In our blog series “Life in Adtech” we’re showcasing the different ways in which StackAdapters are driving innovation in adtech, and creating a progressive tech culture. From using modeling and data to create advanced algorithms to building stylish and robust user interfaces, everyone at StackAdapt is contributing to evolving the StackAdapt platform and providing the best product and service to our clients.
This month features Andy Jeong, a Programmatic Strategist at StackAdapt. In this post, we will get an inside look at his journey to AdTech as a new graduate, how he stays ahead in the industry, and how his role positively influences campaign success for users of StackAdapt.
How did your journey in adtech begin?
After finishing my degree at York University in 2019, StackAdapt became the first step towards the career that I wanted to have in digital advertising. As I was new to the industry, the learning curve was both steep and rewarding. I received an overwhelming amount of support from not only my teammates, but also other departments, which made it much easier to get ramped up. Fast forward to a year into the role, and now I get to manage some of the top performing campaigns in the company.
What is the main focus of your role as a Programmatic Strategist?
I work to offer the best optimization suggestions for campaigns and ensure that they reach their outlined goals and KPIs. This may include helping a campaign hit a targeted CPC, serve a desired number of impressions, exceed video completion targets, or crush conversion goals.
The way I see it, in order for campaigns to achieve their respective goals, optimizations are paramount. I am constantly exploring campaign strategies and testing to uncover new findings that will help campaigns reach greater success.
Why are Programmatic Strategists so important for a demand-side platform (DSP) like StackAdapt?
Even though a DSP, like ours, can present optimization suggestions through machine learning and AI, I think the human touch is important. We complement our advanced AI with human intelligence to maximize results. In a typical week, I can look through 300 to 500 campaigns—and the more campaigns I review, the better I get at finding optimizations.
With the high volume of campaigns that we analyze on a regular basis, we start to develop an eye for campaign insights and are often seen as the technical experts of the platform. This means that we know which strategies tend to work well—and which ones don’t.
We also have to know how a campaign needs to be set up from day 1 in order to reach its goal by the end of the flight, which is information any media buyer would want at their disposal. Since every campaign is unique, having a team like ours that provides this kind of detailed expertise in the early stages can steer a campaign in the right direction.
What tools do you use to amplify your success?
Even though a typical day in the life of a Programmatic Strategist is pretty busy, I find it important to stay on top of industry trends—it really helps me to best serve my clients. I rely on sources like AdExchanger, IAB, and AdWeek to build my industry know-how. I also find LinkedIn Learning to be very helpful, and our internal resources are great to keep me on track.
What trends in programmatic are you interested in?
Heading into 2021, a trend that I find interesting is screenless media, specifically programmatic audio. This emerging channel enables advertisers to gain access to better targeting and measurement for audio ads on mediums like digital radio, podcasts, etc. I think it’s going to be really interesting to see how this trend continues to grow next year.
What is the most rewarding part of being a Programmatic Strategist at StackAdapt?
Seeing your campaigns successfully reach their goals is such a rewarding moment—especially when you can share effective strategies and insightful information with other members of the team and watch their campaigns reach greater heights.
The Programmatic Strategist team creates a lot of opportunities for collaboration, making it easy for everyone to initiate that kind of conversation. Overall, the feeling of directly seeing returns on team collaboration is priceless and is definitely the most rewarding part of my job.
Interested in joining StackAdapt? Check out StackAdapt careers.
In each new addition, we will be highlighting our teams and team members in our “Life In Adtech” series—stay tuned for more!
