Our Industry Profile takes a look at some of the professionals working across the advertising, adtech, marketing and media sector in Australia. It aims to shed light on the varying roles and companies across the buzzing industry.
Rhiannon Brown: sales director, NSW independents at MiQ
Time in current role/time at company:
Almost five years at MiQ - it’s gone so fast, and I really feel like part of the furniture.
Its been one of the most dynamic jobs of my careers, as I've moved from NSW sales director of Holding Cos, then worked across building our client direct division and now I'm leading the NSW Independents portfolio.
Its been amazing to have such a varied scope of experience.
How would you describe what the company does?
Sometimes, particularly in the adtech space, the risk is we can go down the rabbit hole, of tech, AI and data – so for me I just like to call it programmatic everything.
I think though, what makes us unique is our ability in connecting dots and finding solutions for client business problems using data. Everyone is always talking about the importance of data, however, more often than not the roadblock is in being able to harvest that data and then actually use that data to reach your audience. Then we activate that against any medium available in the programmatic landscape.
It's just really fun to be at a company where you get to say yes to clients so often.
“Can you help us make our TV buy more efficient” - yes.
“Can you help us understand our audience better, using membership data”- yes
“Can you help us unpack, why people drop off our website before purchasing”- why yes, yes we can.
What do you do day to day?
Wow - that’s a question- I remember interviewing for my first job, and a colleague described the role by saying “on any day I could be doing something different, I could be anywhere in Sydney” - and it hasn’t changed! However, to distil it - my day is filled with working with clients, problem solving, driving exciting new business outcomes and I spend a lot of time in spreadsheets!
Define your job in one word:
Dynamic.
I got into the industry because:
It was a GFC and my uni degree which was in PR was not serving me well. So I started searching for jobs in 'Media'. Here I landed- and I’ve never looked back.
What’s the biggest industry wide challenge you’d like to see tackled?
There are still so many social issues that media is still working its way through especially around diversity and inclusion, the equal representation of women, notably in senior positions. If I move the lens to an industry challenge, the most prescient issue is how we move forward in a post-cookie world. We talk a lot about when this will happen and what it will look like, and players like MiQ are prepared and ready for this inevitably – yet I still see media campaigns daily, focusing on KPIs like CPC, CTRs and these very archaic digital metrics.
We still see 1st party data pools that are completely untapped, and unactionable. I predict some uncomfortable conversations in the future with clients when the proverbial “switch is turned off” – if we all don't get more on the front foot.
Previous industry related companies you have worked at:
So many don’t exist anymore! That's really showing my age isn't?
Inlink (now oOh!) MCN (now Foxtel Media ) Carsales.com Fairfax (now Nine Publishing)
It just goes to show how dynamic and fast-paced this industry can be.
Notable campaigns/initiatives:
Ive worked on some amazing campaigns in my career but I the two that stand out the most are the ones where we developed incredibly high quality content and where I had to learn new skills.
The MFA award winning GRDC (Grains Research & Development Corporation) campaign in 2016. In collaboration with multiple Fairfax divisions (radio, metro, Print & Regional Print) - we facilitated a content campaign where we travelled to Rural Wheat belt communities to allow the Farming community to engage with the GRDC, ask questions, and get a deeper understand of what the body could do in developing new practices and
But my absolute favourite was in 2013 at Foxtel and in partnership with Channel [V] where we got Birds of Tokyo to play a series events for HTC Phones – we then created a series of Voxpop style content that run across TV & Digital assets. Wow did I learn a lot on that campaign.
Who has been a great mentor to you and why?
Hands down Fiona Roberts has been my #1 supporter, mentor and friend since we worked together at Carsales more than 10 years ago. She has taught me how to understand people, broaden my perspective and to leave my ego at the door.
But notable mentions to Ben Baker, Heidi Monroe, and Stu Parker – all who have added more tools to my tool box, from sales basics, leading with compassion to the art of negotiation.
Words of advice for someone wanting a job like yours?
Transparency is key; mistakes happen, own them, learn from them move on.
If I wasn’t doing this for a living, I'd be:
An ancient history teacher.
My philosophy is:
'Work Hard Play hard'.
My favourite advert is (and why):
Right now it’s the Google AFL where an immigrant Dad learns from Google how to teach his daughter to play Aussie Rules - it makes me cry every time.
Music and TV streaming habits. What do you subscribe to?
All of them. Including the SMH.com - please stay informed, if you are willing to pay for streaming content, pay for quality information.
In five years time, I'll be:
Probably doing media, being a mum (I have a one year old now and will think about another) but the thing about media is, you always have to be ready for the next thing. Fifteen years ago programmatic didn’t exist and 20 years ago, digital barely had share. I’m prepared for whatever happens in the next five years.
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