Name:

1. Please highlight your industry experience and how, where and when you came to digital media?

My first digital role was at BMC Media in 1999. BMC Media was one of the original ‘ad networks’ in Australia. It was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange that same year and was once valued at $61m. Several years later I was part of the team that went across to Sensis when Telstra acquired us for $800,000. That was my first taste of the staggering volatility of the Australian digital media industry. It’s been an incredibly interesting and bumpy ride since then. Some decisions I’ve made have been incredibly smart, some have been incredibly questionable, but it’s all experience that I wouldn’t change because it’s made me a little bit wiser and comes with many benefits, such as world travels, great friends, a sense of achievement and a whole lot of fun!

2. Outline your role with Brandscreen - what do you actually do?

Although I’ve only worked with Brandscreen for 9 weeks, I have been asked the question “so what does a Chief Revenue Officer actually do?” at least 10 times! This title seems to be fairly new to business, but quite prevalent in the digital media industry. In short, I am responsible for all revenue generating activities. Myself and my team are bringing marketing and sales functions together with a focus on customer experience, relationships, satisfaction and loyalty. Perhaps a more descriptive title could be Chief Customer Officer!?

3. Can you offer a brief insight into Brandscreen - your journey so far, current market position and forward plans?

I have been keenly watching Brandscreen’s progress from afar since 2008 when I tried to wrap my head around it all with Julian and a couple of other investors. I reconnected with them late last year and when Tony Surtees took an active role as COO, I agreed to join the business in April this year. Like everyone else in the media space right now, we are moving at a monumental pace and no one single day is like the last. In my first couple of weeks at Brandscreen I came home in the evening, complaining that my brain was hurting. It’s a rare pleasure, feeling like you are learning a completely new set of skills and surrounded by some of the smartest people in the industry, yet still working in a market you’ve been in for two decades. I’ve been very focused on exposing our smarts to the market and helping our existing and potential customers to recognise how important that local presence and voice really is.

4. Please share your views on the current state of the digital media market?

The digital media market is complex. Marketers need to understand and consider connected TV, social media, content on smartphones, tablets v laptops and bloggers as trusted advisors. It’s important to understand who you are trying to talk to, where are they and what is their appetite for your product in that moment, hence data is the hot topic right now. I recently attended a data summit which was four times the size of the same event last year. That’s pretty telling!

The market is also moving at a ridiculous pace, faster than ever before and if you stop to overthink it, you get left behind. At Brandscreen we encourage all staff to be decisive and take immediate action, with appropriate insights. I think this is a great philosophy that many other media companies could and should employ.

5. Is there any one person, digital business or sector you think we should be keeping an eye on?

I think we all need to keep an eye on the retail sector. With all the talk about data, retailers (large and small) have access to some very valuable and influential first-party insights which could fundamentally change the way that media is traded. It could also prove to be an additional revenue source for those who manage to move quickly enough.

6. What do you see as the key challenges and opportunities in the digital media market in the coming 12 months?

Pricing transparency, particularly in the programmatic space. Clients are becoming more curious and educated. They want to know who, why, what, where, when and if they are suspicious, they will setup their own technology partnerships and build out their trading capabilities in house. Smart intermediaries will be more transparent and will qualify and justify their costs appropriately to their clients. Data and who owns it will also be an issue over the coming 12 months and beyond.

7. How do you see digital and other media evolving in the next 5+ years?

It’s been said a million times, but we will all get smarter with data. That’s no small feat and it will take time.

8. What does the digital/interactive industry need to do better right now?

Globally, technology has really changed the content creation and distribution model yet in this country we still, largely, turn a blind eye to audiences on multiple devices and it’s complicated to access content on demand. Complex licensing agreements make it extremely difficult for local networks to even consider offering content anywhere any time. As a consumer, I would be willing to pay more or watch more targeted advertising for easy access and I know many of my friends and colleagues feel the same right now.

Although I do wonder whether this appetite will dissipate as it becomes more and more acceptable to bypass paywalls and find content you love by whatever means possible. The exceptions are The ABC, without the same commercial concerns as the other networks, and I do think that Foxtel are improving everyday. We are loving the Foxtel app in our house right now!

9. Where do you get your industry information from?

Other industry friends and colleagues are a great source of valuable industry knowledge, along with my carefully curated Twitter feeds, LinkedIn Today plus the usual global and local tradepress.

10. What industry groups or networks are you a part of?

Up until very recently, when I left my role on the publisher side, I was a member of the IAB Measurement Council and the ABA Watchdog committee. I was, and still remain, extremely passionate about site auditing and people measurement rather than page impressions and clicks in isolation.

Inspired by Wendy Hogan, I am now working on organising more women’s networking events in Sydney. The two of us have managed to organise a few informal mums and womens evening gatherings with inspirational women in media. I’m working on making these more ‘official’.

I am also working with Steve Hunt at Tubemogul and some other industry colleagues on reducing fear and improving knowledge of the benefits of programmatic buying, through RTB Breakfasts and other relevant activities.

See an overview of more than 100 Digital People profile articles here.

If you have any comments regarding Digital People please feel free to get in touch - denise@mediascope.com.au or phone: 0424 100325. I welcome your feedback.

Name:

1. Please highlight your industry experience and how, where and when you came to digital media?

In 1999 an old girlfriend had a gig as PA to the founders of BlueSkyFrog in Perth. I shamelessly parlayed that into a role as copywriter for the site. Our pinnacle of achievement wasn’t becoming the third most popular website in Australia, it was getting a radio ad done with The Wog Boy

Our founders were travelling back and forth to Sydney a lot on Impulse Airlines (remember them?). Their marketing manager called one day and asked if they could put banner ads on our site, in return for flights. Honestly, our immediate reaction was “what, you think that actually has value?” From there we introduced innovative (read, annoying) formats such as the bouncing button (copyright Chris Brinkworth, DHTML at its finest), the infamous BlueSkyFrog quiz (our record was 4 advertising questions out of a total of 10), and our cash-cow – the logout button. We really had no idea what we were doing – examples, no ad-server so I used to rely on agencies to tell me when a campaign had delivered in full, and no set rate card. To this day I still have deep emotional and physical scars thanks to Liam, Chris, and the rest of the motley crew at emitch. Good times.

From BlueSkyFrog I moved to ninemsn. This was the hay day … 40% audience share, Messenger dominance, and one home page takeover would cover your monthly budget. Kidding, it would take two. Great motivated sales group led by Jason Scott, Sam Smith, and Charlotte Crundall. I learned process, structure, professional sales management, and importantly where the stash of La Premiere vouchers was.

To get back to my start-up environment roots I joined MediaMind (known as Eyeblaster at the time). I was part of the team that shifted them from a rich media vendor to full ad-server. At MediaMind I forged the crucial skill needed for success in ad technology – working with Israelis. Lucky enough to be sent to Hong Kong where I had just picked up taxi Cantonese in time to be shipped to New York. My role there was two fold – initially responsible for global agency group relationships, then incubating the trading desk technology and operation. Whilst in NY I was exposed to the ad tech explosion across programmatic, social, brand safety, and data management. Many of these companies were interested in APAC expansion but had little clue how to make it happen. And that’s where the idea for Kinected was born …

2. Outline your role with Kinected - what do you actually do?

Officially responsible for all revenue, but as co-founder of a start up business my day to day covers sales, client service, office management, recruitment, and finding out why OfficeWorks never deliver our water on time.

As a team our day revolves around keeping our clients happy. I really feel strongly that technology is only 50% of the equation. People power is still so crucial. We’re not in a position to buy our way into favour (the stories I could share about entertaining levels in NY, you couldn’t make it up), instead we focus on helping our clients master the technology in our portfolio to deliver awesome results for their clients. We know there is choice in the market, so to put it simply, we want to be the team that clients like dealing with the most.

3. Can you offer a brief insight into Kinected - your journey so far, current market position and forward plans?

Kinected identify, partner with, and release leading global technologies, platforms and solutions in the online advertising space into the Asia Pacific region. Kinected is a partnership of senior advertising executives with a proven track record and profile launching technology and media businesses in APAC.

What does that mean exactly? Well we run the local operations of MediaMath, Integral Ad Science (formerly known as AdSafe), Unified (a social buying and monitoring play), and BlueKai. We have teams working in Sydney within those individual businesses. Our primary clients are trading desks and individual agencies whom we provide the ad tech to, train them on best practice, and provide all the ongoing support they need.

We see our value as bringing world-class ad tech to Australia and the wider region quicker than it would otherwise, backed up by dedicated local service teams. Sure, people can work with ad tech based in other markets but the reality is Australian clients usually get the short end of the stick due to time zones and other markets being a priority. We are completely committed to this market.

Some of our competitors might try and position the fact we are a partnership rather than working for the actual tech as a negative but I see it as only positive. Think about it this way – we’re paid 100% on commission so we are the most motivated to make sure our clients are happy and successful. We don’t coast on overblown digital remuneration packages.

For our tech partners, I’ll start by saying we’re very lucky to have the privilege to work with such great tech, all leaders in their own space. Awesome people too. Our value to them is offering a lowered risk and cost of entry into the APAC market. They don't need to invest in recruitment - always a challenge from other side of the world - salaries, business setup expenses such as office rental and the ongoing management of an APAC team. We give them immediate go to market presence and reduced time to scale with significant revenue streams that are profitable from day one. And they get our access to client relationships from the C-Suite down within the large agency groups and local operating companies.

4. Please share your views on the current state of the digital media market?

First off it’s my belief Australia is in a strong position for continued growth. Let me justify that statement in two points:

• 1. Our talent is on the same level as markets we’d traditionally look ahead to; our main challenge is a quantity one rather than a quality one. One strategy to address this is to become more aggressive at recruitment within Universities, but then there must be a commitment to close training and attention. Too often it seems new talent is thrown in the deep end and it’s less a case of sink or swim, they flail around and suffer a worse fate – a promotion before they are ready!

• 2. Companies like ours are accelerating the access to the tech required to make the most of the opportunities presented in programmatic buying, social, and data driven work. Again though, it’s not enough to just provide the tech, you have to supply the brain power too through education and service.

5. Is there any one person, digital business or sector you think we should be keeping an eye on?

Facebook is the obvious one right? How they bring together (or keep apart) their direct premium, Facebook Ad Exchange (FBX), and traditional marketplace business. And how will the disparate businesses that service these areas – DSPs, API vendors and so on – evolve to address it. There’s going to have to be consolidation.

I’m keen to see how the dynamic between agency and trading desk develops. As more display budget shifts to programmatic, and as programmatic evolves from open RTB today to include more local, transparent inventory, (side note – ask 5 people to define transparency and you’ll get 10 different answers, when I talk transparency I mean clear view of the domain and page) will a trading desk continue as the only source of capable programmatic talent and commercial model to handle it?

6. How do you see digital and other media evolving in the next 5+ years?

I’m lucky if I can accurately predict what I’m having for lunch, let alone what’s going to happen in the next 5 years. But here’s three quick fire predictions for the rest of 2013. Each completely self-serving, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t valid ..

• 1. Continued consolidation of point-to-point tech vendors. Here’s a question - remember when dynamic creative existed outside of a DSP or an ad-server? That was an easy one. Another obvious convergence point rapidly approaching would be display, video, and mobile buying platforms – giving clients a single cookie space, workflow, and reporting backbone. Heck, there’s value in something as simple having one less bloody password to contend with. However clients will demand quality, so any comprehensive buying platform will need to provide at least the same level of capability as each point-to-point solution, plus commit to constant innovation.This is a tricky challenge to overcome when you start spreading development resource outside of your original core competency. One solution to this challenge is the acquisition path, one that is becoming more frequently travelled including by MediaMath.

• 2. We’ll see significant spend shift to Facebook Ad Exchange as a discrete opportunity – less about defining it as programmatic buying, social, or display … and as a broad performance display tactic. The combination of the supply size (2.5 billion impressions last month, uniqueness (60% FBX audience we don’t see on other supply sources), and recency (on average we see a retargeted cookie within 15 minutes on there) have meant of the first 15 clients launched on FBX through MediaMath, 14 beat CPA goals … by an average of 37%.

• 3. Deployment of third party brand safety tech such as Integral will become table stakes for all programmatic buys. Supply sources have a lot of responsibility to improve the quality of RTB inventory, in the meantime agencies will need to be able to hand on heart say they are following best practice in the protection of the brands under their stewardship.

8. What does the digital/interactive industry need to do better right now?

I think I covered this in the earlier question regards training our talent and giving them a chance to grow before foisting greater responsibility on their shoulders.

I’d add let’s celebrate our successes and not take it all so seriously. We do important work worthy of recognition, but we’re not saving lives here. Cut down on the drama, keep it all in perspective, and take Sir Martin (Sorrell) Lawrence’s advice.

9. Where do you get your industry information from?

My go to is AdExchanger, then my network of past colleagues, clients, and partners in the US and Europe. Of course that’s to say half the time I nod and pretend I know what someone is talking about, then frantically Google it afterward.

10. What industry groups or networks are you a part of?

This is probably an embarrassing answer, but none. My son is in a group called Little Kickers which I’m at every Saturday, does that count? Am taking bids for my participation.

See a 'MediaScape' Guide to the Australian Digital Media eco-system here

See an overview of more than 100 Digital People profile articles here.

If you have any comments regarding Digital People please feel free to get in touch - denise@mediascope.com.au or phone: 0424 100325. I welcome your feedback.

Name:

People are increasingly using 1-minute videos in place of words and pictures as their primary form of communication and persuasion. Another interesting take out is the combination of Hulu, Netfix and iTunes. I’ve never been more satisfied watching TV than when I was using those three platforms in combination. I certainly didn’t need or want a cable account. Any TV content that isn’t served on-demand is redundant.

4. Please share your views on the current state of digital media?

I see digital media reorganising itself around three verticals: platform, content and conversation. But digital media in Australia appears stuck. Transformative leaps wont happen until the NBN delivers world-class speeds at affordable prices to the majority of households. Broadband policy, at all levels of politics, is central to future-proofing Australia’s economy beyond commodities. Digital media is dependant on speed and Australians have to put up with slow and expensive broadband connections.

5. Is there any one person, digital business or sector you think we should be keeping an eye on?

No. I don’t think any one person, business or sector is writing the next chapter of the digital revolution. Everyone is writing it. Digital media leaps are increasingly in the collective hands of the people.

6. What do you see as the key challenges and opportunities in the digital media market in the coming 12 months?

Innovation is both the key challenge and opportunity for the digital media market in the next 12 months. I see so many media companies struggling to seize opportunities because their boards don’t understand that capital needs to be made available to completely re-imagine the organisation in parallel to business-as-usual. You can’t expect people to innovate ‘on the side.’ There isn’t an institutional shareholder anywhere that doesn’t want innovation to happen. Media companies should take a leaf out of the operational structure of the U.S military. D.A.R.P.A. (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency) is already fighting wars in the year 2100 and they have the capital to develop products to win them.

7. How do you see digital and other media evolving in the next 5+ years?

Mobile and video will combine to create a new communication language and a number of new consumption behaviours. They will emerge as the ‘new normal’.

8. What does the digital/interactive industry need to do better right now?

Put pressure on both sides of politics to ensure Australia has the fastest and most affordable broadband in the world. That’s the brief to Canberra. If they don’t deliver it we’re doomed. If they do deliver it the opportunities are there to grasp now and over the next five years during the roll out. There are already 180,000 homes in Australia connected to the NBN. The industry should be studying consumption behaviours in those homes right now and developing products for that behaviour once critical mass is reached.

9. Where do you get your industry information from?

A combination of blogs, news feeds and Twitter.

10. What industry groups or networks are you a part of?

LA Digital; MIPCOM; Producers Guild; Silicon Beach

See an overview of more than 100 Digital People profile articles here.

If you have any comments regarding Digital People please feel free to get in touch - denise@mediascope.com.au or phone: 0424 100325. I welcome your feedback.

Name

1. Please highlight your industry experience and how, where and when you came to digital media?

Back in 2005 I was working in the arts and doing some freelance copywriting on the side. A friend was working at Singleton Ogilvy Interactive and he told me they were looking for a Junior Copywriter. I’d never considered working in advertising, but within a month I was the only copywriter in a digital department that was made up of about 12 creatives. When I left a year and a half later, there were over 30 creatives and three writers, of which I was the most senior. It was clear that I had fallen into a growth industry!

I am fortunate to have started in digital – very few writers do. It’s like getting your first job at McDonalds, you really do become the most efficient and skilled-up worker because you don’t have any habits from anywhere else. I’ve since worked above-the-line andthrough-the-line but have always come back to digital, it just feels natural to me.

2. What is your role at Razorfish New York - and what do you actually do?

For the last two years I’ve been heading up digital campaigns for Unilever’s AXE brand (Lynx in Australia). That means concepting and executing engaging and innovative communications that can take any form. What I love about it is that my team has no idea what we’ll be making with every brief. It could be a mobile app, a social game, video content or an interactive comic book.

I’m currently transitioning to a role on the Mercedes-Benz account, where I’ll be driving creative innovation for both always-on social and digital campaigns.

I love working closely with juniors who are new to digital and helping them find the right executions and mechanics for their fresh, big ideas.

3. Can you offer a brief insight into Razorfish New York - your market position, forward plans – and also your plans for Ad-Tech Sydney?

The New York office has such an amazing client list at the moment, and nearly all of these clients have come to us because of our ability to “smash stuff together”. As a creative person, having access to media specialists, UX experts, tech lunatics and planning folk really empowers you to push the boundaries. The benchmark for all the work we do is innovation; we want to be pointing the way forward for the industry.

At Ad-Tech I’ll be sharing an in-depth look at one of our biggest marketing successes from last year. AXE Anarchy: The Graphic Novel is a great example of what Razorfish does best. But more importantly for attendees at the conference, it’s a great example of how social channels can be used to enable co-creation with consumers – and achieve tangible business results in the process.

See further details and book tickets for Ad:Tech Sydney (Mar 12-13) here.

4. Please share your views on the current state of the digital media market?

It’s still an incredible exciting place to be – partly because things are always in flux. Right now it’s no secret that “social” is everybody’s focus. But what clients are really saying when they say “social” is sharing, or earned impressions. There is a maturing focus on data and ROI models. There is also an acknowledgment that digital channels can be an effective driver of earned impression in traditional media channels

5. Is there any one person, digital business or sector you think we should be keeping an eye on?

No, absolutely not. There’s a ton of areas that are exciting at the moment – a renaissance in E-Commerce, digital storytelling, branded utilities, digital installations – but it’s impossible to say that one points the way forward. I’ve been doing this for long enough to know that the digital crystal ball is a fool’s game.

6. What do you see as the key challenges and opportunities in the digital media market in the coming 12 months?

The key challenge is that most clients are chasing potentially meaningless levels of digital reach. Media agencies have done a great job of getting crazy numbers when it comes to rich media banner engagements and digital video views, but these numbers are rarely getting the right degree of scrutiny. It has resulted in many marketers settling for five seconds of a consumer’s time as an “engagement”.

On the flipside, the key opportunity continues to be what digital has always offered – shared value between a brand and the consumer. Be it a utility, an entertainment, or a way of giving back, brands can be famous for what they do, rather than what they say.

7. How do you see digital and other media evolving in the next 5+ years?

I’m going to take the fifth on this. The reason I love this industry is that I honestly have no idea. Over the past 8 years the changes have been so dramatic, but one thing that hasn’t shifted are the qualities it takes to excel at digital – relentless curiosity, a passion for making stuff, and an ability to adapt and question your assumptions.

8. What does the digital/interactive industry need to do better right now?

It needs to justify its existence. With social almost becoming its own discipline, PR and event agencies claiming the channel for themselves, and traditional agencies scrambling to prove their relevance, the digital industry has to drive tangible business results for clients by staying true to digital’s promise. Intuitive interfaces, mobile solutions, innovative utilities, new ways of storytelling – we need to advocate constantly and back up our talk with results.

9. Where do you get your industry information from?

Often times, my peers. You know you’re working at the right place when your co-workers are educating you every day. The top blogs and publications are a great resource as well, but everyone else is looking that them too. Spend too long in the echo chamber and you’ll find that your creative is being influenced by other campaigns.

10. What industry groups or networks are you a part of?

Shamefully, I can’t name any! I’ve always been awful at networking and joining clubs, which is not to say that I don’t see the tremendous value many of these groups provide to the industry.

Alex and other key industry speakers will be presenting their ideas at Ad:Tech in Sydney on March 12 & 13. For further details, and to get tickets, please click here.

If you have any comments regarding Digital People please feel free to get in touch - denise@mediascope.com.au or phone: 0424 100325. I welcome your feedback.

Gai Le Roy is the Director of Research at IAB Australia. Gai's profile appeared in October 2009.

Four big themes jump out for me this year:

Data – 2012 was the year that everyone was talking about “big data” and started to collect, organise and experiment with a variety data sets. 2013 will be the year we start talking about smart data – the market will learn to interrogate these big data sets and start making more informed decisions from the insightful, actionable nuggets of gold that can be extracted. Look out a flood of data scientists in the industry.

Video – Over two billion video streams are viewed by Australians every month and this is set to increase rapidly throughout 2013. This should now be a critical component in media campaigns and not just an adjunct to tv planning.

Mobile – consumers are now moving seamlessly from screen to screen; and device to device so marketers need to make that journey with them in 2013. Smart phone and tablet traffic is exploding and further expanding the role of digital in all components of the consumer decision and purchasing cycle.

Digital ad revenue set to overtake FTA ad revenue – need I say more?!

Liam Brennan started his career in the Australian market and is now Digital Director, Carat Global Management, UK. Liam's profile appeared in June 2012.

Last year was a game changing year for digital media - 2013 will see some of the big 2012 trends become key pillars of this year's ad campaigns. Digital media will continue to merge with 'offline' media - more TV will be consumed through online catchup, tablet/smartphone sales will continue to boom and more brands will use social channels for 'always on' CRM than just for content distribution. The automation of traditional 'banner' campaigns will become more common place, with trading desk/DSP buys becoming more prevalent on media plans in 2013.

There will be a lot of chatter in 2013 about 'big data'. However, most agencies and advertisers will shy away from harnessing the power of big data due to the man hours (and cost) required to sift through it all. Instead, what we're more likely to see is agencies and advertisers using 'smart data' - taking more high level approach with social, search, web and sales analytics to gain key insights into consumer demographics and behaviours that can be applied to a wide of disciplines - media selection, creative development, web/ecommerce design, all the way through to how products are marketed in the first place. One ecommerce focused client here saw a three fold jump in (already high) ROI in the space of a week from changes in media selection and redeveloped creative recommended by a 'smart data' analysis report.

Digital is usually the main benefactor of advertiser budget in tough economic times due to its accountability. 2013 will be a difficult year for many markets, and just like in 2008/2009, digital spends will see continued growth while other channel spends stagnate or, possibly, drop."

Ellie Rogers is the National Digital Director at Ikon Communications and is also the Co-Chair of the MFA’s Interactive Committee. Ellie’s profile appeared in July 2011.

If you work in the media industry, then 2013 is going to be livelier than a box of frogs on acid at a Swedish House Mafia Gig. This is the year that things need to get finally get done and dusted, with digital measurement getting sorted with OCR, (Online Campaign Ratings) programmatic buying on video finally taking off and people actually doing something with data rather than using the word as many times as they can in the hope people will think they know what it means.

It is also going to be a very exciting year, with a positive economic backdrop and more confidence in consumer spending, that will allow for more much needed innovation and experimentation into how this new media world works in an age where more people have watched Gangnam Style on you tube than have saw the last James Bond Movie.

Please read on for Ellie's personal views for this year including a comprehensive (and sometimes controversial) list of what’s hot and what’s not in sectors such as programmatic buying, video, Facebook and data. Read more...

Mike Zeederberg is Managing Director of digital consultancy agency - Zuni. Mike’s profile appeared in October 2010.

Most predictions for 2013 include the words “Big Data” and how our world of marketing will become data driven. But we’re also seeing the development of a parallel trend of consumers getting their own access to Big Data, and companies beginning to add value for their users by giving them the ability to interrogate data sets built up over time. This started with the movement around “Quantified Self” where consumers use various devices such as a Nike Fuelband or apps on their smartphone to track data around their life (physical activity, eating habits, mood etc.) The data collected by the device is then provided to the user creating greater engagement and involvement (Nike Plus, for example).

This is now spreading from health and wellbeing into all areas of our digital existence, with businesses starting to provide tools that allow us to better interact with the digital footprints we continually generate. Facebook is the most high profile example of this with the launch of Graph Search, but players like Google have been providing more data mining functionality to their account holders for a while, with tools such as “Account Activity” tying together email, search and other Google Apps. LinkedIn’s data-mining tools sit within the “Premium” account area.

This year, we’re going to see marketers and businesses rush to give consumers “value add” by providing access to data already held about them. As it is, the only place I know I can reliably find the address I lived at in London 9 years ago is on my Amazon account…

Simon Van Wyk is the Founding Partner at Hot House Interactive and “someone still interested in the transformational power of the Internet”. Simon’s profile appeared in September 2010.

It's pretty clear to me now we are going to see a number of major changes this year. Macro-economic changes primarily driven by the global nature of the Internet are starting to bite. Most categories of business are going to experience a tough year as they grapple with their own transformations. This pressure will spin out into digital business everywhere.

The major trends will be mobile, accountability and costs.

Most business will be looking at more than half their traffic coming from a mobile device by around the middle of the year and most organisations are just not ready. Mobile adds complexity to already stretched marketing budgets and resources.
It'll be interesting to see where the money comes from. Mobile traffic is also a little different – it is a little more directed and close to the sharp end of the funnel for a lot of industries. Not getting a mobile strategy in place will be a serious omission for many businesses.

Every CEO is looking for accountability and 2013 is going to increase pressure on many industries. The "I don't care what you do, just drive sales" will become more pronounced this year. This is going to mean an increase in things that do drive sales and are easy to account. That should mean a better year for Google but a number of marketers have reported that Google adwords are now so expensive they are using other means to generate sales. Accountability will drive marketers to using DSP's and taking advantage of the benefits of buying behavioural targeted advertising online. This can deliver massive benefits – one global marketer reported a 6 times improvement in ROI however it does change the role of marketers from concerned about the location of the commercial shoot to a bunch of people consumed by the analytics.

Lots of companies are not ready and it is a real change to the way marketers think and behave. It's also a change to the way some marketers validate their job. The "I’m selling products to young, up and coming trendies in Surry Hills using social and experiential marketing and we've building a network of advocates" feels much better that "I'm using behavioural targeting to attract anyone from 20 – 80 to click on my banners or search campaign"

Costs will be under pressure and this is going to mean a change to the way we work. I've already spoken to people who find it cheaper to get their programming done in the USA. This type of global pressure will create tensions for the digital agency business in Australia. It'll require agencies to do the thinking here and the work elsewhere. The things we've valued will change as we are forced to think globally about where we add the most value. Exciting times for an Industry that is really adept at coping with change.

Stephen Hunt is the Managing Director of online video marketing company - TubeMogul (Australia and New Zealand). Stephen’s profile appeared in October 2012.

Let's start at the macro level. Internationally, uncertainty in China and Europe are likely to slow growth, though the US should recover if lasting debt reform is passed. The impact for Australian businesses is a dollar that is likely to remain high, leaving businesses bearish on their marketing investment. As we saw in the Global Financial Crisis, these conditions play out well for online channels as brands rush to accountability.

But accountability in 2013 has taken on a new meaning as brands begin to demand greater transparency from their agencies and in turn agencies mandate open and trusting relationships with their vendors. This transparency goes beyond knowing where and when ads are appearing and transcends the basics of brand safety becoming a need to understand true value from a partner. Vendors should be proud of their great work and happily justify the margins they earn in return to their clients.

For video, 2013 is set to be the watershed year. With the release of a generally accepted currency of audience measurement in Nielson OCR (Online Campaign Ratings), we will have online TARPs being measured and subsequently traded. This all signals exponential growth as TV budgets extend to reach digital audiences though I would caution over-ambitious expectations given the constraints of capacity on the inventory markets.

Brands who did their testing and learning with online video last year will diversify their video buy away from the pre-roll default that has become the norm. They learned the benefits of using in-banner and social video in the distribution mix and are now executing highly efficient and effective multi-channel strategies. Mobile and Connected TV are beginning to enter the channel mix too as they scale creating an arsenal of powerful branding tools for the savvy marketer.

The opportunity is there for online video (and brand marketing in general) to be great and last year was an incredible journey to build a solid foundation for 2013. It's time for us all to make the most of a rare opportunity to cause a seismic shift in the marketing landscape.

Gavin Heaton is Digital Strategist & Founder, The Social Way and is also known at The Servant of Chaos. Gavin’s profile appeared in October 2009.

Disruption is the new normal. In almost every category, we can expect dominant players to struggle and new competitors to emerge. Those that don't begin grappling with this changing digital landscape will find themselves losing relevance. Remember Kodak? That can happen to any business.

Education will become a priority. The hard reality of the digital skills gap will begin to bite and the war for digital talent will extend from just a challenge for marketers and agencies to a whole of business dilemma. Expect to see "chief digital officer" roles begin to appear.

Mobility will move from being a gimmick to a business priority. With mobile now accounting for 25% of all internet traffic brands will need to not only think about "operational expense" - strategic investment will be on the cards. Expect to see more technology in your marketing infrastructure and more mobility in your digital strategy.

RIP B2B and B2C. As the walls come tumbling down and digital technologies dismantle the hierarchies between those who create and produce, and those who consume, we are also finding that the neat identities that we had constructed around ourselves are crumbling. In 2013, marketers will recalibrate their marketing models to focus on the power of peer-to-peer (P2P) marketing.

Lija Wilson is Head of Marketing at travel website - Hooroo.com (a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas). Lija’s profile appeared in March 2010.

Data and in particular, talk of ‘big data’ created a lot of discussion last year around how businesses need to evolve to make smarter decisions around the way they manage their investment in marketing and how they resource and plan their businesses both offline and online.

Research released in 2012 by CEB however pointed to the fact that marketers relied on data only 11% of the time when making customer related decisions. This needs to dramatically shift in 2013 and I think in Australia, it will be a year of evaluating resource plans and skillsets to ensure marketers and agencies are heavily geared towards data based decision marking. Despite the challenges in recruiting and finding local digital talent, we’ll hopefully see greater demand for roles such as ‘data scientists’ cropping up locally.

The other big trend and shift which I think we’ll continue to experience in 2013 is around fragmentation, specifically in social. Over the last few years, brands have jumped into paid and organic activity but the approach and authenticity of how brands commit to playing in the space will determine the success stories of 2013.

Unless brands really start to build social strategies around niche content and to respect and gravitate towards developing comms plans for niche communities, brands will lose relevancy entirely. At best, consumers may shut brands out of their space, at worst, businesses may suffer from the effects of brand terrorism. Marketers continue to talk about needing to listen and join the conversation in social, yet there is still widespread intrusion – brands screaming at customers at inappropriate times, pushing irrelevant messaging out or attempting to hide commercial intent. Getting social tone and participation right will make or break a lot of digital brands in 2013.

Further to this, we’ll see a shift of social advertising opportunities as native units continue to evolve and traditional digital display continues its path of fragmentation. Sponsored stories and promoted tweets have offered up some good opportunities but hopefully, we’ll witness some great enhancements amongst Four Square, Instagram, Pinterest, Klout and LinkedIn as well as in Facebook and Twitter.

Finally, it wouldn’t be a prediction list without a specific call our to mobile. There was a great quote from David Amaro which I think best sums up the future:

‘The future isn’t about mobile, its about mobility’

The most critical thing to nail in mobile is getting context right.

Interested to see how these predictions compare to last year? See Digital People's 2012 Forecasts here
See an overview of all 110 Digital People profile articles here.

Thanks for your continued support and interest in Digital People. If you have any comments please feel free to get in touch - denise@mediascope.com.au or phone: 0424 100325. I welcome your feedback.