Unprecedented shifts in tech are causing significant disruption within the consumer digital, media and entertainment industry, enabling huge growth in connected devices and numerous new routes to the consumer. For any company today, the system for success, along with the best ways connect with customers and the methodologies for disseminating information, are changing remarkably. As the world’s largest companies have gone from spending millions on traditional media such as television ads, it has become mandatory that they tackle their media spend in a much more highly targeted and integrated fashion with an emphasis on digital.

To be successful in a changing media marketplace of consumers, technology platforms, user experience and monetization, it’s critical that companies have the right forward-thinking senior leadership in place. Below, we analyze how changes in customer expectations, agency relationships and contextual challenges have generated the need for a new type of media talent and what the ideal candidate may look like.

Managing Change and Reimagining Agency Partnerships

Many companies have been relying on their agency partners to drive integrated media strategy. However, this is very expensive and can give the agency too much control over the process. Over the course of the last ten years, our world class clients have shifted their partnerships to cut out unnecessary layers within media management.

Booking.com, a popular hotel e-commerce site owned by Priceline, has worked closely with a media-buying agency that assists in determining where to allocate the company’s ad budgets, but the CMO no longer sees the value, according to Business Insider. More recently, Booking.com has hired data scientists, researchers and other bring everything in-house.  According to Pepijn Rivers, Booking.com’s chief marketing officer, the two reasons for the dramatic change are speed and data. The way he and a lot of other companies see it right now: more companies involved means more structure that gets in the way of adjusting traditional and digital campaigns on the fly, which ultimately costs the company money. Additionally, he believes that the company will better succeed if it owns all of its own data.

Companies can reverse this trend by investing in senior media leaders who can drive strategy in-house, leverage the power of big data, and reimagine agency relationships in a productive way to achieve more successful partnerships on creative development and execution.

Identifying the Right Senior Executive Media Talent

As media evolves to a more direct-consumer format, the industry continues to undergo fundamental transformation. To navigate successfully and win, companies need a senior media executive with a unique broad skill set who can successfully lead teams and address the evolving media landscape when it comes to programmatic buying, native content, media measurement, and more.

In an ideal world, the candidate may have started in television planning and buying before realizing around 2011 that he or she needed to pivot on digital and become more involved. Experience in paid, owned and earned media is a must along with deep knowledge of programmatic buying tools and efficiencies. Additionally, given the continuously changing circumstances of today’s media landscape, candidates should have the ability to monitor and adapt quickly to refine campaigns when needed. Also helpful, is knowing the inter-workings of agency environments.

We started to see the change with some of our world-class clients around 2012 asking us for this type of transformational media leader.

Top media talent may also bring expansive networks of influential media leaders, along with experience in consumer insights, cross channel media and integrated marketing communications to aid in the creation of strategic media solutions for leading organizations. Be on the lookout for efficiency driven candidates who demonstrate proven results throughout their career through the establishment of lucrative cross platform partnerships and digital growth strategies.

Key Traits and Skills of Top Media Executive Talent:

• Customer-centric
• Deep understanding of audience targeting, media planning and buying
• Well versed in data and analytics
• Programmatic media expertise
• Strong leadership skills and experience working across internal marketing as well as media agencies
• Integrated marketing experience

Leverage the Expertise of a Good Recruiter

A good recruiter or search firm can be the strategic partner you need to gain the ability to identify and attract the top senior executive media talent your organization needs to be successful. Select a reputable recruiter who works to stay up to date with the nuances of the media industry, along with the trends and shifting challenges facing organizations right now.

The ideal recruiter is a true and committed search partner who leverages a wide range of resources to identify and present the strongest candidates in a timely fashion. Additionally, a recruiter can help your company write and tell its story to help candidate’s better see the value in pursuing an opportunity at your organization. Time-to-hire can also be an important factor when you goal is to win battles for top talent. A recruiter can also help you accelerate your hiring process and improve your time-to-hire speed.

About the Author:

Matthew J Schwartz is the Founder, President and CEO of MJS Executive Search with nearly two decades of experience in retained executive search. Matt’s expertise lies in bringing together key executives that exhibit passion and creativity with leading organizations in a wide range of functional areas such as Marketing, Sales, Digital, Interactive and more. From Digital and Social media to Machine Learning and AI, Matt is passionate about cutting edge technologies and is dedicated using his knowledge to help his clients remain or become leaders in their realm.

Founded in 2003, MJS Executive Search has established itself as a top retained executive search firm that identifies and places unique, hard to find executives in highly specialized roles.

If you are interested in learning more about our Transformational Talent™ solutions, contact MJS Executive Search today to learn more about how we can help your organization. www.mjsearch.com