Life in Digital

Today’s episode features Sarah Lawson Johnston, Chief Revenue Officer at Covatic, a trailblazer in helping media companies deliver addressable advertising while protecting personal data.

Sarah was part of the early Covatic team that, as far back as 2017, bet on privacy becoming a make-or-break issue in online advertising. Its prescience paid off: Covatic counts Bauer and Comcast among its clients and completed a US$5 million Series A fundraising in May. She was made Chief Revenue Officer of the company in 2023.

As the advertising industry scrambles to get to grips with the death of third-party cookies and increasing legislation, Sarah gives us her on-the-ground take on the state of digital privacy.

Sphere Digital Recruitment are specialists in placing marketing, sales, analytics, product, and creative talent globally. Each episode of the Life in Digital podcast speaks to leaders in the digital sector about their expertise, experiences, and how their businesses are navigating the current digital landscape climate. Join our hosts, Ed Steer and Dan Bolter, every two weeks to be part of the conversation.

The Life in Digital podcast is brought to you in partnership with The Digital Voice, a much-loved B2B AdTech PR agency who are ready to bring your voice to life with PR, marketing, events, content, and much more. Looking to amplify your brand’s voice? Look no further than The Digital Voice. Visit www.thedigitalvoice.co.uk to find out more.

Maximising Attention Across Mobile

Adludio is a technology company driven by AI and it specializes in delivering premium mobile advertising. It does this through an end-to-end solution comprising creative concepts and can built media insights and analytics.

'We are about delivering interactive, sensory and gamified creative'

Join us as we sit down with with Benjamin Arnold, President, North America at Adludio, to discuss everything about AI in mobile advertising.

Join our host, Ed Steer as he sits down with Richard Ottoy, GM, EMEA at Sharethrough to talk about unique solutions which help advertisers drive attention, understanding human preferences and behaviours and reducing carbon emissions.

Sphere Digital Recruitment are specialists in placing marketing, sales, analytics, product and creative talent globally. Each episode, the Life in Digital podcast speaks to leaders in the digital sector about their expertise, their experiences and how their businesses are navigating the current digital landscape climate. Join our hosts Ed Steer and Dan Bolter every two weeks to be part of the conversation.

The Life in Digital podcast is brought to you in partnership with The Digital Voice, a much-loved B2B AdTech PR agency who are ready to bring your voice to life with PR, marketing, events, content, and much more. Looking to amplify your brand’s voice? Look no further than The Digital Voice. Visit www.thedigitalvoice.co.uk to find out more.

Collaboration. Culture. Growth.

Three levers that all marketers need to hit in order to be successful. But with so much on their plates, how do they juggle it all and continue driving the business forward?

Join us as we sit down with Cristy Garcia, Chief Marketing Officer at impact.com, to discuss how marketers can leverage partnerships for success, lean into periods of economic stability, and play a role in how company culture is developed.

In the latest episode of Life in Digital, we’re joined by Vyde CEO and Co-Founder Sam Peters, to talk about the role of creativity in advertising, the power of conversational formats and how innovative technologies like Vyde can harness the power of AI to engage audiences – and drive attention.

Sphere Digital Recruitment are specialists in placing marketing, sales, analytics, product and creative talent globally. Each episode, the Life in Digital podcast speaks to leaders in the digital sector about their expertise, their experiences and how their businesses are navigating the current digital landscape climate. Join our hosts Ed Steer and Dan Bolter every two weeks to be part of the conversation.

The Life in Digital podcast is brought to you in partnership with The Digital Voice, a much-loved B2B AdTech PR agency who are ready to bring your voice to life with PR, marketing, events, content, and much more. Looking to amplify your brand’s voice? Look no further than The Digital Voice. Visit www.thedigitalvoice.co.uk to find out more.

Sustainability is more than just a buzzword in advertising - it’s the future of ad tech. And with the current economic climate, it’s key that businesses start making moves to not just future-proof their business, but also help create a more sustainable future for the industry. 

Join us as we sit down with Susan Kravitz, Head of Commercial Operations, Americas, at SeenThis, to discuss how advertisers and publishers can come out stronger in the face of growing sustainability challenges, and the small steps we can start taking towards a greener industry today.

The digital media landscape has changed beyond recognition in recent years, as publishers and advertisers strive to cut through the noise of up to 10,000 ads that bombard consumers every day.

In the latest episode of our Life in Digital podcast, we’re joined by Adnami MD, James Upson, to discuss how high-impact advertising is making waves not only as a naturally engaging format, but is helping to create a more sustainable ad ecosystem by reducing ad wastage and making the supply chain more efficient. 

As the world of sports sponsorships becomes increasingly complex, the power of data-driven insights and AI is more important than ever. In this episode of our Life in Digital Podcast: The US Edition, Dan Bolter is joined by Jay Prasad, Chief Executive Officer at Relo Metrics, to discuss the innovative strategies and best practices for optimizing sponsorship investments and retaining revenue in a competitive market.

"It's essential to leverage data and AI to make informed decisions and maximize the ROI of sports sponsorships while also engaging fans and enhancing their experience."

Join us as Jay shares his insights on the rapidly changing landscape of sports sponsorships, the role of AI in analyzing and optimizing sponsorship investments, and the importance of delivering actionable insights to brands, teams, and leagues. He also discusses the challenges and opportunities presented by the convergence of live broadcasts, social media, and streaming platforms in the sports industry.

Jay Prasad brings over twenty years of experience in the technology and software sectors, with extensive executive leadership in ad tech and the metrics and measurement industry. As CEO of Relo Metrics, he leads the development of the AI-powered sports sponsorship intelligence platform, helping major sports leagues and sponsorship brands make data-driven decisions to optimize their investments and drive revenue growth.

Join us as we discuss the critical role of sustainability in the advertising industry with Harvin Gupta, Head of Commercial Partnerships at Scope3. Discover how Scope3 is empowering advertisers to reduce their carbon footprint and contribute to a greener future.

As the talent landscape evolves, inclusive recruitment is becoming a top priority for companies looking to create diverse and inclusive work environments. In this episode of our Life in Digital Podcast: The US Edition, Dan Bolter is joined by Cynthia Gomez and Jennifer Nickrenz, Global Senior Talent Parters at Taboola, to discuss the strategies and best practices for attracting and retaining top talent in a competitive market.

"It's crucial to build a culture of internal mobility and promote a healthy work-life balance to prevent burnout and attrition."

As attention metrics revolutionize the advertising landscape, industry professionals must adapt their strategies to effectively capture and measure ad success. With ad performance relying more on the attention garnered than mere impressions, it's time to explore the power of attention in the digital advertising world.

We're back with a thought-provoking episode of our Life in Digital Podcast: The US Edition, Dan Bolter is joined by Mike Follett, MD of Lumen, a leading attention technology company, to discuss the future of digital advertising and the significance of harnessing attention metrics for optimized ad campaigns in a cluttered online environment.

“It’s essential to shift our focus from counting impressions to truly capturing attention.”

Female-founded teams perform 63% better than male-founded teams and generate 35% higher return on investment for VC investors. Despite these impressive numbers, female founders only receive 2% of the investment capital available from Angels and VCs, making the need for more support and investment in women-led businesses crucial...

Our latest episode of the Life in Digital Podcast is a must-listen for anyone interested in the challenges that female entrepreneurs still face in today's world. We sit down with Jo Eckersley, the founder of Bubbl Tech, a mobile marketing technology company, to discuss her journey and the struggles of female founders. 

We also delve into the role of mentorship and networking in supporting female entrepreneurs, stressing the importance of honest conversations about mental health challenges and the need for successful female founders to mentor others coming up through the ranks. Don't miss this inspiring episode as we celebrate International Women's Day on March 8th.

Looking for insights on how to make recruitment and hiring more accessible and inclusive for everyone? 

In the second episode of our  'Leading with Inclusion' series on the Life in Digital podcast we're joined by the brilliant Jennie Child, Founder of Balance, to talk about inclusive hiring for neurodivergent talent.

Jennie shares what hidden barriers and unintentional biases can exist within the hiring process. How "culture fit" in the creative and media industries can lead to homogeneity and exclusion.

Jennie also emphasises the importance of making adjustments and accommodations for candidates during the hiring process and recognises the challenges that neurodivergent individuals may face in getting accurately diagnosed with conditions like autism.

This episode offers valuable insights into how we can create a more inclusive and accessible hiring process for all individuals. 

Welcome to 'Leading with Inclusion', a new series on the Life in digital podcast that provides tangible tools and insights for diversity, inclusion and equity in the digital sector.

In this series, we will be talking to industry leaders, experts and advocates who are driving change within their organizations and pushing for a more inclusive digital landscape.

Our podcast started in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement and DEI is something we want to keep front of mind for our listeners.

We're kicking off with Naren Patel, trustee of NABS and Founder of Media For All [MEFA].

MEFA came about after Naren discovered that despite over 200,000 Londoners working in media, less than 10% of the workforce is non-white, and less than 4% hold positions in c-suite groups.

What started as a speed mentoring session where all the industry leaders were people of colour, quickly turned into the network MEFA, representing and supporting hundreds of Black, Asian and other Ethnic talent in the media industry.

In 2024, the number of people watching Connected TV will surpass the number of paying TV viewers, this presents a huge opportunity for the industry as spend of advertising is predicted to grow by 27.2% in 2023, up to $27 billion in the US. With predictions of double-digit growth through to 2026.

“We’re at a critical junction where media companies are realizing, they need to do more…”

On this week’s episode of the Life in Digital Podcast: The US Edition, Dan and Joe Lospalluto, US Country Manager for ShowHeroes, discuss the creativity within CTV and how ShowHeroes can help Media and Publisher clients monetize this.

“There are so many new creative formats emerging to get customers to interact, whether this includes QR codes or voice commands – there’s been a big surge within the CTV space.”

On this week’s episode of the Life in Digital Podcast, Ed spoke with Sarah Lewis, Global Director of CTV, and Steve Filler, UK Country Manager, at ShowHeroes, to discuss the future of CTV within the Media and Publishing industry across the UK and Europe.

Stay tuned as we will be releasing a special episode for the US markets in the coming weeks.

“This is how brands can look at their own success, they don’t care so much about clicks, they care if they are occupying the space in your brain that leads you towards them when you need them”...

This week on Life in Digital Podcast: The US Edition we hear from Tom Jenen, Chief Revenue Officer at Brand Metrics, for his second appearance on the podcast. Tom and Dan discuss brand lift, long-term growth and driving sales across the US and globally. 

“First-party data is everything in the future, that’s the first thing that broth brands and publishers need to understand”

Our next guest of the Life in Digital Podcast: The US Edition is James Prudhomme, Chief Revenue Officer at Optable, to discuss all things about first-party data, data clean rooms, and how the US is adopting these practices.

*Trigger warning - traumatic birth*

Nothing can prepare you for a difficult birth and our next Life in Digital podcast guest, Natalie Dawson, Strategic Agency Sales Director at The Ozone Project, shared the trauma she experienced giving birth to her beautiful son, who was born with William’s Syndrome, and her journey back to work where she continues to grow and the lessons she is bringing now she is approaching her second maternity leave…

49% of consumers today who depend on influencer recommendations to make purchasing decisions.

“The future is so wide open for partnerships… the more success brands have, the easier it’s going to be for other brands…”

Our next guest of the Life in Digital Podcast: The US Edition is Todd Crawford, VP of Strategic Initiatives and Co-Founder of impact.com to discuss the partnership economy, micro-influencers and the future of advertising. 

Our Life in Digital Podcast has gone Stateside! Hear from our VP, North America, Dan Bolter as he hosts leaders from the digital space. New Episodes every month - subscribe to be the first to hear. 

Hosted by Sphere Digital, the specialists in placing marketing, sales, analytics, product & creative talent globally

“Everyone chases engagement…that space is very crowded – why not look at disengagement?”

On this week’s episode of the Life in Digital podcast, Ed spoke with Jahanzeb Alvi, Growth Director at Exit Bee to discuss consumer journeys, micro-moments and how Exit Bee uses this information to make valuable decisions and target consumers effectively when they are disengaged.

As a start-up, Exit Bee have a lot of room to grow! They’re working on an exciting programmatic road map meaning soon they’ll be able to start programmatically. They are also always continually looking at audience infinities, journeys, and how users behave and engage, figuring out these audiences in a private, respectful way to deliver better experiences whether they’re onsite or ads.

On this week’s episode of the Life in Digital Podcast, Ed Steer is joined by Ben Dimond, Head of EMEA at Playground xyz to discuss the attention we pay to adverts, how this can be tracked, and, more importantly optimised for brands and advertisers.

Advertising is “becoming people focused and humanised” as we move towards values led partnerships. Our next guest of the Life in Digital Podcast is Didrik Svendsen, CEO & Co-Founder of Tailify, who are shaping the world of influencer marketing, powered by science.

Didrik shares how in only a few years, influencers will account for the largest job role globally and what that means for the future of brands.

We jumped straight into this episode so no introduction from Ed as the guys were busy talking about the results of the Tailify values test…

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This week Ed is joined by Peter Wallace, SVP of Sales from GumGum to uncover how digital advertising technology is evolving and where the growth areas are for the industry in the years’ ahead.

Peter goes into detail of how the combination of using creativity and contextualisation in advertising can add value and reach the targeted audiences without needing the use of cookies.

He shares how attention and attribution will evolve and become more significant over the next 12 months.

During a time where the Ad Tech industry has been disrupted due to cookies being banished in Europe and new legislations strengthening the protection of consumer data.

It has ultimately forced brands and publishers to explore new ways of making use of their data sets without compromising consumer data privacy.

James Prudhomme, CRO at Optable joins Ed on this week’s episode of our Life in Digital Podcast. James goes into detail about the emergence of data clean rooms in the Ad Tech industry and how this platform creates a secure and compliant space for companies who are tackling the loss of third-party cookies.

“Almost 60 per cent of women regularly experience microaggressions at work”.

To kick off 2022, we have a special bonus episode with Karen Carter, COO at Bloom. Bloom is a professional network for women in communications that champion women in all stages of their careers. 

Ed and Karen go into depth on how industries can tackle unconscious gender biases, barriers women face to equality and shining light on the overall challenges women encounter in the workplace. 

Out of some $400 Billion of online ads, as many as 40% or approximately $160 Billion worth are seen by bots and not humans. That’s $160 billion of wasted advertising spend by brands!

Our latest guest on this week’s episode of the Life in Digital Podcast is Justin Wenczka, CRO at Verasity. Verasity has a US patent to its Proof of View technology that detects and eliminates ad fraud and only records, on the blockchain, genuine human views of ads and video content.

Our latest guest on this week’s episode of the Life in Digital Podcast, Yaroslav Kholod, Head of Programmatic at Admixer, brings insight into how the ad tech industry in Eastern Europe (CIS) has adapted to standardising their practices.

Yaroslav talks about how important it is to have relations with publishers and advertisers when going global and how the SaaS DSP product is helping companies who are looking for a barrier-free entry into the programmatic world. CTV remains a vulnerable ecosystem with plenty more standardisation to take place.

Our latest guest on this week’s episode of the Life in Digital podcast, Nick Pinks, CEO and Founder of Covatic goes into depth on how personalisation can still be formed whilst prioritising consumer privacy.

In this episode, Ed hears from Nick about the work Covatic are doing to tackle the industry shift by combining privacy and personalisation to create the perfect solution, discussing how the industry is making reparations from the impact of Covid, and insight into the future of the Ad Tech industry.

The amount of pirate websites and apps is on the rise and it’s now easier than ever to find and consume content via channels that are engaged in IP crime.

It’s estimated that the top pirate web domains earn around $7 million in ad revenue annually.

In this week’s episode of the Life in Digital Podcast, Ed chats with Peter Szyszko, CEO and Founder of White Bullet, a software company which sits at the intersection of content protection and brand safety.

Whether you work for a brand, publisher, agency or have any involvement with the world of online advertising, this week’s episode promises to provide you with some interesting insight into the murky world of digital piracy, and what companies need to do to protect their IP and ensure their brand is safe online.

Diversity, inclusion, equality… it’s fast making its way to the top of the agenda for most businesses.

However, more is still needed to be done to move the topics away from simply a box ticking exercise to one which drive positive change and involves everyone at every level across an organisation.

In this week’s episode of the Life in Digital Podcast, Amy spoke with the incredible Jasmine Dotiwala.

For those unfamiliar with Jasmine’s experience, she’s currently part of Netflix’s UK Editorial and Publishing team and has built an enviable career in the world of TV and media, holding positions with Viacom, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky.

Alongside these roles, in her roles as Head of Youth Engagement, Head of New Talent and now advisor at Media Trust, Jasmine has been instrumental in creating new pathways for talent from all backgrounds to get into the media and creative industries.

In this week’s episode of the Life in Digital Podcast, Ed caught up with Matthew Newcomb, CEO of Inskin Media, the global leader in delivering unmissable and unforgettable digital advertising campaigns for brands.

Throughout this episode, Matthew talks to Ed about how Inskin’s platform generates greater attention online for their clients, the role of creativity in effective brand campaigns and driving sales, as well as the future of advertising experience online for consumers.

For anyone looking to grow their teams in the coming months and create a hiring process that centers around focusing on the right values and behaviours then this episode isn’t one to be missed.

Amy speaks to Kitty Day, Head of Talent at A Million Ads, the personalisation experts who help their clients harness data to create personalised advertising with more context and relevance to better connect with people.

Kitty shares her experiences of how to create a culture that’s transparent, inclusive and fun, as well as why A Million Ads concentrate on hiring for culture-add rather than culture-fit.

Effectively measuring brand lift, disruption to and by publishers in recent years, the need to deliver the right content to engaged audiences – the list of topics dominating the industry is a diverse one.

Creating a diverse, equal, and inclusive company, it’s been a topic on many companies’ agendas for a while now.

But where do you start, what journey do you need to go on and what organisational changes do you need to make to drive a culture shift and bring D&I to the forefront?

This week, Amy’s joined by Akama Davies, Director of Global Solutions & Innovation at Xaxis and Co-Founder of We are Stripes, a DEI consultancy whose mission is to address the ethnic imbalance in the creative and advertising sectors.

In one of our most relevant discussions to date, Akama talks Amy through the work the team at We are Stripes are doing to support companies in their quest to address their approach to delivering robust, genuine D&I talent strategies.

The pair also discuss the media and wider societal impacts surrounding race and the Black Lives Matter movement have had on D&I, as well as how us as individuals can drive change and create positive actions within the workplace.

For anyone seeking to address their D&I policies in 2021, the actionable takeaways Akama shares throughout the discussion are not to be missed.

As the wants and needs of the consumer change, the role of conversational advertising allows for better engagement, two-way conversations and ultimately puts the user experience front and centre.

On this week’s episode of the Life in Digital Podcast, Ed’s joined by Steffen Svartberg, Founder and CEO of Cavai, a conversational advertising platform which allows for more captive and valuable ad experiences on display, mobile and video.

With new technologies, platforms and opportunities to reach consumers emerging at almost breakneck speeds, has the focus on the importance of delivering engaging creative been forgotten along the way?

Welcome to the 3rd episode of this year’s Life in Digital Podcast series hosted by Ed Steer. Today we’re joined by Simon Kvist Gaulshøj, CEO of Adnami to talk about the Importance of the Creative in Ad Campaigns.

For most businesses, remote onboarding and managing a more remote workforce has become a priority since March 2019.

Businesses who can hire, develop and retain talent as the world evolves will hold a competitive advantage.

“I’m a big believer in a more diverse internet, and I think that’s part of what partnerships do. They create more and more relationships rather than everyone stuck having to work with Facebook and Google."

In the final episode of this season’s Parenting is a Juggling Act, I’m humbled to be joined by Niki Stoker, mother of Fred and Chief Operating Officer at A Million Ads.

Niki endured a rollercoaster of a journey into motherhood, including an ectopic pregnancy that left her feeling that she and her husband would never conceive.

Her story is one of hardship, endurance and in the end, hopefulness.

If you are struggling with any of the topics mentioned, please reach out to myself (Amy) or Niki (our details are below)

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I’m proud to be joined by Claire Leon, mother of 3 and co-founder of Acorn Intelligence – a technology-enabled Amazon sales agency.

Claire’s youngest was just 2 years old when she launched the business and since then they have seen huge growth.

Claire shared her experience raising a small family whilst at Amazon, her difficulties in pregnancy and childbirth, launching a start-up, juggling a career with a husband in a global role, and the importance of delegating.

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