When planning your career path, choose roles at companies that are best positioned for the long term versus just perennial favorites.
Hi James, could you tell us a little about your journey and where it all started for you?
I’ve been working in the digital advertising industry for over 20 years. In 2002, I originally joined Vibrant Media as VP of Sales and Operations, later became a GM and then returned to take on Sales and Operations again.
How has the pandemic affected your team and your productivity?
Since we have multiple small teams versus a few large teams in any given region, there were several shared office setups where our teams stopped going in-person once the pandemic hit.
Since Vibrant Media has always been a global company and the demand for contextual solutions is at an all time high, our productivity was not impacted by the pandemic.
What sets Vibrant Media apart from competition?
Vibrant Media’s experience and sophistication is what sets us apart. We have been singularly focused on contextual targeting for over 20 years and employ natural language processing (NLP) and computational linguistics to offer the most precise contextual analysis and targeting for brands and agencies.
How do you see the Sales Enablement sector evolving over the years to come?
Just as the advertising industry has, the sales enablement sector will need to adapt to the decline in audience data. To create inbound leads, finding the right audience with the right message will become even more reliant on a content-driven approach.
How do you see Marketing Automation impacting the traditional Sales and Marketing funnels?
Marketing automation can definitely help increase efficiencies throughout the sales and marketing funnels, but can also help personalize the lead nurturing process. Contextual targeting can help with personalization, providing real-time precision and granularity so brands can always be up to date with what step of the journey their customer is on.
What are your thoughts on B2B Tech companies leveraging the Metaverse to drive their marketing?
If B2B companies have identified that a critical mass of their target audience is accessing the metaverse, then it seems like a great use of marketing resources. That being said, there will be many B2B sectors whose target audiences are not yet in the metaverse. It could be a riskier move on their part to leverage the metaverse until there is evidence that their target audience spends time there.
Top 5 apps that you use for business?
Custom CRM
Hubspot
Google Analytics
DV360
MediaRadar
What advice would you give to someone who aspires to be a ‘marketing success’?
My advice would be to read and stay up to date on as much industry news as possible. When planning your career path, choose roles at companies that are best positioned for the long term versus just perennial favorites.
Your top pick for a book on leadership that everyone should read?
My top leadership pick would be The Obstacle is the Way, by Ryan Holiday.
Could you name one person that you would like to see featured here?
I would like to see Ann Piper – Head of Client Partnerships, US Vertical Team, at Spotify featured in MarTech360.
Thanks James!
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James is an industry veteran with over 20 years of experience managing sales and operations teams as well as playing active roles in go-to-market strategy and product development. As a founding team member at Vibrant Media, James played a leading role in expanding revenue and growing the team from only 15 to over 300 Worldwide by 2011. After a his post at Millennial Media, James launched a philanthropic-capitalist startup in 2015, helped to launch UpCurrent in 2016 and then returned to Vibrant Media along with the founding CEO and CTO to launch its new advanced contextual business, Quintesse.
Vibrant Media, the leaders of contextual marketing, make it easy for brands to deliver advertising that’s relevant to what people care about in that very moment. Vibrant’s products lead the industry with viewability and are delivered across devices, within safe, high quality editorial – reaching over 450 Million monthly unique users Globally. Vibrant’s direct Publisher partnerships drive sustainable and incremental revenue, while maintaining a great user experience.