Social Media Portal

Charlie Faulkner from Manage.com provides insight on the mobile media buying sector

Social Media Portal (SMP): What is your full name, job title and role (what do you do there) at Manage.com?

Charlie Faulkner (CF): Charlie Faulkner, EMEA Business Director. I lead our EMEA business primarily focused on working with new and existing advertiser clients and our ad exchange supply partners. We have very aggressive growth plans and it?s my job to ensure that we deliver upon those plans!

SMP: Briefly, tell us about Manage.com - what is it and what does company do?

CF: We are a programmatic mobile media buyer.  Manage.com is the leader in real-time bidding for the mobile age, reaching and engaging more mobile and tablet users in real-time than any other bidding platform, globally. The largest mobile advertisers and agencies with neither the technology nor risk-tolerance for high-performance real time bidding have consolidated their exchange buying with Manage.com to reach users they would have never reached through Facebook or another manual non-RTB ad buying platform.

SMP: Who are your target audience and why?

CF: We work with a variety of different companies all of which have one thing in common ? they understand the importance of mobile and wish to buy media in the most effective way possible.  It is more common for us to work closer to the media buying team than the mobile strategy team. Clients for us range from mobile first gaming companies with a huge emphasis on performance marketing and user acquisition to brands looking for awareness and engagement through mobile video display advertising.


SMP: How does your advertising software work and what makes it different to other vendors?

CF: As the largest mobile RTB buyer across all the major mobile ad exchanges, our goal is to help advertisers reach their target audience in an efficient, highly scalable manner in the mobile channel. Employing proprietary algorithms in combination with first-party and third-party data relationships, Manage.com offers a suite of audience segments that enables optimal engagement at scale.

Key proof points:

• We are the largest RTB buyer on all major mobile ad exchanges
• Daily volume: Handle 15 billion RTB impressions across mobile in-app and mobile web inventory
• We reach over 75 % of all mobile users globally

SMP: Why is mobile an important medium and how do you help agencies / brands reach their audiences?

CF: Mobile is important because that is where the audience now exists. Over 50% of consumers that are online are now mobile and tablet rather than desktop. To spend 100% of your display budget on desktop just means you are missing out on a large proportion of your audience which are arguably more valuable.

SMP: What are the challenges that you?ve encountered and how are you overcoming them in what you have been doing so far at Manage.com?

CF: Performance advertisers have got here quicker than brand advertisers. Brand advertisers have been mobile sceptics but are now testing and seeing that results are strong and campaigns are not all banner orientated.

SMP: What are the high moments of what you have been doing so far?

CF: Leading our growth in the US during 2013 and partnering with the biggest global mobile media advertisers.

SMP: What do you think is going to be the most interesting aspect regarding social media, social networks and/or technology for the next 12 to 18-months and why?

CF: I think it will be the continued adoption of programmatic technology with big data. Twitter and Facebook are great examples of how through a combination of the two you can deliver impressive advertising revenue that will become increasingly significant.

SMP: How are you ensuring that mobile advertising is working seamlessly with other forms of advertising e.g. display and what sort of results are you seeing?

CF: I see mobile advertising as the same as display but just called mobile display. I think one is already seeing how mobile advertising is heavily influences offline transactions especially in retail. It is becoming common for brands to use geo location mobile advertising to encourage footfall and purchases in store.

SMP: What are your top five predictions for mobile advertising for the next 12 to 18-months and why?

CF responds with:

1. Programmatic to grow significantly and rival if not supersede traditional ad networks.
2. Ad networks to pivot to becoming programmatic buyers for the reason above.
3. Increased brand spend and dilution of desktop display budgets.
4. Improvement in mobile rich media creative to continue. The creative experience and what is possible will be dramatically different in 18 month?s? time.
5. There will be a lot of consolidation and M&A activity in the mobile ecosystem, lead by the big media corporations.

SMP: What are your top overall five tips for advertising across mobile?

CF responds with:

1. Demand transparency. Brands need the same security on mobile as they do in desktop.
2. Avoid middle men. Understand the chain; there are a lot of unnecessary affiliates and agencies adding no value.
3. Blend your inventory mix. It is important to buy both premium and long tail inventory, performance will come from both.
4. Go programmatic. Buyers benefit from efficiency, transparency, greater targeting and real time optimisation.
5. Work with experts. You would not work with a mobile partner to run desktop campaigns so why would you do the same for mobile...?

SMP: Your company looks like it?s new to social media ? how long have you been using it and how important do you deem it to your brand?

CF: I think social media helps you understand who your audience is and what they look like. If you can use that knowledge and data to help your targeting in mobile advertising than it will be very helpful.

SMP: How are you advising agencies and brands how they could be using social media in conjunction with mobile advertising?

CF: Currently Facebook is the primary media channel for mobile marketing and we see what we do as highly complementary. We similar attributes such as being scalable, targeted and highly transparent, all of which are essential ingredients for the advertiser.

SMP: Is there anything else we should know, or is there anything that you?d like to share?

CF: We are growing and always looking for new talent ? Do not be put off if you do not have direct mobile experience - get in touch!

SMP: Best way to contact you and Manage.com?

CF: charlie.faulkner @ manage.com


SMP: What did you have for breakfast / lunch?

CF: Flat white coffee and a banana

SMP: What?s the last good thing that you did for someone?

CF: I always try to give up seats and helping those less abled on public transport and it annoys me when others do not do the same.

SMP: If you weren?t working at Manage.com what would you be doing?

CF: Either running my own company or on a beach in Australia, or perhaps both.

SMP: If you could change anything about the airline industry, what would it be and why?

CF: Automatic ban on screaming kids with useless parents. After doing about 12 return flights to San Francisco last year I was pretty quick to spot the ones that would guarantee 11 hours of hell.

SMP: When / where did you go on your last holiday and why?

CF: Last November my girlfriend and I spent three weeks in San Francisco, LA, Las Vegas and New York. I wanted her to see some of the places I had travelled to for work. I wanted to enjoy each city while I was on holiday mode rather than work mode.

SMP: What?s the first thing you do when you get into the office of a morning?

CF: Make a priority list that becomes redundant after about 45 minutes. It is also common for me to be on calls with Israeli and Russian clients early in the morning given the time difference. With the Americans coming online at the end of the day, every day is a long one.

SMP:  If you had a superpower what would it be and why?

CF: Immunity to hangovers.

If you're interested sharing your story, get in touch.