| February 15, 2024
Bachir Kassir, an accomplished entrepreneur and founder of MyTradeZone and WebJaguar Digital Commerce, has a notable track record in launching ventures, notably Advanced E Media, Inc., which introduced the WebJaguar Commerce and Marketing Automation platform, a software-as-a-service model. His latest endeavor, MyTradeZone.com, serves as a global B2B trade network, likened to LinkedIn for businesses, aiming to connect companies worldwide.
Machintel: Please share with us your journey that led to the founding of MyTradeZone? What inspired the concept of MyTradeZone?
Bachir Kassir: Some time ago, I thought about creating a B2B network to connect companies. At that time, I had just founded my digital commerce company, ‘WebJaguar’. So, I registered the domain mytradezone.com and kept the idea in the back of my mind.
During my tenure as President and CEO of MyTradeZone, I dealt with over 1000 businesses, and the idea of MyTradeZone evolved even more with feedback from real customers, discussing their challenges and how MyTradeZone could help. Consequently, we developed a prototype and launched the site as a beta.
Then, in December 2021, I had an exit when my company, WebJaguar, was acquired. With the freedom gained from the exit, I was able to dedicate 100% of my time to MyTradeZone, leveraging over 20 years of experience in B2B to officially launch the platform.
Machintel: In your view, what are the biggest challenges facing the B2B sector today?
Bachir Kassir: The biggest challenge facing the B2B sector is marketing and achieving cost-effective brand awareness for their products and services—to the right target audience. Many companies have great products and services, but the cost of exposure is expensive.
Additionally, many companies, restricted by their size or location, encounter obstacles in attending various trade shows, yet they continue to offer outstanding products despite these challenges.
Machintel: How does MyTradeZone aim to revolutionize B2B interactions, especially with its AI-driven matchmaking and recommendations?
Bachir Kassir: MyTradeZone, think of it as a digital twin of our physical world, where every business qualifies to join. Now, MyTradeZone is the universe of companies. Within this platform, businesses are categorized, organized, and displayed according to their region, industry verticals, and more.
MyTradeZone uses data science and AI algorithms for smart matchmaking between companies. We aim to revolutionize B2B interactions using this smart B2B search engine. Every business has a supply side and demand side, and because of that, MyTradeZone helps companies connect with potential customers. At the same time, MyTradeZone assists companies in procuring products and services from suppliers.
Machintel: What methods are employed by MyTradeZone to ensure its users have fruitful networking experiences that result in lead generation?
Bachir Kassir: When a company is on MyTradeZone, it becomes part of a vast universe of companies. At the same time, it can belong to and be part of different networking groups, trade shows, events, associations, and so on. This method ensures that users are exposed to the right targeted audience of the group they belong to.
Additionally, a company can sponsor a specific group, thereby exposing itself to the members of that group. A group organizer can invite various companies to sponsor their groups, or companies can choose to sponsor a group through a self-service option. In the process, the group organizer can monetize their group. There are many free tools available, including live chat, video chat, group chat, private company notes, and other tools that ensure a fruitful networking experience.
Another key feature is the request for quotation (RFQ) system, allowing anyone to submit quotations, while companies have the capability to search through these submissions. However, if a company is on the paid plan, the Business Essential plan, they get automatically alerted when someone submits an RFQ that matches their selected tags. Another incentive for users to upgrade to the paid plan, the Business Essential, is that they can select up to 20 keyword phrases of their choice, ensuring their company appears at the top of the search results.
All the above and more provide both free and paid tools available for lead generation and smart matchmaking between companies. ...
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Media 7 | March 15, 2022
Sarah Rew, Senior Director, Global Marketing at LoopMe elaborates on the importance of measuring campaign performance, LoopMe's innovative use of AI and ML and how high technologies are changing the AdTech marketplace in her latest interview with Media 7....
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Media 7 | November 16, 2021
We had the opportunity to speak with Ivar Krustok, Head of Data Science and IT at Ekspress Meedia, who gave us an interesting insight into the world of advertising powered by data and technology. Read on to find out what makes good advertisements in the current consumer landscape....
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Media 7 | November 12, 2021
Tim Clark, Vice President, Head of Native Advertising at SAP, explores the importance of native advertising and brand journalism for driving enterprise growth in this interview with Media 7. Read on to find out how he did it at SAP....
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Media 7 | November 10, 2021
Peter Angelis, Agency Development Director, Integral Ad Science elaborates on the recently launched - New IAS Signal Reporting Platform, and their MRC-accredited Quality Impression™ metric. Read on to know more about how IAS tackles the competition in the industry....
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Media 7 | September 30, 2021
Jonas Hagströmer Theodorsson, Co-owner, Global business developer Ecommerce at Keywordio and AdHelp.io, is a frequent speaker @Google, Stockholm School of Economics and IHM Business School on topics related to growth for global e-commerce companies. Jonas joined Keywordio because he loves working with extraordinary e-commerce clients in a global environment where the combination of digital talent and AI is the only way to beat the competition....
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Media 7 | June 15, 2021
Sudhir Kumar, Director & Master Growth Architect at Origin Growth, comes with an experience of over 15 years, helping businesses grow their sales and passionate about making a difference to an organization’s sales. He enjoys getting under the skin of his clients to understand their offering and develop creative, consistent branding and messages to position them in a way that resonates with and reaches their target audience....
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MEDIA 7 | November 20, 2020
Rachel Conforti, VP of Marketing at LoopMe is a media and marketing professional with over 15 years experience of proven success at driving effective programs delivering high results, spanning across corporate marketing, branding, PR strategy, thought leadership initiatives, lead generation, and strategic events.
Communicator extraordinaire, experienced storyteller and natural leader. She Runs It brand ambassador and mentor, active runner and media relations professional.
Media 7: What inspired you to get into Marketing? What is your favorite marketing word(s)?
Rachel Conforti: I’ve always had a passion for advertising, even reciting commercials as a kid over and over again (much to the demise of my parents)! After graduating from Binghamton University in NY I briefly thought about journalism as a career, but as I didn’t know many people in this area and it was hard to break into, I pivoted to look for roles in advertising, eventually landing a job within the out-of-home industry, at what is now known as Outfront Media.
After making the transition from out-of-home advertising to ad technology in the late 2000s, I’ve held various roles within B2B Marketing. For the past 20 years, I’ve covered everything from product marketing, sales enablement and marketing communications, to public relations and content marketing. I was fortunate to work alongside some of the best AdTech leaders while I was at 24/7 Real Media. That is where I began my journey into digital AdTech, and got to see the industry mature and evolve.
Throughout my career, I’ve been at Tremor Video, DoubleVerify and Innovid, at various inflection points on their respective journeys, all leading up to my current role as global VP of marketing at LoopMe.
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MEDIA 7 | November 11, 2020
Pierre Babineau, Director of Digital Strategy at Reprise Digital has been developing and implementing client-acquisition funnels and marketing strategies for SMBs, large corporations and nonprofits from various industries over the last 7+ years. Earlier in his career, Pierre ran his own agency out of Moncton, NB where he delivered digital deployment strategies for small businesses and tourism organizations, leveraging owned, paid and earned media across all marketing channels. Having a background in strategic planning has allowed Pierre to develop a very analytical, critical thinking approach when faced with problems and opportunities.
Media 7: What do you consider as your strengths?
Pierre Barbineau: What I consider to be my strengths depends upon context, as strengths can be interpreted differently through various aspects of life. My passion around all things leadership is what gets me up in the morning. I enjoy working with my team, coaching them, and seeing them grow. With my somewhat strange and particular background, I strongly believe that leaning on my past learnings and experiences in order to help someone else grow is such a blessing! When it comes to everything digital marketing, I’m mostly self-trained. I know that my professional life would have been easier with a mentor, so I strive to always be available to anyone who wants to learn - whether they report to me or not.
In terms of my own personal strength, my curiosity has certainly allowed me to reach far beyond what I would have expected. I’m constantly hungry to learn and understand new things. I cannot simply accept something for what it is; I need to understand what makes it tick. This is so important in understanding a fully integrated, consumer-first marketing strategy, as there are a multitude of tools, platforms, behaviours and challenges to explore.
Here is a recent example: my latest obsession is understanding the space-time continuum. If I read about it before bed, I won’t be able to sleep for hours, as I simply can’t stop thinking about the “how. I want to understand it on a deeper level – rather than simply accepting it for what it is. My curiosity truly is a blessing and a curse!
From a professional perspective in my everyday marketing life, I’d say I’ve been able to break through from the crowded space of marketers by being analytical and also being capable of understanding the story that data is telling me. My analytical mind is constantly asking “how” or “why” which helps me digest insights and dig to a deeper level than most. Many can go on a platform and build campaigns, or read reports and reviews, but the ability to identify key insights and understand how to act on these data points is crucial to growing as a marketer.
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MEDIA 7 | September 4, 2020
Natalia Vasilyeva, VP Marketing at Anzu.io has worked in the AdTech industry for nearly a decade. An Anzu team leader since day one, Natalia’s marketing acumen and deep expertise across business domains has propelled Anzu to its current status as the world-leading in-game advertising platform.
A multilingual speaker and writer, she writes extensively about AdTech and in-game advertising and appears frequently at industry events. Prior to Anzu, Natalia served as a project and marketing manager for global company Glispa and the world leader of mobile fitness apps, Sport.com. She has been passionately advocating for Anzu and its ability to change the face of the AdTech industry since day one.
MEDIA 7: What inspired you to get into marketing?
NATALIA VASILYEVA: From a young age, I was always fascinated by what motivated people to make certain decisions. I also had a keen interest in business, and saw over and over again how marketing played a key - perhaps the leading - role in helping transform budding companies to international success stories. As I grew into my career, I noticed that many people view marketing as just another way to sell products. But it's so much more than that--and that’s what I love, the diversity of the field. I see marketing as the starting point of a dialogue between a company and its existing and potential customers. This is a dialogue that can take place across channels, transcending the noise of today’s hyper-connected world. It's amazing to witness how small and calculated moves can change the course of a company for decades to come.
M7: What is the motto of Anzu.io? What does the company stand for?
NV: We make advertising in games better.
Better for advertisers, who want and need to connect to their audiences in meaningful and non-disruptive ways.
Better for game developers, who want and need to monetize and collaborate across industries without disrupting the user experience.
And, most of all, better for gamers, who can continue to play without interruption, actually benefiting from the enhanced gaming experience that Anzu’s blended in-game ads bring.
We fulfill our mission by bringing real-world brand ads directly into the gameplay.
Our core team at Anzu has been involved in the digital advertising industry for many years. We came together to solve a major problem we all saw: fragmentation. At the same time, we saw the gaming industry advancing at light speed and knew it was time to bring the two worlds together. Now, we’re working to create a new standard in advertising--one that is well-received by audiences and performs at an extremely high level, all while tapping into the massive potential of the 3 billion-strong gaming market. Our mission of making advertising in games better was a natural outgrowth of what both industries needed and the solution we could provide.
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Media 7 | April 24, 2020
Jack Myers, Media Ecologist, and Founder at MediaVillage has influenced the decisions of hundreds of global, national and regional media, marketing, advertising and entertainment companies and organizations for over forty years. More than 150 companies, organizations and industry leaders are members of MediaVillage.
After serving in leadership roles at Metromedia Outdoor, ABC-Radio, CBS-TV and UTV Cable, Jack launched The Myers Report, which for more than three decades has been a go-to innovation partner for more than 200 companies across the marketing and media ecosystem and the industry leader in forecasting the impact of technological advances on culture, marketing, media and entertainment. After a decade of development, Jack launched MediaVillage, now the industry’s most influential platform for thought leadership and a global advocate for the role and value of media to society, culture and business.
MEDIA 7: For those in our audience who are new to it, could you describe MediaVillage?
JACK MYERS: MediaVillage was launched in 2010 under the direction of veteran industry strategist and trend forecaster Jack Myers. Fifteen founding media companies embraced Myers’ recommendation that they transcend territorial competition to develop and implement industry-wide solutions for competing in the digital marketplace. For the past decade, MediaVillage, in collaboration with partners across the marketing ecosystem, has been pilot testing innovative strategies for generating growth. Today, more than 150 companies, organizations and industry leaders are members of the MediaVillage Center of Excellence.
• MARKET RESEARCH: Under The Myers Report brand, MediaVillage collects, analyzes and shares B2B and consumer data and insights to guide and support our members’ growth priorities and marketing communications.
• MARKET INTELLIGENCE: MediaVillage hosts and manages the B2B marketing platforms for more than 100 member companies, industry trade associations, non-profit advocacy groups, and education providers, each published independently under the MediaVillage Knowledge Exchange. Together they represent the media industry’s only unified force for growth.
• CONTENT MARKETING: MediaVillage.com hosts the commentaries, thought-leadership and insights of the media industry’s most respected columnists, journalists and industry experts, reaching professionals across the marketing, media, entertainment and education ecosystem.
• DIVERSE TALENT DEVELOPMENT: MediaVillage has been a leading advocate for diversity, equality and inclusion, founding WomenAdvancing. org in 2011, 1stFive.org in 2014 and, in 2017, the Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors. Under Myers’ leadership, the Advancing Diversity Council represents the media, marketing, advertising and entertainment community’s commitment to advancing diversity from advocacy to activism.
• EDUCATION & MEETING PREPARATION: To support the on-demand knowledge needs of brand marketers, agency professionals, media industry suppliers, educators, content studios, content creators and diverse communities, MediaVillage is launching MeetingPrep.com, an open AI-fueled search and market intelligence platform. In addition to the most accurate and relevant vertical industry search engine, MeetingPrep will incorporate Giide, an interactive audio learning app; Ad Learning Exchange, a curriculum-focused online education resource; and Advancing Diversity Meet-Ups, connecting talent to jobs.
The power of MediaVillage comes from the engagement and real-world experience of companies and organizations. Through our collective impact approach, we implement effective and cost efficient B2B growth solutions.
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MEDIA 7 | January 16, 2020
Maliha Aqeel, Director of Global Communications at Fix Network World is an award-winning, communication and marketing professional who helps companies harness the power of their brand to drive engagement and achieve measurable business results.
She has developed and led content and marcomm programs for B2B companies in the financial and professional services sectors in her over 15 years of industry experience.
MEDIA 7: When did you start working and what was it?
MALIHA AQEEL: I started my career in 1996 right after high school, freelancing as a journalist and features writer for a magazine in Dubai, UAE. Over time, I expanded my services to include scriptwriting for corporate videos and TV productions, writing and designing client newsletters and promotional collateral.
M7: What made you want to pursue a career in branding and marketing communications? What aspect about your role brings you the most joy?
MA: I didn’t consciously decide to pursue a career in marketing and communication as my plan was to become a filmmaker. However, I had great curiosity about what makes people prefer one brand over the other when a feature-by-feature comparison didn’t show a huge difference between similar products or services. I had taken a few advertising courses during university and it broadened my understanding of how powerful brand experiences and storytelling can drive business objectives. That balance of strategy and creativity is what I enjoy most about what I do and why I’ve continued to find purpose in my career.
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MEDIA 7 | November 14, 2019
Matt Amundson, VP of Marketing at EverString has over 10 years of sales and marketing experience. Matt has held roles in Demand Generation and Sales Development at TIBCO, Marketo, FGXI and Red Bull. His primary focus has been on creating processes that generate a consistent, pipeline.
MEDIA 7: Could you tell us about your mantra “Go for the run”?
MATT AMUNDSON: On December 29th of 2017, I decided to change my lifestyle habits and decided that I’m going to run a minimum of one mile every single day. So, every day since that day I’ve got up and ran. It’s been a seminal moment where my approach on life and work has changed dramatically. And as a result of that, it’s become a personal mantra, which is to not be afraid of where you might be today. If you’ve got some lofty goals or if you want to try something new, just get out there and give it a try and see what the results of it could be. On a personal level, whether you’re physically tired or don’t feel like doing it, just give it a shot and go for it. On a professional level, if it’s something that can benefit you or your brand give it a try, go for it and see what happens.
M7: What is your favorite part about working at EverString?
MA: I really love the people that I work with and I’ve been at the organization for about four and a half years. Some of the folks that I’ve worked with since the beginning are still here and it’s just been an awesome journey to be on with some incredible colleagues and that’s just on a personal level. On a professional level, I think we’re all solving a major problem that a lot of organizations are suffering from – which is related to data. As a marketer who has existed in the mar tech space for the broader part of my career, we often think of our process improvements and workflow improvements to gain more efficiency. Whether that’s marketing automation system or a cool new technology like conversational AI most people fall into two camps when it comes to data, either they’re just not conscious of data or they are. The data that they purchase or the data they acquire ultimately powers everything they do from a marketing perspective or they’re used to the status quo of current data providers that provide low quality of data and are sort of mired in the “well I guess that’s the way it is and that’s just the quality level that I have to deal with”. The fact that we’re changing that for some of the world’s biggest brands like Capital One, FedEx, Staples, Autodesk, Oracle as well as the smaller brands is really exciting to me.
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MEDIA 7 | November 7, 2019
David Spark, Content Marketer and Producer, Managing Editor at Spark Media Solutions is a veteran tech journalist and founder of Spark Media Solutions. He’s been the creative director, producer, voice, and face of many content marketing campaigns for a number of Fortune 1000 B2B tech companies.
MEDIA 7: What part of your background, personality, experience, or skill set makes you a particularly effective content marketing professional?
DAVID SPARK:
• Veteran technology journalist (worked across all media)
• Former advertising exec
• Former standup comedian and comedy writer
M7: What inspires you to come up with new ideas for blog posts, campaigns, tech, and media podcasts?
DS: Inspiration is dependent on the project, the output, and the medium. But in general, I’m inspired by finding a topic/question that the audience will eagerly want to answer. Two of our most popular examples:
CISO Series – This is a media channel we started in October 2018 that we tout as couples counseling for security practitioners and vendors. We have such a passionate audience that they’re submitting a steady flow of questions, commentary, and games for our two podcasts. The CISO Series has provided the forum for our audience to be inspired.
“Man on the street” videos – It’s our most popular video format. We’ve produced close to 200 of these and my goal with these videos is to come up with a question where the first reaction is to laugh and then an eagerness about responding. It could be a challenge question (e.g., “What would happen if you left your mobile phone at home for an entire day?”, or something completely inappropriate for the environment (e.g., asking “What’s Your Password?” at a security conference).
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MEDIA 7 | October 7, 2019
Erik Charles, Vice President and Solutions Evangelist at Xactly Corporation is an accomplished professional with over two decades of experience in Marketing, Consulting, and Product Evangelization. Erik focuses on helping companies drive expansion and growth by better aligning positions, responsibilities, and incentives.
Erik serves as a subject matter expert in the area of Sales Performance Management to ensure that Xactly’s marketing, sales and product teams have the necessary strategic input for industry leading messaging, positioning, and future direction.
MEDIA 7: When did you start working and what was it?
ERIK CHARLES: In early 1980s, I wrote software on TRS-80 model II coded in BASIC to enable for computerized quotes for a life insurance agency. I was in middle school at the time, that was a contract work. My next job was at a software store back when software used to be bundled up into a cardboard box with inserted floppy disks and then it went on from there.
M7: You have an astounding experience of over two decades with industry pioneers like Apple, Sun Microsystems, Canon and recently Xactly Corporation. What has been the driving force behind your remarkable career?
EC: There are two things: as a marketer, I don’t believe in mistakes, I only believe in experiments and what we can learn from them, that has kept me moving forward. I keep on trying new things and seeing what works. I assume that just because it worked last week doesn’t mean it’s going to work tomorrow. So, I’ve never allowed myself to get into a rut. I have always been more than willing to find people who can provide excellent advice at critical moments, even on a specific direction. Finding someone that I can speak with, that can give me a few tips, tricks, hints, ideas, direction or path on moving on. So, I have never been afraid to ask just how could I do this better.
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MEDIA 7 | September 19, 2019
Tom Raftery, Global VP at SAP is an Innovation Evangelist, Futurist, and international Keynote speaker. Prior to joining SAP, Tom worked for a number of companies at Group IT Manager/CTO level, and as an Industry Analyst. Tom is a global thought leader and ranks among the top 10 Internet of Things influencers in the world.
MEDIA 7: If I were to say to a bunch of people who know you, ‘Give me three adjectives that best describe you’, what would I hear?
TOM RAFTERY: I would like to think that I am a good communicator, maybe smart and hopefully generous. You will have to ask people other than myself though. They would be a better judge.
M7: What is the role of a technology influencer in driving environmental sustainability?
TR: The role of someone like me would be to raise awareness of the issues that are happening and potential solutions to them, particularly technological solutions. A lot of people are busy in their day-to-day lives and they might not be aware of some of the more pressing environmental issues that are happening in the world and that might impact them. So, raising awareness with people, of the importance of these issues, and the potential technological solutions to them is the role I think that influencers should be playing.
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MEDIA 7 | June 25, 2019
Olivia Taylor, Director of CRO at Directive Consulting has 10 years of working experience in graphic designing and has expert knowledge in CRO/UX in landing pages and websites designing.
Olivia was recently nominated for the Orange County Business Journal's Top 25 Women in Business Awards.
MEDIA 7: What’s your superpower?
OLIVIA TAYLOR: I would like to think my superpower is empathy. That’s part of what CRO is: figuring out and understanding what’s going on through people’s minds and finding out what people need and want.
M7: Does it point to user intent, a term generally used in Account Based Marketing?
OT: Yes, exactly that. Because I’m able to basically understand where the consumer and the buyer is coming from, I can better optimize my clients’ websites, change that language in the headline and the subhead to relate to the customers’ pain points and better describe the benefits of what my client can provide to them.
M7: Your career spans an impressive 8 years from a Graphic Designer to being a Director of CRO at Directive Consulting. What attracted you to this industry, and how does Directive Consulting fit into your story?
OT: I became a designer because all other subjects in school were boring. 2+2 will always be 4, but with design, there are so many possibilities - so many different solutions to a problem. Plus, I always loved drawing and creating.
While going to school, I worked as a designer at a few different places. Then upon graduating, I worked at a tech company in-house but it just wasn’t for me. I moved on to an agency that was full-service, but that also was not the right fit. After that job, I ended up at a PPC agency where I learned about CRO. I started there as just a designer and left there as the Director of CRO.
Using the skills I learned there, I was able to join the upstanding company that is Directive where I’m learning so much more, and doing so many more awesome things than I did at any other job and it has been amazing. It’s so wonderful to work at a place that is professional and that takes the work so seriously, only striving to be the best at being different.
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MEDIA 7 | April 3, 2019
Tyler Lessard, VP Marketing of Vidyard has been recently named as an Epic Marketer by Marketo. In this interesting Q&A, Tyler takes us through his marketing journey and shares with us the value of technology in an era where videos are not just visually replenishing, but are also empowering the customer service teams in more ways than one.
MEDIA 7: What were you doing prior to your current position?
TYLER LESSARD: Prior to joining Vidyard as VP Marketing, I spent 10 years at BlackBerry, building out their developer relations program and global partner community. It was an incredible opportunity to learn the importance of relationship building and strong storytelling on a global scale, and the need to simplify how we articulate and position the value of technology for line-of-business customers.
M7: What are the changes that video hosting and management have undergone over the past couple of years at Vidyard?
TL: In recent years we’ve seen the conversation with businesses change from “why should I invest in video” to “how do I unlock the power of video across my marketing, sales and customer service teams”. This has driven us to focus on delivering new solutions through the lenses of these key audiences and what they are really trying to achieve.
We’re now helping marketing teams increase audience engagement with personalized and interactive video experiences, boost conversion rates on digital channels with optimized video experiences within their websites and email marketing, and accelerate deal cycles using video engagement data within their marketing automation platforms to qualify prospects. We’re helping sales development reps stand out and increase their response rates using personalized video messages sent via our Vidyard GoVideo app. And we’re helping customer service teams reduce call volumes and increase customer satisfaction with video-based knowledge articles embedded within customer communities. It’s all about helping businesses leverage video in new ways to improve the customer experience and generate more revenue....
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