Adtech Unfiltered

Finding a mentor is difficult in any industry, but the adtech world poses its own unique set of challenges for those seeking guidance in an ever-evolving field. Renowned adtech sales leader, executive advisor, and AdTech Personality of the Year nominee Matt Barash has been a longtime beneficiary of mentorship and enjoys mentoring others as well. In this episode, he chats with host Noor Naseer about how to find well-suited mentors, how to make the most of the relationship, and reasons to become a mentor as you grow in your career.

After years of working at agencies in the digital media industry, Helene Parker decided to forge her own path and build a programmatic consultancy in 2019. In the few years since she became an entrepreneur, Helene has gained hard-and-fast insights about what works best to grow her business. In this episode, Parker shares critical professional lessons to engage and retain clients, advice for anyone thinking of starting their own programmatic consultancy, and reflections on the upsides of leaving the traditional nine-to-five. 

The adtech industry has been working through a ‘Great Resignation’ this year as marketing professionals leave their current positions and seek new ones that better cater to a diverse array of inclusive needs. Noor speak with Corean Canty, the COO of talent platform We Are Rosie about the current talent landscape and what organizations must bring to the table to best appeal to sought-after professionals. 

Even with Google’s recent decision to delay the retirement of third party cookies in Chrome until 2023, the loss of numerous longstanding ad identifiers still looms large. While brands and advertisers may have more breathing room to figure out alternative solutions, the quest for finding those alternatives demands dedicated and ongoing attention in 2021. Angelina Eng, VP of Addressability and Measurement at the IAB, shares her thoughts on the technical maneuvers that advertisers must take on to navigate a rapidly approaching future with far fewer reliable identifiers.

Today's digital agency landscape is hyper-competitive. With swift shifts in technology, changing privacy laws, the sharp rise of new platforms and competitive disruptors, it’s more challenging than ever to maintain an agency's success. For perspective on this topic, we speak with former digital agency president and partner Mitch Joel about his experience building, running and selling agency Twist Image (to WPP). Joel shares his thoughts on meeting client expectations, managing talent, assessing revenue models, and more.

The word "innovative" gets thrown around a lot in ad tech. But what does it really take to consistently deliver innovation that resonates with advertising clients? Walter Geer III shares how he empowers his team to keep innovation at the forefront of approaching client business. He also discusses his passions for mentorship, DEI, and connecting authentically with his growing social media following. 

With an onslaught of data privacy updates stemming from legislation and big tech, once-reliable targeting tactics are rapidly diminishing. Marketers must consider the loss of cookies, and find new ways to target audiences. Staying up-to-date on new regulations and advertising implications is no easy task. But for Pedro Pavon, who oversees Privacy, Data Policy, and Advertising at Facebook, it's a daily challenge. In this episode, Pavon shares his views on consumer privacy laws and how advertisers must plan for a cookieless future.

In recent years, many advertisers have considered bringing programmatic media buying in-house. For others, a lack of infrastructure and support makes it difficult to take the plunge. In this episode, Centro's EVP of Media Services and Operations shares the different ways advertisers can approach in-housing, as well as how to best prepare beforehand. Finally, she shares how advertising professionals can enhance their careers in today’s crowded and fast-evolving media environment.

These days, professional development can feel more challenging than ever before. Many professionals are experiencing fatigue from working remotely for months, yet they still understand the need to develop their careers and skills in uncertain times. Accomplished tech leader, speaker, and author Jeffrey Smith joins the podcast to discuss finding new ways to grow during COVID-19, what authentic tech leadership looks like, and how to not let the pandemic—or your mindset—hold you back from career growth.

Staying on top of the tricks of the trade as a media buyer has become steadily more complicated. With so much emphasis on programmatic buying and self-service adtech solutions, an updated education on the latest is hard to maintain. As the leader of industry-recognized adtech client education program Centro Certified, Christine Kim finds ways to do it and helps clients do the same. Christine provides insight on why curriculum-based adtech education programs are so important and will continue to be, even once eLearning and social distancing aren’t required quite like they have been in 2020.