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Mediaocean's Connect/Knowledge Series

Gold Stevie Award Winner 2012, Click to Enter The 2014 American Business Awards

Company:Mediaocean, New York, NY, USA
Entry Submitted By:Eastwick Communications
Company Description:Mediaocean’s open platform integrates media suppliers, data providers, ad servers and third- party technologies into a central hub. This allows agencies and brands to create a common framework, define standards, unify cross-channel data, and build opportunities to drive continued success by coordinate their entire advertising workflow, globally.
Nomination Category:Communications & Marketing Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category:Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Internal Communications - Under 1,000 Employees

Nomination Title:Mediaocean's Connect/Knowledge Series

In up to 525 words, tell the judges about the nominated campaign: its genesis, development, planning, commission, and performance to date:

In March 2014, Mediaocean introduced the Knowledge Series as a way to foster communication, education, and cross-functional collaboration within the organization. With six different platforms across the entire media spectrum – TV, Print, Radio, Outdoors, Digital - Mediaocean needed to ensure that its 800 global employees were knowledgeable on the latest industry trends. This is a pressing issue for Mediaocean, as most of its employees focus on a specific media type. So the Knowledge Series was developed to ensure the staff has a holistic understanding of the advertising industry, versus vertical expertise.

But that vertical expertise is what drives the Knowledge Series. The monthly program taps into company subject matter experts to educate colleagues on key topics. Whether the latest update on TV ratings or digital fraud, the events are attended live by 100-150 employees in our NY Headquarters, and recorded and posted on the intranet for on-demand viewing. On average each session reaches 45% of the staff globally, who receive an email and survey requesting feedback and content suggestions. The program has been a complete success, with over 85% of employees rating each event “Very Good” or “Excellent”. Given the positive response, the Knowledge Series is now also run from London, Mediaocean’s second largest office.

After seeing the success of the Knowledge Series, Mediaocean created the spin-off Connect Series. Hosted in Mediaocean’s NY and London offices, the Connect series kicked off in September 2014 with the goal of educating and engaging the advertising industry at large. These events also give Mediaocean employees a chance to connect with clients and partners in a more meaningful way, and learn from thought leaders outside the company.

The inaugural Connect Series event received an overwhelming positive response from industry leaders. The initial event saw 200 clients, partners, and press in attendance, with subsequent events growing to almost 300 attendees from the industry. Topics have included the future of TV, programmatic advertising, and the evolution of radio, featuring companies like ABC, Deutsch, Carat, Spotify, Yahoo, and more. A special Connect Series edition was even held at CES, featuring industry titan Irwin Gotlieb, Global Chairman GroupM, and was one of the most widely attended sessions with 300+ in the audience.

Planning a Connect Series begins with selecting an issue that is critical for the advertising community, and then identifying the experts that represent different point of views – from agencies to publishers to adtech companies. Once panelists have accepted, a prep call is set up to outline the discussion, and outreach to drive attendance begins. Social media, email marketing, and paid promotions, are used to drive external attendance, while promotions on office screens and employee invitations are used to promote the event internally. To extend the reach of the events, the sessions are recorded and shared via Youtube for everyone who couldn’t attend in person. The sessions have been so popular that email subscriptions have increased by 25%.

The goal of the Connect and Knowledge Series is to create a space for dialogue of industry trends and provide our employees with the opportunity to expand their knowledge and network within the industry – both have grown to be fantastic successes.

Provide a brief biography of the person or persons who lead the team that created and carried out the nominated communications campaign (up to 125 words):

Maria Pousa joined Mediaocean from her role of VP of Marketing at Innovid, one of the world’s fastest-growing video advertising technology companies. Prior to that, she led marketing for audience targeting provider interclick, and was instrumental in its transformation to Genome after Yahoo acquired the company in 2011. Maria has held key roles at media/technology companies including AOL Advertising, TACODA, and The NewsMarket.