Our Industry Profile takes a look at some of the professionals working across the advertising, ad tech, marketing and media sector in Australia. It aims to shed light on the varying roles and companies across the buzzing industry.
This week we speak to Xandr senior manager, consulting Philip Coetzee.
Time at the company:
Four years.
How would you describe what the company does?
Xandr is a global advertising company dedicated to creating a premium advertising marketplace that makes it easy for buyers to reach their target audience across screens, and at scale, and for sellers to achieve better yield by aggregating inventory with other premium publishers.
What does your role involve?
In my role, I manage a team of some of the best and brightest in the industry to understand the key challenges our clients face, and build differentiated solutions that help them grow.
Within the last year, what stands out as the company’s major milestones?
It’s been an incredibly busy and exciting year for us. In June, we introduced our strategic buying platform, Xandr Invest, and three months later we relaunched and enhanced our selling platform, Xandr Monetize. These announcements followed our launch of Community, a premium advertising marketplace acting as a curated bridge between the two in the US.
Locally, we continue to experience significant growth in our premium video marketplace and we are extremely excited about the opportunities that video header bidding will unlock for broadcasters.
Best thing about the industry you work in:
Solving problems that matter for the industry, and not just for our company.
Previous industry related companies you have worked at:
This is my first job in adtech. Prior to Xandr, I worked in technical consulting in the telco industry.
What is the elephant in the room? The thing that no one is talking about – but they should be.
It’s vitally important that the best STEM candidates (high school and uni) have the opportunity to see and understand the career paths that our industry has to offer. Too often we hear of candidates that weren’t even aware that adtech is a viable career.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
I’m a pretty competent cook and make a mean fettucine boscaiola.
Top networking tip:
Go to the Video Tech Meetup which is hosted every month.
My favourite restaurant for a business lunch is:
Chophouse.
My favourite advert is:
Volkswagen ‘Cupcake Boss’
My must-have gadget is:
Definitely my camera.
My favourite media is:
Anything SVOD related – I’m happy to pay for easily accessable, quality content.
My favourite TV show is:
River on Netflix.
The last book I read:
David Goldblatt: Photographs 1948–2018
My mantra is:
Make it happen.
I got into adtech because:
It looked exciting and new and the challenges in the industry kept coming. I prefer an environment like this.
If I wasn't doing this for a living, I'd be:
A photographer.
In five years' time I'll be:
Hopefully running a business that is doing something to improve the way people connect/interact.
Define your job in one word:
Empathy.
What's your poison:
Sullivan’s Cove Whiskey.
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
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