In this series, AdNews takes a look at some of the professionals working across the advertising, adtech, marketing and media sector in Australia. This time it's Ogury country director ANZ Chris Manson.
Time in current role:
I’ve been at Ogury for four years now.
How would you describe what the company does?
At Ogury, we deliver a personified advertising solution that helps brands, agencies and publishers target their unique audiences in a privacy-first way. Through Ogury’s exclusive data, we are able to deliver relevant audiences at scale and on quality publisher inventory, by focusing on targeting personas, not people. Our data is meticulously collected from millions of self-declared customer surveys that are uniquely enriched with impactful data points and refined through AI – meaning we’re able to offer unmatched audience and performance insights.
What do you do day to day?
I’m very fortunate to lead an incredibly talented team in Australia, where everything I do day-to-day is centred around ensuring they have a clear runway and the optimal environment to perform at their best. Beyond this, it’s my responsibility to establish and nurture long-term partnerships with global agencies and marketers.
Define your job in one word:
Dynamic.
I got into my industry because:
Like many who started at my time, I had no idea what a media agency did, and I intended to use my start at UM Worldwide as a stepping stone to get into copywriting at a creative agency. However, my passion for cutting out newspaper tearsheets for Federal Government ads in my first six months was just too strong to deviate from!
What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role?
Ogury’s success in Australia to date has been fuelled by our people and our product, and they remain my primary challenges and priorities.
From a people perspective, we’re known to have an enviable team dynamic and culture, as well as high engagement since we launched. Maintaining that culture as we continue to grow, regardless of external conditions, is always front of mind.
With our product, the success of our solution is reliant on the industry truly understanding the compromises marketers and agencies will have to make in a privacy-focused ad world (such as audience scale and targeting accuracy), and how Ogury’s solution proves that those sacrifices don’t have to be made.
What’s the biggest industry-wide challenge you’d like to see tackled?
The challenge I see developing over the coming years is at an individual level (including myself): how to generate a skillset that can combat irrelevancy. After almost 20 years in media, the industry is evolving at a pace far quicker than I have ever experienced. Those starting off in the industry today are lucky as this speed of change will be ingrained into them from early on. More broadly, individuals can’t settle for being comfortable leveraging only what they know today, as they will struggle to keep up.
Who has been a great mentor to you and why?
Without naming anyone specific, those I look up to the most are people who display values I try to emulate both personally and professionally. It’s their organic ability to inspire and bring the best out of others at work while still prioritising being a wonderful parent and partner at home.
Words of advice for someone wanting a job like yours?
Every relationship counts, regardless of seniority or line of business. It’s those relationships that shape the perception of your own brand and fuel the opportunities for personal and professional growth.
If I wasn’t doing this for a living, I'd be:
The cool answer would be a surf instructor in Maui… the more realistic answer would be trying to learn how to surf from an instructor on the Central Coast.
My philosophy is:
Hire well, give them your best and you will get their best.
My favourite advert is:
The greatest ads spark a long-term emotion, and being a big basketball fan since I was young, I can’t look past the nostalgic Michael Jordan / Larry Bird “The Showdown” Big Mac commercial for McDonald’s in the early 90’s.
Music and TV streaming habits: What do you subscribe to?
When it comes to TV, it’s whatever my wife wants to watch, but my 80’s/90’s hip hop Spotify playlist is non-negotiable!
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you:
My giant head was put on display on full bus wraps and big billboards for an Xbox campaign in my early days at UM Worldwide.
In five years time I'll be:
Doing whatever I have to do to look like my current headshot (which is already four years out of date and lacking in accuracy!).
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.