Q&A with Brendan Gahan, Partner & Chief Social Officer at Mekanism

Brendan Gahan, Partner & Chief Social Officer at Mekanism, has been at the forefront of social & influencer marketing since 2006, developing social campaigns for brands such as Mountain Dew, Unilever, Amazon, 20th Century Fox, and The Olympics. Brendan was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2012 and his agency was recognized as Digiday’s Digital Video Agency of the year in 2017.

Gahan is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The Guardian, Ad Age, and CNBC for his expertise in social media and influencer marketing expertise.

Have a sense of humor. Recognize that advertising is not life or death. We’re selling products and not working on an operating table.



MEDIA 7: What inspired you to get into advertising? Please take us through your journey.
BRENDAN GRAHAN:
As an 80’s kid, I grew up in the era of Air Jordan. To me, those commercials were as cool as the movies or TV shows I was watching at that time (oftentimes even more so). From the outside, it looked exciting and glamorous. Lucky for me, after graduating from college, I got the opportunity to intern at a boutique agency in San Francisco. I remember the first time I walked into that office. It reaffirmed all those ideas I’d had about advertising being a ‘cool’, creative career.

I got started in 2005. Social media was just taking off. Facebook, YouTube, and Myspace started getting real traction. I was really fortunate in that I was tapped to provide insight into this newly emerging landscape. I loved it and I latched onto it. Eventually, I did my first influencer marketing deal in 2006. From there I never looked back.

After my first job, I joined Mekanism. They were at the forefront of digital and social. We were among the first to use influencers. We did a ton of "viral" content and being innovative, continuously breaking new ground.  We were building up an influencer marketing and social media team years before anyone else.

From there I joined the startup in LA before striking it out on my own and starting an influencer marketing agency. I ended up selling that to Mekanism (that’s a whole other story), and have been overseeing the social media team within Mekanism for the last 6 years.

M7: Congratulations on becoming a part of history! Since 2015, Joe Biden has been associated with Mekanism and the logos for his presidential campaigns have been designed by your team. How was the experience like and what were your takeaways from it?
BG:
The Mekanism team did an incredible job on the Biden for President brand identity and logo. I can't take any credit for working on that campaign (unfortunately). But, I’m super proud of the work that the team did.

Mekanism’s relationship with the president dates back to 2015 when we began work on It’s On Us, a campaign to stop sexual assault on college campuses. A project I was fortunate enough to have worked on with then-Vice President Biden and team. Our efforts helped drive over half a million pledges on the site. It was rewarding to work on a project for such a great cause.


YouTube is really the gold standard. There’s a real relationship between viewer and creator that is tough to beat.



M7: You have been at the forefront of social & influencer marketing since 2006, developing social campaigns for brands like Mountain Dew, Unilever, Amazon, 20th Century Fox, and The Olympics. What is your approach to research and ideating these campaigns?
BG:
The future of influencer marketing is going to look more like athlete endorsements. The Nike + Jordan model applied to influencers is the way to go. It helps build credibility (for both the brand and creator). The era of paying for shoutouts and leveraging influencers purely as media outlets are dying.

As a result, our approach is to work with brands that buy into this philosophy. We like to get hands-on immerse creators in the brand. We love it when we can have the influencers go to a brand’s headquarters, meet the team, etc. Where possible we integrate influencers across campaign touchpoints and integrate them into the advertising. Anything to make it more meaningful.

Too often brands give influencers a brief and leave it at that. We do not buy into that approach.

M7: What social channels do you use for effective brand promotion and which ones do you see as the most promising, given your target audience?
BG:
Every campaign is unique. Ultimately, you need to customize your approach based on the audience and objective. However, I personally feel that YouTube is really the gold standard. Audiences tend to be far more rabid there than on other platforms. There’s a real relationship between viewer and creator that is tough to beat. If done well, YouTube is generally the most effective channel.

I think there’s a huge opportunity with any emerging platform. You have the opportunity to be a big fish in a small pond. If you’re early and you build a following, you generally grow at a disproportionate rate of later adopters who are facing more content as competition. At this moment, I’d point to TikTok, Clubhouse, and Dispo as being great places to build audiences. Generally, if you’re early to a platform you can garner a disproportionate amount of value.

For example, on YouTube median views per video in 2006 was 10,262. By 2016 it had declined to 89! That’s a multiple of 115! You look and see the same thing happening on Facebook, Instagram, etc. On Facebook, organic reach has plummeted from 16% in 2012 to low single digits today. Right now is always the time to strike with emerging platforms. There’s a lot of change happening right now and with change comes opportunity.


Right now is always the time to strike with emerging platforms. There’s a lot of change happening right now and with change comes opportunity.



M7: What do you believe are the top three advertising challenges in the post COVID-19 era?
BG:
Covid just accelerated most of what was already happening in the industry. Last year, e-commerce advertising grew 30X faster than the wider online ad market. There was an 11% increase in e-commerce (as a share of total U.S retail sales). Brands spent $58.5bn advertising across e-commerce platforms, omnichannel retailers, and social commerce.

It’s clear the future is social + commerce. The industry has had to adapt to that from a content development/creative perspective, media buying, as well as measurement. All these challenges really intersect. 
At this stage, there’s no going back. A new way of shopping and a foundational shift in content consumption has occurred.

M7: How do you target content to your audience, and what are your best practices to produce effective content?    
BG:
There is no one size fits all answer. Ultimately, the best way to come up with the answer is to start with the solution you want and work backward. Our creative approach at Mekanism is best described as "The Soul and Science of Storytelling": Communicating a brand's purpose with ideas informed by data and rooted in human truths. You leverage the data and insights you have to inform amazing creativity. 

M7: Words of wisdom for advertising professionals?
BG:
I’ve found that those who look for inspiration beyond advertising tend to have more inspiring careers. So, for anyone just starting out, it would really work to develop a perspective and skillset beyond just advertising. Zero in on something in culture or technology that is growing and invest in that (in addition to advertising) this helps differentiate yourself.

Also, have a sense of humor. Recognize that advertising is not life or death. We’re selling products and not working on an operating table.

ABOUT MEKANISM

Mekanism is an award-winning, independent, full-service advertising agency made up of creative entrepreneurs. With offices in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Seattle, we serve as collaborative business partners to some of the world’s greatest brands, including Ben & Jerry’s, Peloton, Jose Cuervo, OkCupid, Charles Schwab and Alaska Airlines.

In 2020, The Effie Index named Mekanism as the #6 Most Effective Independent Agency in the United States. Mekanism has also been named to Ad Age’s Agency A List and twice to their Best Places to Work. Our work hasalso  been profiled by The New York Times, Fast Company and ABC’s Nightline and studied by Harvard Business School.

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Industry Leader Kenny Lau joins Perion as Chief Product Officer of its Advanced Advertiser Solutions

Business Wire | September 25, 2023

Perion Network Ltd. (NASDAQ and TASE: PERI), a global technology company whose synergistic solutions serve all major digital advertising channels - including search, social, display, and video/CTV – announced today the appointment of Kenny Lau as Chief Product Officer of Perion’s Advertiser Solutions. Through his experience in multiple domains of AdTech and large-scale platform development, Lau will expand Perion’s technology moat and ability to drive high-growth, high-margin, high-ROI solutions. Lau has held key roles at many of the industry's most prominent companies, including PubMatic, Criteo, and AdTheorent. In his most recent role as Vice President of Product of Advertiser Solutions at PubMatic, he led a global product development team of over 100 engineers and product managers. Tal Jacobson, Perion’s CEO,said Perion has demonstrated its ability to develop and successfully introduce innovative solutions that consistently outperform the industry. With Kenny’s extensive industry knowledge and experience, we are set to maintain this trend of excellence. He will be instrumental in amplifying our technological innovation and enriching our offerings in categories such as retail media, CTV, and video. “I have been following Perion for a while, and I couldn’t be more excited to join this great team that has proven its ability to deliver innovative solutions to a constantly evolving dynamic industry,” said Kenny Lau. “While the industry grapples with tightened spending and consolidation, Perion continues to outperform. I look forward to driving the expansion of the company’s portfolio of industry-changing products and services, further strengthening Perion’s leadership position across the AdTech ecosystem.” About Perion Network Ltd. Perion is a global multi-channel advertising technology company that delivers synergistic solutions across all major channels of digital advertising – including search advertising, social media, display, video and CTV advertising. These channels converge at Perion’s intelligent HUB (iHUB), which connects the company’s demand and supply assets, providing significant benefits to brands and publishers. For more information, visit our website at www.perion.com.

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LiveRamp and FreeWheel Partner to Bring Increased Addressable Advertising Inventory to the Connected Television Sector

Business Wire | September 28, 2023

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Business Wire | October 03, 2023

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Ad Networks

Industry Leader Kenny Lau joins Perion as Chief Product Officer of its Advanced Advertiser Solutions

Business Wire | September 25, 2023

Perion Network Ltd. (NASDAQ and TASE: PERI), a global technology company whose synergistic solutions serve all major digital advertising channels - including search, social, display, and video/CTV – announced today the appointment of Kenny Lau as Chief Product Officer of Perion’s Advertiser Solutions. Through his experience in multiple domains of AdTech and large-scale platform development, Lau will expand Perion’s technology moat and ability to drive high-growth, high-margin, high-ROI solutions. Lau has held key roles at many of the industry's most prominent companies, including PubMatic, Criteo, and AdTheorent. In his most recent role as Vice President of Product of Advertiser Solutions at PubMatic, he led a global product development team of over 100 engineers and product managers. Tal Jacobson, Perion’s CEO,said Perion has demonstrated its ability to develop and successfully introduce innovative solutions that consistently outperform the industry. With Kenny’s extensive industry knowledge and experience, we are set to maintain this trend of excellence. He will be instrumental in amplifying our technological innovation and enriching our offerings in categories such as retail media, CTV, and video. “I have been following Perion for a while, and I couldn’t be more excited to join this great team that has proven its ability to deliver innovative solutions to a constantly evolving dynamic industry,” said Kenny Lau. “While the industry grapples with tightened spending and consolidation, Perion continues to outperform. I look forward to driving the expansion of the company’s portfolio of industry-changing products and services, further strengthening Perion’s leadership position across the AdTech ecosystem.” About Perion Network Ltd. Perion is a global multi-channel advertising technology company that delivers synergistic solutions across all major channels of digital advertising – including search advertising, social media, display, video and CTV advertising. These channels converge at Perion’s intelligent HUB (iHUB), which connects the company’s demand and supply assets, providing significant benefits to brands and publishers. For more information, visit our website at www.perion.com.

Read More

Ad Networks

LiveRamp and FreeWheel Partner to Bring Increased Addressable Advertising Inventory to the Connected Television Sector

Business Wire | September 28, 2023

LiveRamp (NYSE: RAMP) and FreeWheel today announced that they have partnered to introduce a new solution that enables advertisers to buy a greater amount of addressable advertising inventory in the connected television sector. This is a new global partnership. The core offering includes FreeWheel incorporating support for LiveRamp’s identifier, RampID, powered by LiveRamp’s Authenticated Traffic Solution publisher partners into FreeWheel’s TV platform. The result is a new capability that allows marketers to more accurately reach and target audiences in the fast-growing CTV space using first-party data and addressable advertising. For marketers, one of the solution’s main benefits is the enhanced personalization capabilities in a soon-to-be-cookieless age. This partnership utilizes two LiveRamp solutions, which work in tandem with FreeWheel’s technology: LiveRamp’sAuthenticated Traffic Solutionconnects first-party user data with LiveRamp’s RampID to enable advertising on authenticated inventory in a privacy-centric manner. One of ATS’s key benefits is the ability to unlock addressable inventory without third-party identifiers, enabling the ecosystem to build and plan sustainably. RampID covers every touchpoint in a customer’s journey, enabling brands to generate better insights into exposures and conversions when using RampID to track impressions. RampID also unlocks further benefits for brands in the data collaboration space, including measuring media buys, and powering collaboration and insights with other brands. With the support of ATS and RampID, FreeWheel’s integration will soon allow 85+ RampID-enabled demand side platforms to directly transact on LiveRamp’s pseudonymous, people-based identity. The integration enables brands to onboard their audiences into FreeWheel‘s TV platform and transact direct deals with premium CTV publishers. Brands can now leverage their first-party data in conjunction with LiveRamp’s RampID and activate on FreeWheel’s premium video supply. One key benefit is that every impression can now be measured, resulting in better measurement and ROI for marketers. “Premium addressable CTV inventory is the new must-have for every advertiser,” said Travis Clinger, SVP, Activations and Addressability, LiveRamp. “FreeWheel’s integration to support LiveRamp’s addressability will power more accurate, people-based marketing across some of the world’s leading streaming publishers, enabling marketers to drive the business outcomes they need.” With third-party identifiers such as the cookie on the decline, we teamed up with LiveRamp to create a new solution for marketers to reach and engage with relevant audiences, said Matt Clark, VP, Strategic Partnerships, FreeWheel. “The end result is a much needed new offering that combines the strength of LiveRamp’s identity framework, FreeWheel’s expertise and scale in premium video, and the benefits of addressable advertising. We’ve designed, built, and are introducing this new solution with a focus and commitment to privacy, so that advertisers can get ahead of and succeed in today’s evolving media landscape.” “We are pleased to extend our longtime ATS implementation into the ad-supported version of AMC+ coming this October and this important new inventory,” said Scott Keating, VP, Audience and Data Platforms, AMC Networks. “This capability will drive our leadership position in delivering addressability for our partners while extending scale of high-quality audiences rooted in authentication.” “Paramount Advertising is steadfast in delivering the most advanced and flexible offerings for marketers to reach their target audiences across our leading portfolio of networks and streaming services,” said Todd Bender, SVP, Ad Platforms, Paramount. “LiveRamp has been a longstanding partner as a key member of the Paramount Identity Framework, and this partnership with FreeWheel will enable us to further enrich bid requests and unlock even more powerful opportunities for advertisers across our EyeQ footprint of more than 90 million full-episode viewers.” Through this global partnership, FreeWheel and LiveRamp are bringing a privacy-focused solution to CTV publishers, enabling publishers to create audience-based targeting for buy-side platforms on authenticated publisher inventory. LiveRamp’s ATS is the standard for post-signal connectivity and leads the way in interoperability with Google Display & Video 360’s PAIR, The Trade Desk’s UID 2.0, and Publicis’s CORE ID. Publishers working with LiveRamp and FreeWheel will now be able to benefit from increased demand and CPMs on their ATS inventory. This new industry solution will be available in market beginning in Q4 2023. About LiveRamp LiveRamp is the data collaboration platform of choice for the world’s most innovative companies. A groundbreaking leader in consumer privacy, data ethics, and foundational identity, LiveRamp is setting the new standard for building a connected customer view with unmatched clarity and context while protecting precious brand and consumer trust. LiveRamp offers complete flexibility to collaborate wherever data lives to support the widest range of data collaboration use cases—within organizations, between brands, and across its premier global network of top-quality partners. Hundreds of global innovators, from iconic consumer brands and tech giants to banks, retailers, and healthcare leaders turn to LiveRamp to build enduring brand and business value by deepening customer engagement and loyalty, activating new partnerships, and maximizing the value of their first-party data while staying on the forefront of rapidly evolving compliance and privacy requirements. LiveRamp is based in San Francisco, California with offices worldwide. Learn more at LiveRamp.com. About FreeWheel FreeWheel empowers all segments of The New TV Ecosystem. We are structured to provide the full breadth of solutions the advertising industry needs to achieve their goals. We provide the technology, data enablement and convergent marketplaces required to ensure buyers and sellers can transact across all screens, across all data types, and all sales channels, in order to ensure the ultimate goal – results for marketers. With offices in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, London, Paris, Beijing, and across the globe, FreeWheel, A Comcast Company, stands to advocate for the entire industry through the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video. For more information, please visit freewheel.com, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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Ad Tech and Martech

PMG Acquires Camelot Strategic Marketing & Media, Expanding Services to Drive Transformational Impact

Business Wire | October 03, 2023

PMG today announced the acquisition of Camelot Strategic Marketing & Media, one of the largest independent agency buyers of video, OTT, and CTV, and leaders across business and marketing transformation for more than 40 years. Headquartered in Dallas, TX, Camelot, whose marquee customers include Intuit, Charter Communications, Experian, Michaels, and Whole Foods, will join PMG, an independent, global full-funnel marketing and technology company headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. According to PMG’s CEO and Founder George Popstefanov, Camelot is a perfect complement to PMG’s hyper-focus on the customer. “As the landscape evolves rapidly, customers require agency partners that deliver a data-informed, tech-enabled, integrated solution obsessed with outcomes, not outputs. The acquisition of Camelot brings advanced expertise in CTV, OTT, traditional media, and measurement to further PMG’s full-funnel, fully integrated model.” He adds: “Camelot has built an unrivaled video practice leading the industry. Their commitment to innovation and furthering the video industry is well aligned with PMG’s technological advancements, automation, and innovation.” The acquisition of Camelot is further evidence of PMG’s philosophy of always changing for the better. With the addition of nearly 160 Camelotians, PMG continues to invest in transformation that drives material impact for our customers across media, strategy, analytics, creative, all enabled by technology. Our customers push us daily to help them solve their biggest business challenges. Our commitment to heightened accountability and driving business impact has allowed PMG to work side-by-side with the C-Suite of top brands to transform for the future, says Popstefanov. The synergies between PMG and Camelot continue when it comes to employees. PMG has been named to AdAge Best Places to Work for eight consecutive years and touts a 90 percent employee retention rate over the last five years. “PMG’s commitment to people and culture was one of the first things that caught our eye. Doing the right thing is never easy, but it’s clear that PMG has prioritized its values even when it was difficult. Camelot has always believed that a happy workplace environment leads to consistently satisfied clients, and we are excited about the bright future ahead and what it means for our people and our customers,” says Sam Bloom, CEO of Camelot. Camelot has also earned top recognition for its workplace culture and commitments, including AdAge Best Places to Work, Inc. Best Workplaces, and Top 100 Places to Work by The Dallas Morning News. The company integration begins immediately, and clients' needs will drive the timing of specific synergies across teams and capabilities. George Popstefanov will be the CEO of the combined company, driving the vision and ambition of nearly 700 PMGers worldwide. About PMG PMG is a global independent digital company that seeks to inspire people and brands that anything is possible. Driven by shared success, PMG uses business strategy and transformation, creative, media, and insights, along with our proprietary marketing intelligence platform Alli, to deliver Digital Made for Humans™. With offices in New York, London, Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, Atlanta, and Cleveland, our team is made up of over 500 employees globally, and our work for brands like Apple, Nike, Best Western Hotels & Resorts, Gap Inc., Kohler, Momentive, Sephora, and Shake Shack has received top industry recognitions including Cannes Lions and Adweek Media Plan of the Year. Named to AdAge’s 2023 A-List, MediaPost’s 2023 Independent Agency of the Year, and Adweek’s 2021 Breakthrough Media Agency of the Year, PMG has grown through commitments to continuous improvement, business integrity, and cultivating dynamic relationships. We are proud to be named among Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators, Fortune’s 2023 #1 Best Places to Work, and Best Workplaces for Women, and to be the only company named to Ad Age’s Best Places to Work eight years in a row. For more information about PMG, visit www.pmg.com. About Camelot Trailblazing through 40 years in the media and marketing industry, Camelot Strategic Marketing & Media, is a Dallas-based independent agency with over 150 employees in cities across the U.S. – including New York, Los Angeles, and Baltimore. They partner with intellectually curious, want-to-get smarter leaders from the world's biggest brands – from TurboTax to Whole Foods to Michaels – to provide media-agnostic, transparent, insight-driven media and marketing strategy and execution that drives stellar results. For more information on Camelot, visit camelotsmm.com.

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Mekanism

Mekanism

Mekanism is an award-winning, independent, full-service advertising agency made up of creative entrepreneurs. With offices in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Seattle, we serve as collaborative business partners to some of the world’s greatest brands, including Ben & Jerry’s, Peloton, Jose Cuerv...

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