the way in TV and advertising, mediarithmics and Silverbullet have created this guide to support broadcasters in placing the consumer (and data) at the center of their business.
Download our latest “How to guide” today, and discover how to become the broadcaster of the future.
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