Name: Mikael Greenlief
Title: Online Media Planner
Started at RDI: February 14, 2011
Education: Bachelors in Marketing, Minor in Communications from Arizona State University (The Harvard of the West!)
Hometown: Phoenix, AZ
Family: Parents, a younger brother (23), a girlfriend and a furry, four-legged child named Tyson

Bio: Mikael joined the Red Door team a few months ago as an Online Media Planner within the Online Acquisitions department. In his role, Mikael strives to effectively position his clients in the online space, helping them to achieve their business objectives. Before joining Red Door, Mikael got his start in his hometown of Phoenix, working on national clients like Cold Stone Creamery & Dial Corporation. 
 

Q&A Interview:

As an Online Media Planner, what do you do for your clients?
My responsibility is to effectively understand how brands should best communicate with their audience via the online space and to choose the channels that will help them achieve their business goals. I also study how consumers engage and interact with various media channels to determine the best way to reach them based on how consumers use them.

What excites you about the interactive marketing space?
What I love best about the interactive space is that there are infinite possibilities. Before with traditional channels, there was scarcity—only so many channels through which you could distribute a message. Since publishers could charge a premium, most of the time whoever had the most money won. Now with the interactive space, the channels are limitless. There are so many ways in which a brand can spread a message. In addition, the interactive space has moved away from the traditional model where brands could outspend one another to a model where brands must outsmart and outwit.

What is one piece of technology that you cannot live without?
I was late to the game with getting a smartphone and finally purchased an iPhone about a month ago. Now I don’t know how I went so long without one.

Who were the biggest inspirations for your career?
I was lucky to have worked with some very bright media directors throughout my career—people who came from some of the biggest and best agencies in the U.S. These people have helped mold and shape my perspective on advertising and have helped me see things in a different way.

As an Online Media Planner, what is the most important part of your job?
You need to understand that you’re more than just a media planner or advertising professional, but that you’re also in the investment management business. Clients are giving you dollars to invest for them (wisely, of course) and you must allocate that investment in the channels that will help deliver the highest returns. There are definitely parallels to the financial industry, but rather than investing in stocks, bonds or funds, you’re investing in media and messaging.

What do you like most about your job?
I enjoy media because it combines both the art and science aspects of advertising. There is the artistic side, which allows you to be creative in the way you disseminate messages and how you engage people. But then there’s also the science aspect that looks at analytics and numbers to help provide proof and justification.

What is your favorite local spot to hangout?
I like to spend time outdoors being active, so I’ll take the dog to the park, hit the pool during the summer or if it’s bad weather, I’ll go to the gym. At night, I’m a fan of local low-key bars that have good beer on tap. Living in Denver has spoiled me in that respect.

What is your favorite quote?
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” ~ Albert Schweitzer

In April, Red Door attended the Digiday LA: Video Upfront conference. The conference brought leading publishers, media buyers, ad networks, and technology vendors together to discuss “the way brands and agencies are harnessing the power of digital video to engage today’s multi-screen consumer.”

During the conference, several key themes emerged:

• Social media and Web content have created a paradigm shift in marketing . Selling through interruption is becoming less effective. Brands need to become publishers of premium content that is entertaining or informational, in order to earn the attention of consumers. Thus “branded content” is as important as ever.

• Online video advertising distribution technology is disparate, making it difficult for buyers to maximize their reach. Standardization here will certainly be a key element in online video’s long-term success.

• It will take some time for the sophistication (or lack thereof) of Web video ROI measurement to catch up with TV’s 50+ years of advertising science. That’s not to say that Web video can (or should) move to measuring GRP’s. That would actually short change the value of Web video, given that it is more “lean forward” and interactive than traditional TV. The first step in improving video measurement is standardization of engagement metrics. Most panelists at the event agreed that using clicks as an engagement metric for video is not the answer. While Web marketers are obsessed with direct response, video advertising lends itself better to brand building. That being said, relying on impressions/views as a success metric can be deceiving. For example, below the fold auto-play video ads can rack up impressions without having much of an impact on consumers. The consensus seemed to be that a tiered approach to measuring engagement would be a good solution in the short-term. The model could look something like this:

1. User initiated play to completion
2. User initiated play
3. Auto-play
4. Auto-play below the fold

• Mobile video combines two of the fastest growing mediums on the Web. Soon there will be more smartphones than cable subscribers in the US. The “3rd screen” is quickly becoming the “1st screen.”

• Live streaming video makes sense if people will be compelled to come together to share in the communal experience of “now.” This means that it is most effective for events that people gather around offline, like concerts and sporting events. To maximize impact, brands need to make sure to tie in social elements to amplify the event’s impact.

If you have $19.95 for a one month registration, you can view the entire annotated agenda and (of course) video of the conference here.

After 3 days in beautiful Dana Point, conversing with some very interesting people and attending panels focused on topics from green marketing to the dark arts of the internet, I am feeling refreshed, inspired and excited to be apart of this evolving industry.

The WebbyConnect summit brings diverse individuals from various interactive fields together. Speakers are chosen to share their stories and answer questions about current internet trends in online media. Here are the key takeaways:

1. Quality content matters.
2. Advertising should be relevant and entertaining.
3. Create relationships with your users.

All of these points bring together what I believe to be the overarching theme of this years event: Trust.

Great examples of providing brand trust and loyalty:

nytimes.com
methodhome.com
mint.com
tumblr.com

Some more inspiration:

muxtape.com
aaronkoblin.com
playballoonacy.com
bigpicture

So, what about the future? Well, the New York Times tells a story about starting to read an article on your computer, then walk away and a text message will arrive on your phone so you can continue reading from your mobile device. Nokia talks about your cell phone being able to sense the traffic and weather while on the road and automatically tell you which is the best route to take. And many references to the movie Minority Report cast shadows on a future of touch screens and face detecting analytics. But, this isn’t the future. It’s happening now.

And to lighten things up, I’ll leave you with my favorite line from the conference: The Mullet Theory. It’s business in the front and a party in the back.