I hope you’ve had good, relaxing summer.
Here in the Beet patch we are ramping up with a number of projects including our weekly podcast. We are very pleased to be back for a new season – and a huge thanks to Transunion for sponsoring.
We are kicking off the the new season with my chat with Wenda Harris Millard, one of the most innovative, inspiring leaders we know.
Wenda has a stellar record of achievements from her work at DoubleClick, Ziff Davis, Yahoo and Martha Stewart Omnimedia where was co-CEO. She joined Michael Kassan twelve years ago as Vice Chairman and COO to build the powerhouse consultancy MediaLink.
Not slowing down, she is hard at work at at MediaLink at a number of other projects. I am happy we could catch up.
In our chat, she covers the accelerated transformation of digital media, the emergence of identity-based solutions and their impact on outcomes.
She shares her thoughts and experiences as woman mentor, advising many women on how to navigate the extraordinary pressures of family and career during Covid.
A great conversation.
Thank you Wenda for all you do and for you support of my work. You mean a lot to many people
Thanks again to our season sponsor Transuion.
And thank you for listening. I hope you enjoy the episode.
The BeetCast is a weekly podcast produced by Beet.TV. The Fall 2021 series is presented by Transunion. Please find your favorite podcast platform right here.
]]>But, to do that to best effect, they are going to need to start acting before the campaign has ended.
That is the view of Wenda Harris Millard, the industry veteran who is now vice chairman at strategic advisory MediaLink.
In this video interview with Beet.TV, Millard says the move toward outcomes as a focus is understandable.
“Given a lot of the uncertainties in our world now – socially and politically, business-wise – really focusing marketing dollars on business outcomes I think is more important than ever before,” she says.
“I think brands are still looking for the classics – driving awareness, consideration, intent to purchase – all those classic metrics.
“But now they’re really looking to see and measure engagement, online action, conversion to online and offline sales.”
Millard – previously co-CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Chief Sales Officer at Yahoo! – says it is now just about moving from the top to the bottom of the marketing funnel – not just about foregoing brand building in pursuit of measured sales.
Rather, she thinks brands need to have the capability to bring certainty to the top and middle of the funnel, too.
“One of the challenges that marketers have had is they’re still getting post-campaign reports,” she says.
“What a company like LoopMe does is right while that campaign is happening, leverage the data insights that they have through their partnerships, add the AI, and they can adjust that campaign in real time and bring in better targets and net new customers. It’s really literally closing the loop.”
Millard is referring to LoopMe, an outcomes-based advertising platform of which she is an advisor and that this year unveiled tools to optimize mid-flight campaigns in pursuit of attributed goals.
Going forward, she expects to see brands have a new focus on relationship-building.
The deprecation of third-party cookies and withering of mobile identifiers driving a new focus on gaining consented audience buy-in.
But Millard also says the times we live in are calling for a “respectful” tone that calls for emotion.
“That to me is the most exciting thing that I see on the horizon,” she says.
Millard recently joined LoopMe as member of the company’s data advisory board
You are watching “Outcomes-Based Advertising: Connecting Ad Exposure to Business Results,” a Beet.TV leadership video series presented by LoopMe. For more videos, please visit this page.
]]>So the Festival is still a “very important watering hole,” says Millard. In this interview with Beet.TV, Millard says data, diversity and consultants encroaching on the agency space were three main topics of discussion.
Millard is perhaps closer to the year-to-year center of gravity of Cannes than most people because Ascential plc, which owns the Festival, acquired MediaLink just over a year ago. MediaLink and its executives have long been fixtures at Cannes.
“I think what is absolutely palpable is the number of agency execs who are not here this year,” she says. “The conversations this year are more on the gravitas side. In years past, we focused on a lot of what isn’t working at all. This year, I find the conversations about we can do for the industry, for society at large.”
She feels that the Festival listened to the feedback it received from attendees leading up to last year’s event and that its subsequent modifications have been positive.
“It feels a little bit different and I do think that part of that is Cannes Lions’ response to a number of different constituents who said, ‘hey we’re looking for a little bit different experience here at Cannes.’ I think cutting it down by a day was a very, very smart, important response to it.”
Contributing to the “different feel” this year are “perhaps a little less frivolity and subjects with a little bit more gravitas.”
On the much-discussed subject of the utility of data, Millard cites the recognition by brands that “their data needs to be owned by them and better understood perhaps than in the past.”
There was more of a focus on equality and diversity this year, “not just in our business, but in our world. That will continue. That’s very much here to say.”
The third major conversation revolved around “the classic consultants encroaching on the previously owned relationships that agencies have with the brand marketers,” says Millard.
This video is part of a series produced by Beet.TV at Cannes Lions 2018 about advertising accountability presented by Mediaocean. Please find more videos from this series here.
]]>The European Commission’s General Data Protection Regulation means new measures that must be followed by any global company processing EU citizens’ data, with penalties of up to 4% of global turnover.
But, whilst companies may be aware of the impending legislation, they are not necessarily prepared, says MediaLink vice chairman Wenda Harris Millard, the former Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia co-CEO who now works with the consulting firm helping media companies transform themselves.
“There’s a big difference between awareness and preparedness,” she says in this video interview with Beet.TV. “Being prepared means:
GDPR is a big deal. Amongst other stipulations, measures include:
For a marketing industry now ostensibly driven by collecting, crunching and targeting consumer data points, the challenge is clear. Steps data handling and data processing companies should take include conducting risk assessments, appointing data protection officers and overhauling policies and systems.
But Millard says: “It’s not just the purview of the marketer. It is every business function in a company.”
Running MediaLink’s operations from London since MediaLink’s acquisition by Cannes Lions organiser Ascential last year, Millard may have a better view of the new legislation than many of the US ad execs she serves.
Right now, switched-on companies are racing to hit compliance. But glass-half-full companies don’t just have to use GDPR as an event to resent or be scared of – even re-obtaining explicit consent is an opportunity for another consumer interaction. What’s more, the net effect for marketers may be, to obtain future consumer opt-in, you are going to need to create even more valuable interactions.
“Those who understand how to provide more value will do well but I think those who aren’t paying attention to the importance of that value exchange there will be a challenge there,” Millard adds.
This video is part of our series on the preparation and anticipated impact GDPR on the digital media world. The series is presented by Criteo. Please visit this page for additional segments.
]]>“Facebook is a platform company. It didn’t really think of itself as a content company and responsible for a lot of this. I think a lot of the technology companies don’t,” Millard says in this interview at the DMEXCO advertising and media trade show.
Nonetheless, “They have absolutely committed to being the leader in what brand safety is all about in the digital space.”
Millard’s comments were in response to the disclosure by Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s VP of Global Marketing, that the social media giant will provide marketers with more reliable data about their ad campaigns and implement new content rules, as Advertising Age reports.
“I’m sure that Google and all the other players will be putting forth their own brand safety measures, but I really solute Facebook for making that announcement, taking the lead,” Millard says.
Content, measurement and brand safety issues have dogged Facebook for well over a year, the most recent being indications that Russian ad buys on the platform were intended to influence the 2016 U.S. General Election. All of these issues come into clear focus considering the combined footprint of both Facebook and Google.
“They own scale,” Millard says of the digital titans.
This is a source of unending frustration from both publishers and marketers that “there hasn’t been enough room outside Google and Facebook. But I think that’s not necessarily true. I think people are working very hard to get their stories told,” says Millard.
Consultancy MediaLink was acquired in early 2017 by Ascential plc, which owns the Cannes Lions Festivals, and by April had announced its intention to set up shop in London under Millard’s leadership. She’s pleased with results to date.
“The reception has been terrific. When we talk to brands they all have very, very common headaches and that’s all under the umbrella of digital transformation. It doesn’t matter what business you’re in as a brand. And that’s what we do.”
Having had a longtime presence at both Cannes and DMEXCO, Millard says DMEXCO’s founders have built “a very enviable franchise.”
This video is part a series that examines programmatic from both the seller and the buyer perspective. It is presented by PubMatic. For more videos from the series, please visit this page.
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Millard is Vice Chairman of MediaLink, the strategic advisory and business development firm that has long been an integral part of Cannes. That relationship was a walkup to the 2016 acquisition of MediaLink by Cannes owner Ascential plc and Millard’s assignment to run MediaLink’s first office outside of the United States, in London.
“I think that people are really looking for efficiency in many ways,” Millard says in this interview with Beet.TV. “They want to meet as many people as they can and Cannes is absolutely the place to do that.”
Less than 10 years ago, Cannes was predominantly a conference about creativity in advertising. Over the years, ad-tech providers began to make their presence known along with brand marketers, media companies and celebrities “Now we have the big broadcasters last year, every single one of them,” Millard says.
What hasn’t changed is the fundamental role of advertising, which she describes as “creating desire.” In order to do so, it’s better to have “more information versus less.”
Data derived from technology affords the opportunity of being smarter about consumers’ desires and needs. “It also can help measure the impact in a way that we’ve never had before,” Millard adds.
What has changed is that marketers are no longer the stewards of their brands. Consumers have taken on that role.
Millard knows from her work at MediaLink that among companies’ top priorities are finding good talent and making sure their organizations are structured in away to be “able to take advantage of all things digital.” What really matters now is speed “and it kills you if you don’t have it in this environment.”
To this end, Cannes is “one of the most important gatherings of the year by far,” says Millard. “The conversations and people at Cannes are designed to help give people some direction.”
This segment is part of the Beet.TV lead-up to the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. 2017. The series is presented by Storyful. For more from the series, please visit this page.
]]>And so it is that Kassan possibly senses “a little bit of a change” in the throng of festivities now officially called the Digital Content Newfronts under the auspices of the Internet Advertising Bureau. It’s slightly unusual that some companies opted out of the NewFronts events this year.
“Maybe that is some indication that we’ve reached sort of a tipping point in the onslaught, the rolling thunder if you will of two solid weeks of presentation after presentation,” he says in this interview with Beet.TV.
What is new this year is a backdrop of negative headlines for some of the digital giants that have roamed the landscape with abandon for a time long. Kassan cites the “seemingly impregnable” Facebook, Google and YouTube and notes that Alphabet recently exceeded analyst financial expectations.
“Hard to say that they’re feeling any heat from the recent discussions around safe places for content,” Kassan observes. “But I think it’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out across the landscape of digital video this year.”
In a similar vein, he recalls how last fall Facebook was the subject of concern over some of its self-reported metrics. “I think they took the highest road, found what was ailing them and stood up with the advertisers and have made great progress in terms of third-party measurement and opening up a little crack in the walled gardens,” says Kassan.
Through it all, MediaLink itself continues to morph and expand in the wake of its recent sale to Ascential, which operates the Cannes Lions ad festival. Late last month, MediaLink announced the hiring of Dana Anderson, formerly SVP and CMO at Mondelēz International, to the position of CMO.
Additionally, MediaLink added an outpost in London, to be helmed by Vice Chairman Wenda Harris Millard as of June 1.
“One of the trades said we were invading Europe. I don’t know about that, but Wenda said she bought a pair of combat boots just to be ready. Here we come,” says Kassan.
This video is part of Beet.TV’s coverage of the IAB’s Digital Content NewFronts 2017. The series is sponsored by the IAB. For more videos from the #NewFronts, please visit this page.
]]>“I’ve been in the business for a long time. I never thought that demographics made a lot of sense when we were talking about broad demographics, like women 18-54,” the Vice Chairman of strategic advisory and business development firm MediaLink says in this interview with Beet.TV. “I think this notion of demographics has never made a lot of sense in many, many categories,” she adds. “I’m glad to see if fading off a little bit.”
Selling TV time by audience instead of by “literal programming” makes a lot of sense to Millard. It’s part of the evolution of the business and how people are approaching “intelligent media buying and spending. So I’m a big fan of the evolution.”
One trend she observes is programmers taking an integrated approach to this year’s TV Upfront season. “I would say most of the companies are selling online video, mobile video with their classic television.”
On the headline-grabbing issue of brand safety, trust and the reliability of media, Millard says it’s a conversation that is front and center once again. While the quality of the programming “is anybody’s opinion,” brands are justified in their expectation to know their ads are running where they want them to run, particularly in digital.
“That’s not a lot to ask, but that conversation is critical at this moment when the black box of some of the operators in digital is still out there,” says Millard.
Millard Moving to London in MediaLink Expansion
Following MediaLink’s recent acquisition by Ascential plc, Millard has just been tapped to run MediaLink’s first office outside of the United States, in London.
“This is a clear step to fast-track MediaLink’s business and further increase its presence outside the U.S.,” Ascential Chief Executive Duncan Painter said in a news release. “We are continuing to develop synergies between MediaLink and our other businesses to better serve our customers and bring additional elements to our growth strategy.”
This segment is part of a series leading up to the 2017 TV Upfront. It is presented by FreeWheel. To find more videos from the series, please visit this page.
]]>If that’s not enough, there also will be disruption, the kind that is sweeping the video and television business and which MediaLink Chairman and CEO Michael Kassan will discuss on stage with media executive Barry Diller.
“We will have many other programs that focus on sensation,” Millard says in an interview with Beet.tv. “Lots of client meetings, lots of panels and our own immersive experiences.”
Among other challenges, MediaLink clients are “trying to get their arms around” the ever-changing video sector, according to Millard.
“It does seem very overwhelming with all the opportunities, but they are opportunities and markers are decidedly interested in being where their audiences are,” says Millard. “It’s almost an imperative for them to play in this new video environment and to figure out what works for them.”
Experiences and sensations involving virtual and augmented reality will be a particular focus at CES, even though “only a small sliver” of consumers has been exposed to these technologies, according to Millard.
“Like many things in this world, the East Coast and West Coast have a little bit of a lead in terms of what’s new,” says Millard. “I think the rest of the country in this particular case is probably not very up to speed on VR or AR.”
Nonetheless, she thinks it’s important for marketers to understand such emerging technologies.
“I think CES at large is a great opportunity for us not to necessarily focus on the technology itself buy the change in consumer behavior that’s facilitated by technology,” Millard adds. “And then look at the implications for our business and the potential applications.”
With virtual reality alone Millard sees “quite extraordinary” opportunities, citing sectors like education, health and entertainment.
“Exactly what that is and how we reach the mass audiences that so many marketers need, that’s all to come,” she says.
This interview is part of our series “The Road to CES,” a lead-up series in advance of CES 2017. The series is presented by FreeWheel. Please find more videos from the series here.
]]>We sat down Millard, now president and COO of the MediaLink powerhouse consultancy and the evolution of the digital media world and recent expansion of MediaLink into a number of practice areas.
The video is part of our lead-up to to CES. Please find more videos from the series here. The series is sponsored by YuMe.
]]>Millard, who worked with DMEXCO co-founder Christian Muche in earlier days at Yahoo and has attend DMEXCO from the start, gives her view of the event and its value to Medialink clients, many who are navigating business in Europe.
She also speaks about the goals of the Girls Lounge, a professional women’s association that meets at a number industry event.
This video is part of a series from DMEXCO, presented by Mediaocean. Please visit this page for our other videos.
]]>Also in this segment about careers, Wenda Harris Millard, COO of powerhouse media consultancy MediaLink, shares her enthusiasm for the business which she sees at the crossroads of Madison Avenue, Wall Street, Hollywood and Silicon Valley. She talks about entrepreneurial opportunities inside both large and small companies and touts the unique acceptance of failure in the business.
And finally in this segment is Shelly Lazarus, Chairman Emeritus of Ogilvy & Mather, talks about the unique personalities and excitement of the advertising industry.
These three executives are featured in the Media Revolutionaries, a 50-part series with leaders in the adtech, media and advertising industries. These are excerpts from the series. The interviews were conducted by David J. Moore, Chairman of Xaxis and President of WPP Digital. The series is sponsored by Xaxis and Microsoft.
]]>Interviewing Millard for Beet.TV is Ashley J. Swartz.
Last week, New York Times columnist David Carr wrote about the evolution of CES as a media gathering and the role of MediaLink. Beet.TV coverage of CES 2015 is sponsored by Adobe Primetime. Please find all the coverage here.
]]>At Cannes, MediaLink created a a number of high-profile seminars for its clients along visibility for itself with banners and signage on Le Croisette and hosting the most talked about party of the Festival at the nearby Hotel du Cap Eden Roc. The party featured a performance by Mariah Carey.
We we spoke with her on Tuesday, on a yacht cruising near Cannes. Handling the interview is Dave Morgan, longtime associate of Millard.
Disclaimer: Dave Morgan is CEO of Simulmedia, which is the sponsor of Beet.TV coverage of the Cannes Festival.
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She also speaks about the needs of brands in a super kinetic the media landscape. And, she speaks about the transformation of the upcoming Cannes Lions Festival which where MediaLink will be active with a number of informational seminars and other events.
Millard joined MediaLink in 2009 from Martha Stewart Ominedia where she was co-CEO
We spoke with her as part of our series titled “The Road to Cannes,” a preview of the Festival and an overview on the state and future of digital media by a range of thought leaders. The series will be published over two weeks. The series is sponsored by Videology.
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