Performance marketing business, Impact Radius, has hired former RadiumOne MD Adam Furness as its APAC MD.
Furness, who spent four years at global digital ad tech company RadiumOne, which was acquired by RhythmOne in June, left the business just before Christmas, as revealed by AdNews.
Media speculation that Furness was relocating to Singapore last year was incorrect, with Furness confirming this to AdNews at the time.
The Sydney-based role sees Furness charged with boosting the growth of Impact Radius across APAC.
Heading up an initial team of five, Furness tells AdNews he will be recruiting for more staff in Australia, with future plans to ramp up in New Zealand and Asia.
He says after meeting the executive team, learning more about the technology, as well as its expedited growth plans, he was sold on joining the company.
“The focus on the growth of the business is something that is really important to me, as is the leadership at Impact Radius,” Furness says.
“I’m thrilled to be joining the team at such a pivotal time and working together to accelerate the plans for growth across APAC."
He says the desire to expand the Asia Pacific region specifically, had great appeal, which was one of the attractions that initially lured him to RadiumOne.
AdNews understands that global clients Impact Radius has on its books include Getty Images, Lenovo and Ticketmaster. Testimonials on its website come from Citrix, TransferWise, PopSugar, Slickdeals and more.
The growing martech space
The 2008-founded business, aimed at advertisers and agencies, was created by the execs who founded Commission Junction, Savings.com and LeadPoint. Its core aim is to transform the way advertisers handle media and performance marketing partnerships.
Put simply, as we all know there's far too much jargon in the ad tech/martech space, Furness breaks down the company's offering into three core areas of performance marketing, fraud detection and analytics.
Just as Salesforce dominates the sales ecosystem with its technology, Furness says Impact Radius wants to be the “Salesforce for marketers”, in that its key point of difference to other players is the performance marketing, marketing intelligence and ad fraud protection trio all in one platform.
"That's what makes it such a unique offering," Furness says.
While more than 300 employees are listed as working at Impact Radius on LinkedIn, it is early days for the business Down Under.
It has been in Australian for a year, previously headed up by Daniel Karlsson, but its presence seems fairly small so far and it's likely to largely rival SaaS competitor Performance Horizon. The company also slightly overlaps with Rakuten Marketing on the technology front, however Impact Radius offers the technology only, whereas Rakuten offers account management and publisher recruitment and development.
On the ad fraud detection part of the business, Impact Radius will be competing with Moat and Integral Ad Science.
Furness, who has also held senior leadership roles in sales, strategy, cross platform and business development at Southern Cross Austereo, Macquarie Radio Network and MI9, should be a wise hire given his market knowledge and industry connections.
Major marketing moves planned
Furness' arrival also coincides with the company’s first ever CMO, Scott Brazina, joining the firm. He will be based in New York and both new recruits will report to the global CEO, David Yovanno.
US-based Yovanno was former CEO at Marin Software and prior to that president of tech solutions at Conversant.
“The hiring of our first CMO speaks a lot to the type of growth we are planning,” Furness says.
“We are also going to have a big focus on marketing across APAC to make sure our offering is known.”
The company is serious about bolstering its staff, with more than 30 vacant roles open in regions such as New York, London, California, Cape Town and Ohio.
Yovanno says last year was a stellar year for Impact Radius as it more than doubled its volume year-over-year, significantly added to our team, expanded its presence in major markets including opening a new office in New York, and made major moves in bolstering its suite of products - “to meet the needs of today’s modern marketer”.
“Adam is a recognised marketing leader and veteran in the APAC region and his appointment demonstrates Impact Radius’ growth, vision and commitment to meeting the needs of today’s modern global brands,” Yovanno says.
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