BeetCast

We were at Advertising Week in New York Hudson Yards and we were delighted to see so many colleagues in person. Congratulations to the event producers for taking such care around health safety. It was really well done.

Our world of advanced TV was the subject of extensive programming. Measurement and data was a key content line and we caught up with several execs.

We interviewed each on camera and will be publishing segments over the next couple of weeks. For a preview, we edited the the audio tracks and created this episode with:

• Kelly Abcarian, EVP, Measurement & Impact at NBCUniversal Media
• Sean Cunningham, President & CEO at VAB
• Yan Liu, CEO/Co-founder at TVision
• Ashwin Navin, CEO at Samba TV
• Kate Sirkin, Global Data Partnerships at Publicis Epsilon
• Jonathan Steuer, EVP, TV Strategy & Currency at VideoAmp
• Jon Watts, Executive Director at The Project X Institute

We hope you enjoy the episode.

Thanks to our guests and to the BeetCast sponsor TransUnion.

I am delighted to welcome my dear friend Tracey Scheppach to this episode of the #BeetCast.

I call her the "mother of addressable TV". Well, she didn't exactly invent addressable TV but she was by all accounts the first buyer of the medium.

She was deeply involved with pilot projects in Colorado and Alabama in some twenty years ago. In our chat, she recalls those early days and her move to Starcom in 2005 to head the agency's advance TV practice.

In 2016, she left Starcom to start her own company which is a boutique addressable TV buying agency and an industry consultancy. It is called Matter More Media.

In our conversation, Tracey talks about the evolution of addressable TV over the past 20 years. She speaks of her disappointment that its scope has been limited, increasingly by new "walled gardens of data" now in control of TV manufacturers. She shares her mantra: DATA MUST BE FREE.

We also talks about measurement and the importance of understanding the impact of creative.

A Personal Fight Against Cancer

As many of you know, Tracey has been a brave advocate in the fight against pediatric cancer. Her older son Ryan went through several years of treatment from leukemia. Now sixteen, he is five years out from his treatment and living life as healthy 16-year old. So happy to hear!

Tracy galvanized the media industry around non-profit she founded called TeamBrightSide. Mostly funded by charity triathlon in Chicago, the organization has raised $1.5 million in research money. A substantial amount has gone to the University of Chicago to research and track pediatric cancer.

Please join Tracey and TeamBrightSide team by joining the triathlon or by making a donation to: teambrightside.com

Thanks Tracey for your leadership and inspiring bravery.

Please subscribe to the #BeetCast on your favorite podcast service. The BeetCast is sponsored by the TransUnion company.

Note: This episode was previously published in April. The topic of data and television will be central to the conversation at the upcoming Beet Retreat in Santa Monica in November where Tracey will be a featured speaker.

Last week was the big, annual brand marketer's conference in Orlando, the ANA's Maters of Marketing.

We were not there this year to cover, but heard great things. There was a smaller crowd on hand than normal, but many more folks participated virtually. It was probably the biggest and most successful hybrid marketing industry event so far. Congrats to Bob Liodice and to his team at the ANA for pulling this off.

One of the conference keynote speakers was Raja Rajannamar, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of Mastercard.

For this #BeetCast podcast, I spoke with Raja earlier last week for a preview his speech and about the big changes underway for CMO's, as well the emergence of new media platforms and a chat about the future of identity.

Raja is always enlightening and provocative. And he is making a big global impact with his book Quantum Marketing which is on several business book best sellers lists, being sold in over a dozen countries and has just been translated in to Korean, he tells me.

Congrats Raja on the success of the book. And thanks for taking the time to speak with me for this podcast.

And big thanks to the BeetCast sponsor TransUrajanion.

And thank you for listening, I hope you enjoy the episode.

This week's guest on the #BeetCast podcast is John Osborn, CEO of OMD, the Omnicom media agency responsible for many major brands including Apple, McDonald's, State Farm and others.

John joined OMD in 2017 from the global creative agency BBDO where he was CEO.

In this conversation, he speaks about managing brand's media investments during the time of COVID.

He talks of the high wire act that marketers face with the ebb and flow of the pandemic, where hope turns to despair as the virus reemerges and hope incches back.

He addresses the "new normal" of the workplace, and the challenges of keeping the agency focused. Trained and inspired in the home/ office hybrid.

And he speaks about the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and explains the recently launched training program for people of varian backgrounds.

A longtime volunteer in the not-for-profit sector,John says that commitment to community action and philanthropy is essential for both brands and for each of in our lives. John lives this credo as the Chairman of the Red Cross of Greater New York.

Great, inspiring conversation. Thank you, John.

Thank you to our series sponsor TransUnion.

TV measurement is changing quickly as consumption is moving from linear TV to vast numbers of streamers. The legacy models of age and demo are not adequate. have been evolving fast with several new entrants i the industry.

How measurement is changing and what lies ahead is basis of two conversations with industry leaders hosted by industry consultant Jon Watts. Jon speaks with Jo Kinsella of TV Squared and Jonathan Steuer of VieoAmp.

We are kicking off the the new season with my chat with Wenda Harris Millard, one of the most innovative, inspiring leaders we know.

Wenda has a stellar record of achievements from her work at DoubleClick, Ziff Davis, Yahoo and Martha Stewart Omnimedia where was co-CEO. She joined Michael Kassan twelve years ago as Vice Chairman and COO to build the powerhouse consultancy MediaLink.

Not slowing down, she is hard at work at at MediaLink at a number of other projects. I am happy we could catch up.

In our chat, she covers the accelerated transformation of digital media, the emergence of identity-based solutions and their impact on outcomes.

She shares her thoughts and experiences as woman mentor, advising many women on how to navigate the extraordinary pressures of family and career during Covid.

Hey, I hope you are well and enjoying the summer.

All is well here. We are going to slow down a bit for the second part of August and ramp up fast after Labor Day.

We are taking a break from the BeetCast. We are finishing up the season with this episode and will be back on September 13.

And what a way to end this series with our season final with Lou Paskalis.

Lou, as many of you know, is a visionary marketer. A longtime executive in financial services with senior media investment posts at American Express and at Bank of America, he has not only led his companies in innovation but has been a guide to the entire industry though is participation in industry groups including MMA, his speaking at industry conferences and via his popular, must follow Twitter feed @LouPas

Lou left Bank of America recently. He's taking a much need break and I am sure he will be doing something major soon. Can't wait to hear.

I am grateful that Lou took the time to speak with me for this no holds bar conversation on the state of digital media, the future of the media agency, what he sees as the lack of responsibility at Facebook around disinformation - and the imperative for brands to support journalism.

A great conversation and surely a high point in the BeetCast and a great way to end the season. Thanks Lou for this and for all you do to lead our industry. And thanks for being a support of my work of so many years. It means a lot.

And a huge thanks to our series sponsor Mediaocean. Really appreciate your partnership.

And thank you for listening. I hope you enjoy the episode.

Welcome to this episode of the BeetCast.

Hope you are well and enjoying the summer.

We are finishing up this season in fine form with two leading figures in our industry:

This week's guest is Laura Desmond and on August 9 we publish our season finale my chat with Lou Paskalis.

Great to catch up with Laura, to unpack her incredibly successful career in private equity and in advisory roles post agency life.

Laura was one of the youngest CEOs when appointed to lead SMG globally in 2008, but that was only the first of many marks she has made on the agency and communications business since. She is regarded throughout the industry as a game-changer and a true innovator

She is an operating partner at Providence Equity Capital, a prominent private equity firm. She is also the founder and CEO of Eagle Vista Partners, a strategic advisory and venture investing firm serving the marketing, technology and digital industries

She serves on the board of DoubleVerify, where she was the interim CEO. Laura played a central role in guiding the company's public offering. In our chat, she talks about the process of going public and what she learned and why it was the right move DoubleVerify.

In this expansive interview, she speaks about the prospects for an open web, the rising value of identity, the promise of CTV, the importance of dynamic creative optimization and how she would guide the media agency model.

Great conversation. Thank you Laura.

And thank you Mediaocean for sponsoring this season of the the BeetCast.

I hope you enjoy the episode.

Editors Note: After the August 9 convo with Lou, our next episode will drop on September 13.

For this week's episode, I am happy to chat with Matt Seiler. Many of you know Matt as the longtime CEO of IPG Mediabrands and later at Dentsu where he was President of Brand Solutions.

An innovator who saw the transformation of the media business to programmatic, Matt has taught and inspired many of us in the industry.

Now Matt is guiding individual careers as a head-hunter with the global executive recruiting firm Raines International.

In our chat, he talks about the value of human capital in the advertising industry and the challenges that remain in hiring and recruiting talent.

He also addresses the challenges of a post Covid workplace and his suggestions on what companies need to do to retain and nurture staff.

For years, we've covered Roku and it never ceases to be an amazing story: It has emerged as a huge force in the TV industry's transformation to streaming.

It is a handy device and system for consumers to find what they want, a programming platform with original content and a powerhouse advertising platform

Roku has just wrapped up its Upfront negotiations. The company tells Adweek that first-time advertisers make up some 42 percent of the new commitments. Meanwhile some 95 percent of current advertisers are re-upping

This week's guest is Roku's Andrew Conroy, who heads agency partnerships. A five-year veteran, Andrew speaks to his early days at the a very scrappy advertising operation to what has become a global giant.

In this wide-ranging conversation, he speaks to advertiser needs around more real-time analytics and cross platform measurement. Many of these tools are in place at Roku, but more are needed, he says.

Great conversation.

Thank you Andrew

And thank you to our #BeetCast sponsor Mediaocean