In this exclusive “Masters of Media” series, Integral Ad Science (IAS) speaks to the Movers and Shakers of the APAC advertising industry on all digital matters.

Nic Jones is Head of Strategy, APAC at EssenceMediacom, GroupM’s newest and largest agency that is committed to delivering marketing breakthroughs for brands in the new communications economy.

In his role, Nic is responsible for overseeing EssenceMediacom’s strategy and planning function in the region. He is also the end-to-end experience lead in ASEAN and South Pacific for WPP Open, the bespoke global agency partner of The Coca-Cola Company. Additionally, he is currently driving the development of the agency’s addressable product offering and capability building in APAC.

With 16 years of experience, Nic has a deep understanding of all aspects of media and marketing transformation, from digital to above-the-line media, to addressable audiences, to data. He brings with him a proven track record of delivering innovation and integrated solutions to some of the world’s largest brands.

Questions:

IAS: Can you share your career journey in the digital media industry, highlighting key milestones and experiences that have shaped your professional path?

Nic: I’ve spent the last 16 years working in media agencies in the UK, China, and Singapore, and unsurprisingly, the job has changed a lot in that time. Working mostly in strategy roles, the role has changed from being a singular function to one that has to act as the bridge between the ever-growing number of specialisms and disciplines that have emerged.

It seems many marketers are on a constant journey of transformation and it’s been interesting to see how these have played out since the advent of digital advertising. We’ve been through several waves of digital advertising, from search, to social, and now retail, and while the pace of change has increased, the fundamental job of delivering value and growth for clients remains constant.

I currently spend a lot of time working with The Coca-Cola Company as part of the integrated WPP Open X model. It’s been stimulating to work a lot more closely with different disciplines and operating companies to provide truly integrated solutions for brands. I suspect we’ll see more agencies moving towards this consolidated agency group model for large multinational clients, given the potential upside from this integration.

IAS: If there’s one myth related to programmatic you’d like squashed, what would that be?

Nic: The perception that clients have the option to go down a programmatic route or a premium one. Programmatic has become a bit of a misnomer, one associated with cost-effective, broad reach through non-premium inventory. 

While there may have been an element of historical truth to this, the programmatic of today has a wealth of connected TV (CTV), digital out-of-home (DOOH), and broadcast video on demand (BVOD) inventory, to name a few, that can deliver a cost-effective, yet premium solution for clients.

It’s also no longer a blunt tool, and it has huge potential to deliver tailored messaging across valuable audience segments and platforms.

IAS: What challenges have you encountered in achieving audience addressability in diverse markets across APAC, and how have you adapted your approach to overcome them?

Nic: Addressability isn’t really anything new – the role of a media planner/buyer has always been to serve the right audience in the right context with the right message. The difference now is that technology has advanced to a point where we deliver both precision and scale, in a way that makes sense commercially. 

A lot of the reticence of embracing addressable planning and activation comes from the perception that it adds many layers of complexity and cost for only a marginal return. This has partly been driven by the industry, which has much to gain by making something seem more complicated than it needs to be. 

At EssenceMediacom, we’ve spent a lot of energy upskilling our people to be able to work with clients to identify the optimal addressable solution. This has had two main benefits:

• Addressable approaches are tied to a client’s maturity in the space and business opportunity, resulting in effective campaigns that operate on a singular insight with a suitably complex solution.
• Rather than bringing in specialists, upskilling all of our people has translated into more holistic human-centric thinking throughout the campaign cycle.
  
  

IAS: How do you foresee audience addressability evolving in the APAC region in the coming years, and what opportunities do you see for your company to further leverage this capability?

Nic: I see audience addressability taking a more central role in advertising and communications as a whole in the coming years. A number of our clients want to see greater value from media and creative working closer together to provide more relevant experiences to high-value audiences.

Technology, particularly on the creative side, will help remove some of the barriers to delivering addressable content at scale, particularly around cost and manual effort saved. We are working with partners to provide scalable addressable content solutions that can be plugged directly into current planning and activation processes.

We’re also seeing a lot more data opportunities opening up, particularly in the retail space that can be leveraged on and off retail platforms. This is going to benefit our clients as they look for more robust, deterministic segmentation.


IAS: Any advice for leaders on talent retention and supporting a hybrid workforce in the digital media space?

Nic: Focus on creating and propagating a culture that goes beyond corporate values and performance. While it’s important that agencies maintain a competitive and differentiated position in the market and that employees are advocates of that, having principles that promote inclusiveness are perhaps more important.

We live in a time where it feels like there’s a greater digital and geographic distance between people – due to hybrid working, reduced travel, or a pandemic-driven preference for simply doing something alone.

There is significant value in bringing people together to problem-solve and create something together, but this doesn’t necessarily need to be physically mandated. A culture that promotes collaboration and cross-functional support goes a long way in bridging some of these divides.

We’ve seen successes by promoting learning and development programmes, cultural inspiration days, and business challenge hackathons, amongst other initiatives, to give our people opportunities to get together in areas outside of the day-to-day.

IAS: What is your advice to the fresh talent entering the digital media industry, especially in the APAC region?

Nic: There’s never been a more exciting time to enter the digital media industry. Many of the promises of digital such as retail segmentation, fully addressable communications, and one-to-one transactions are coming to fruition for brands.

My advice for someone entering the industry would be to:

• Embrace the rapid pace of change and uncertainty – with experience comes inertia and as a digital native, you’re best placed to see the future opportunities.
• Find a good mentor – having a neutral sounding board is extremely valuable and it often helps to get an outside perspective on career development.
• Learn how to have a holistic view of communications – digital activation will shape the brand strategies of tomorrow, so elevating its value will stand you in good stead.

IAS: What’s your favourite book/podcast/movie, and how has it influenced your approach to strategy or leadership?

Nic: I’m a big fan of the book Emotion by Design: Creative Leadership Lessons from a Life at Nike by Greg Hoffman. In it, the former Nike CMO codifies some of his experience of what makes great storytelling and creativity that build global brands. 

With our industry becoming more complex by the day with an ever-increasing number of specialisms and products, it’s a reminder that great advertising isn’t purely the product of a specialist creative team working on an award-winning video. 

Where creativity is able to reach its full potential is where a culture of collaboration across specialisms exists, from creative, to media, to commerce and retail. In his words,

“Talent starts the game, chemistry wins it. Pass the ball. Create a culture where the left and right brains multiply each other. Drive radical creative collaboration between the minds, skills, and dreams of each other.”

The post Masters of Media – Nic Jones, Head of Strategy, APAC, EssenceMediacom appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

The post Driving Customer Success at IAS-Client Testimonial appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

The post Driving Customer Success at IAS-Client Testimonial appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

The post Driving Customer Success at IAS-Client Testimonial appeared first on Integral Ad Science.