• Keynote Interviews with GroupM’s Brian Lesser and Hearst’s Troy Young [AD SUMMIT VIDEO]

    We had 2 terrific keynote interviews at our recent 7th annual Online Video Advertising Summit, with Brian Lesser (CEO, GroupM North America), which was conducted by Matt Spiegel (Managing Director, Marketing & Technology Solutions, MediaLink) and with Troy Young (Global President, Hearst Digital Media), who I interviewed.

    Taken together they provide invaluable insights from both the buy and sell sides about how to succeed in the rapidly changing video industry.

    Each interview is a little over 30 minutes. Links to all of the session videos from the Ad Summit are included at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!



    Brian starts by providing an excellent overview of how the advertising landscape and agency’s role have evolved and why consumer identity is now the most important aspect of digital marketing today. He goes on to explain various organizational changes GroupM has made and the strategic rationale behind them, the role of the company’s [m]PLATFORM media planning suite, how the industry can compete with Google and Facebook, why it’s getting harder to reach consumers and much more.


    Troy describes how Hearst, as a well-established magazine company, is now creating 500 pieces of content per day, with video an increasing share. Among other things, he talks about the 4 step strategy for how Hearst is succeeding in video, including what specific types it’s pursuing. He also describes specific organizational and talent challenges, plus companies he admires and what they’re doing right.