Tell us about your career journey.

The first 15 years of my career were spent on the client side at American Express, Warner Bros. and Netflix. I loved my experiences at each of those companies, but always had an interest in starting a company or joining a start-up. I’ve kept a running list of inventions and company ideas in my nightstand drawer since 1998. In 2014, the founders of VidMob, who I’ve known and admired for years, told me about their amazing new venture and I offered to be a strategic advisor [I pleaded with them to let me be involved]. By 2016, things were getting really interesting at VidMob and I decided to join full-time as CMO. Best move of my career, without a doubt.

What inspired you to join VidMob?

I was an advisor to VidMob for two years and tracked the company closely during that time. In the early days, VidMob was consumer-facing and offered people a way to hire professional editors to create keepsake personal videos. In 2016, encouraged by Snapchat executives and others, the founders launched an enterprise solution to solve creative challenges for brands. The digital ads landscape was becoming increasingly video-centric and highly fragmented. here were over 30 ad formats to choose from across the top 5 social platforms (now there are over 50). Creative rules and best practices changed constantly (they still do) and advertisers were growing wary. VidMob built the infrastructure and technology to solve “creative friction” in a way no one else could.

What made VidMob irresistible is its mission to support philanthropy. A portion of every dollar VidMob earns funds pro bono creative services for nonprofits. It gives me tremendous pride to know I work for a company that cares deeply about doing good.

What is VidMob and how does it fit into the current Digital Advertising landscape?

VidMob is a creative technology company with a proprietary platform called Agile Creative Studio, which enables advertisers to scale the production of insights-powered digital ad creative. We produce the full spectrum of ads across every digital and social platform and have Ads API and Creative Intelligence integrations with Facebook/Instagram, Google, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Pinterest and others.

Who does VidMob have partnerships with?

VidMob is the only company in the world to be certified as a Creative Marketing Partner by Facebook/Instagram, Google, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

Which companies/brands have been fastest to adopt your technology?

Beauty and Luxury brands were the earliest adopters, but we now see a lot of activity across e-commerce, Gaming, Auto, Travel and FinTech.

Which campaign has been your favorite?

We recently did a really cool campaign with Ulta for their new makeup collection launch called Sugar Rush. They were looking to drive purchases through Instagram and Snapchat ads and partnered with us to develop an array of creative assets to test visuals and messaging. Applying creative analytics, the ads were optimized mid-campaign and drove 150% lift in conversion and 100% increase in ROAS.

How do you keep up with the highly-disruptive AdTech industry?

My latest obsession is Feedly, a news aggregator that lets you organize articles based on topics of interest.

Which markets and geographies are you currently catering to?

VidMob has offices in 8 cities across 3 continents. Our creator network spans the globe and we develop creative in every major language.

What are your predictions on the most impactful disruptions in Digital Advertising?

The trend I’m watching most closely is Social Commerce. Snapchat and Instagram launched shoppable ad products within the past year and we’re seeing rising interest from brands and consumers. Instagram’s native checkout feature has been pretty widely adopted amongst Gen Z consumers and I expect older generations to follow suit.

How do you inspire your people to work with technology?

If anything, they inspire me. VidMob’s mantra is “create and learn” and technology is the enabler. We use our platform to share ideas, discover powerful insights and evolve our perspective.

One word that best describes how you work.

Can I hyphenate? Think-tank. I create mechanisms for my team to brainstorm, collaborate and iterate on each other’s work. I encourage my colleagues to phone-a-friend to work through writer’s block or iron kinks out of a crazy idea. There is no “big reveal” on my team -we workshop ideas and openly share our “V’s” (creative versions). For us, success comes not from perfection, but from evolution guided by insight.

What apps/software/tools can’t you live without?

Waze. My maiden name is Atlas, which is the greatest irony because I have the worst sense of direction.

What’s your smartest work-related shortcut or productivity hack?

My drive time and weekend jogs (read: walks) are filled with podcasts and audiobooks. From NPR to The Daily to Recode Decode to The Conversation by Amanda de Cadenet, I get my fill of current events, industry news and pop culture. I am a mother of two, so free time is scarce. For the next few years, listening is my productivity hack.

What are you currently reading?

Frenemies by Ken Auletta

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Reveal the real you. Don’t mask parts of yourself that make you who you are. Your unique experiences form your foundation and inform your point of view. People are inclined to conform in professional settings, which means they hide the most unique aspects of their lives. Diversity holds tremendous value, so own and share your truth.

Something you do better than others – the secret of your success?

I can’t attribute my success to any one thing. But perhaps if there is something I do better than others, it’s being able to function well on very little sleep.

Tag the one person in the industry whose answers to these questions you would love to read:

Ann Lewnes, CMO, Adobe

Thank you, Stephanie! That was fun and hope to see you back on MarTech Series soon.