Written by : Sophie Toth on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)
What will this article be about?
Well, I will share my story, my philosophy, and thoughts in a nutshell.
My name is Sophie Toth, programmatic and AdTech professional form London, and I am one of the Co-founders of The Women In Programmatic Network. I also help various businesses in their digital transformation and navigating them in the fascinating programmatic and ad tech world to maximise their full potential.
We started our incredible journey with our members in 2020, and at that point, my tale.
Our digital world is so beautiful and evolving, but we didn’t focus on the users as a business in the last decade. Moreover, the industry became undoubtedly male-dominated.
These two factors led us, with the other co-founder, to establish an independent and free network to address these gaps, work on solutions, and empower our members.
We essentially wanted to create a “safe place” for women where we treat everyone equally and keep everything confidential.
Digital is a contiguous personal journey and professional development for everyone, and the best is that none is alone in it anymore. The network has been expanding beyond the border, and many ladies expressed their interest in opening and maintaining regional hubs, advocating our legacy.
Being international and starting to work with people from all over the world, we have been learning ourselves as well.
This network means everything I’ve missed as a digital professional, from the digital community to events and professional opportunities.
I didn’t anticipate this rapidly changing, sometimes demanding environment when I entered this industry more than a decade ago.
I needed to convince people about my knowledge and express myself in a different language. It was even more complex because programmatic advertising started gaining more attraction a little earlier when I started my career.
Talking about the unknown and presenting vision had their own challenges, but I never gave it up and never will. Programming is my profession; like a marriage, I will be here in good and bad times!
But back to my journey. I am a person who always likes to think out of the box, explore new potentials and brainstorm on different topics. Without this practice, growth won’t happen, especially for people who work in our industry.
I always say that we need to be a bit of developer, a bit of economist, a bit of everything, but I know this is what I love, and honestly, you never can be bored here as it can be so intense and challenging than calm and relaxed. We combat with time when for example, troubleshooting a campaign.
Time is something we can’t turn back, and this is a skill to stay calm, focus on the solution in a difficult situation, and work under pressure.
Ad operation is something you love or leave.
On the other note, digital is fun with many events, meetings and fun, which creates a nice balance for everyone. Many friendships and marriages have happened, so we can’t complain about social life!
When I think about the future and laser focus on the professional part, we have been facing many new regulations, measurements, and the new generation of digital consuming habits; we will settle our future soon.
I also believe in great talents who look forward to and proactively help us.
I always say: that Programmatic is a data-driven technology, and its potential is endless, pointing the way beyond what I call – traditional digital platforms.
Data and automisation (what essentially programmatic are) are living its revolution.
Actionable data became a currency and will gain more significance as well as programmatic execution will elevate the success of data but, of course, with innovation.
– I love innovative thinking and approach.
Finally, discuss relevant topics such as sustainability, user ID, privacy legislation, user experience and education.
Sustainability: Embracing it is already late, but we can still positively impact our world. Achievements can only happen together with a collaborative effort. I am passionate about being carbon-free or reducing it in digital media, and I would reward companies for it, plus show it on an ad as a label of its carbon score.
User ID and privacy: This is a sensitive topic, but I am happy that we must respect individual personal data and give a tool for everyone to take back control over it with international legislation such as GDPR or CCPA.
We have to organise this great approach without a doubt. An everyday user must understand: the why, the how, and the what this is for. As I see what we are facing, I am passionate about helping these everyday people understand this topic and adequately use the tool.
They have a tool without description, and it is so complex and new that even for us, who work in this industry, it is challenging to comprehend. So now we must be a bit solicitor to my previous list.
User: Based on the above, we as an industry must respect our users’ privacy and communicate with them proactively rather than making reactive amendments.
We must lead this industry, and education is integral to it; if you remember what I wrote at the beginning of this article, you know how I talked about the unknown. Well, that was in the micro-environment, and now we must implement it in the macro-environment.
Success is in front of us, but we must work together and consider each other allies instead of competitors.
All these changes created an excellent opportunity for digital, and it will bring a much more transparent, trusted, and profitable future where the user will be in a place where they should have been a long time ago.
The market share will change, and with more equations and new technologies, we will soon have a more interlinked, controlled, and collaborative era.
I could continue the list with customisation, which is the outcome of the better value of the data and new creative assets. We will build them based on these findings of the information categorisation about the user. Unique, well-tailored user experiences and relevant information with the visitors’ right mindset will drive the world even more as people have less time to search for information.
– I call this practice: The mindset-based targeting.
I arrived at my closing lines; therefore, I would like to let you go with four critical pillars:
– Lean: With complete focus and attention, don’t be afraid to ask and discuss your questions openly. Always develop yourself and attend sessions, role related events.
– Listen: Absorb new knowledge, turn it to your advantage, be ready and interested in others’ opinions and thoughts, and be available for a good discussion.
– Lead: Give knowledge to the community, teach others, and encourage your younger colleagues or people who need your advice with passion but be humble always.
– Love: Work always towards your targets and love what you do; without love, you only have a job, and you should have a profession.
Life is a circle, and it will balance everything eventually.
I hope you enjoyed the article, and if you would like to open a conversation with me, feel free to reach out. You can easily find me on LinkedIn or visit TWIPN website for more.
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