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Interview with Tremor Media's New CMO, Melinda McLaughlin
Yesterday I had a chance to ask Melinda McLaughlin, the new Chief Marketing Officer at video ad network powerhouse Tremor Media, a few questions on her second day of work. Prior to joining Tremor, Melinda spent 10+ years at cable network group AETN and prior to that was with 2 ad agencies. An edited transcript follows:
VideoNuze: What attracted you to the online video adverting space and to Tremor Media?
Melinda McLaughlin: I spent the last 11 years on the traditional TV side, in many areas of AETN such as consumer insights, sales strategy and corporate strategy, always around monetizing the assets of that global platform. At a certain point, because I'm a closet geek, and am into what the future is going to look like and how media is going to evolve - plus what fundamental truths about how business models work will remain - I sort of hit a point where a company like AETN and competitors are just not on the cutting edge of where this area is going.
And so although it was a terrific job, for good reason companies like AETN aren't going to lead in terms of changing consumer behavior or how advertisers are going to change the way they think. I see Tremor bringing together all of the benefits marketers have been saying they require in order to take the online video advertising space seriously. Tremor, together with ScanScout, is the one that can give advertisers the platform and set of tools to do targeting at scale, with real-time intelligence and content screening. Throwing myself into where the revolution is happening is an exciting next step.
VN: What are your top 2-3 priorities?
MM: First is repositioning the company to leverage the true value of the online video advertising space and second is making it simpler and clearer for advertisers to change the way they value and use online video in order to drive real business results.
VN: What are the company’s key challenges and what will you do to address them?
MM: The big challenge is taking something complicated and communicating it to the market. There's been a lot of noise and activity in the market and so getting buyers to understand the opportunities with real insights is critical.
VN: What did you learn at A&E that will be most applicable for your role at Tremor?
MM: Among other things, I come with deep experience in tooling up the sales force to sing from the same story line to monetize every single impression. That's an analogous skill, just with a different value proposition.
VN: Will you position Tremor to shift dollars away from cable networks like A&E, as well as broadcast TV networks, and/or will be you be trying to grow the video ad pie?
MM: We're absolutely focused on advertisers investing more heavily in the online video platform to drive sales in a way that is unique. We're not really worried about where that money is coming from or pitching to move money from one place to another. We have a forward-looking vision and as the market leader we don't think we need to play it that way. It will be up to marketers to figure out what works and what doesn't.
VN: Thanks for your time and good luck!Categories: Advertising, People
Topics: AETN, Tremor Media
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