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DAY

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DMEXCOMarin Software

DMEXCO – COLOGNE, SEPTEMBER 10TH-11TH

HALL 7 : STAND C26

Search : Social : Display

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11.00-11.20:Enhanced Search Campaign Management & Bidding

12.00-12.20:Efficient Creation and Optimisation of Google Shopping Campaigns

14.00-14.20:Use your Cross-Channel Online Advertising Data for Revenue Optimisation

15.00-15.20:Strategies & Tactics for Integrated Search & Social Advertising


12.00-12.20:Effective Creation ofAttribution Models

14.00-14.20:Use your SalesForce.com CRM Data for Revenue Optimization

15.00-15.20:Implementation of Effective Cross-ChannelRetargeting Strategies

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DAY

2

Hear experts speak about these topics on our stand:

DAY

1

DMEXCOMarin Software

DMEXCO – COLOGNE, SEPTEMBER 10TH-11TH

HALL 7 : STAND C26

Search : Social : Display

marinsoftware.co.uk

MAKE SURE TO VISIT


12.00-12.20:Efficient Creation and Optimisation of Google Shopping Campaigns

14.00-14.20:Use your Cross-Channel Online Advertising Data for Revenue Optimisation

15.00-15.20:Strategies & Tactics for Integrated Search & Social Advertising


12.00-12.20:Effective Creation ofAttribution Models

14.00-14.20:Use your SalesForce.com CRM Data for Revenue Optimization

15.00-15.20:Implementation of Effective Cross-ChannelRetargeting Strategies

JOIN US TO WIN 2 x 2TICKETS FOR THEDMEXCO ROCKSTARSAFTERSHOW PARTY

HAPPY HOUR ONWEDNESDAY 17:00 The platform for cross-channel performance advertising

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M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

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THE DRUM 03.SEP.14 www.thedrum.com insiDE03

sEEking oUT THE bEsT in sEaRcH

THE DRUM is published by Carnyx Group Limited. The publishers, authors and printers cannot accept liability for any errors or omissions. Any artwork will be accepted at owner’s risk. All rights reserved. On no account may any part of this publication be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright holder and publisher, application for which should be made to the publisher. © carnyx group limited 2014 iSSn 2046-0635

It’s great to see so many talented search marketers recognised in this supplement, and congratulations to all of you. However, it’s also important to note that these individuals’ future success in search depends on sharpening their skills in the social and display channels. I’m not saying that search is dead as a channel (far from it, it accounts for over 50 per cent of online advertising in all major developed markets), I’m saying that the integration of search with social and display sits at the core of the future of the industry.

Search has been on a collision course with display and social for a long time. Now we’re seeing that collision of skills and data come to fruition. We’ve seen search marketing take audience data from display marketers, to begin optimising paid search based on audiences as oppose to keywords. Through technology integrations, like the one between Marin Software and its recent acquisition of Perfect Audience, we’re also beginning to see display retargeting being optimised based on search intent data. I’ll also talk in my Knowledge Bank later on page 14 about how revenue per conversion is 68 per cent higher from paid search when managed together with social advertising campaigns. In terms of social it’s also hard to ignore the increasing importance of social marketing in organic search, and the need for SEO teams to sharpen their social marketing skills.

All-in-all, search marketers, display advertisers and social marketers need to share their skills and unify their campaigns into one technology platform to ensure their combined future success. Once again, congratulations to all the talented search marketers recognised in this supplement. We look forward to continuing our work together with all of you to tackle the convergence of the search channel with social and display.

Search marketing is no longer a back office discipline or merely the preserve of technical specialists. Instead, search is now at the core of digital marketing as more and more of us search across all different devices to access the information we want and need.

Adapting to changing human behaviour is at the core of the discipline as Google’s algorithms continue to respond in accordance with natural language, while search becomes more content-driven and social than ever.

In a time of such transformation, it seems apt, then, to recognise the faces of search; those who helped to define the industry as it moved to become a backbone of digital. The Drum has set out to do just that by identifying the top individuals in the UK’s paid and organic search industry in our inaugural Search Top 50 – a platform celebrating 50 of the top individuals making an impact in this exciting, constantly evolving sector.

The Top 50 was decided following an online vote on 100 shortlisted individuals, all recognised for their influence and contribution to the industry. After thousands of votes were cast, we can now reveal a list comprising a dynamic mix of individuals operating in all aspects of search – from client-side search marketers to those operating within search specialists, digital agencies and, of course, search engines themselves. This year’s number one spot is taken by Ian Carrington, director of performance at Google, who believes that while advertisers are still getting to grips with mobile search, the internet of things will be the next game changer in search.

This supplement is dedicated to revealing the top 50 individuals, who we have tracked down and quizzed about what makes them tick. Over the next few pages you can find out their thoughts on changes to the search marketing landscape, the people who have inspired them in their careers, and the challenges that they have overcome. And keep an eye out for The Drum’s next search focus, published in October, where we’ll be distilling the trends and developments in the space down to one insightful package full of need-to-know facts.

You can view and share the Search Top 50 online by visiting thedrum.com/search-top-50.Jon Myers, VP and managing director, EMEA, Marin Software

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sEaRcH MaRkETERs’ FUTURE sUccEss Will REqUiRE Display anD

social skills

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www.thedrum.com 03.SEP.14 THE DRUM04SEaRcH Top 50

01. Ian Carrington

01 Ian Carrington, director of performance, Google

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Convincing advertisers that mobile is big today and will be massive tomorrow, and that they need to get on board.

What’s the next game changer in search?Mobile was the last game changer and advertisers (not consumers) are still getting to grips with it. Next big one will be the internet of things and how you can search on any device any time eg fridges, cars, glasses, TVs, etc.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?Working at another start-up (this is my third and it’s been quite successful; I want to find the next one!)

How do you relax?Football, tennis, reading and spending time with my dog and/or son.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?Matt Brittin, he is so good at all things but is also a genuinely nice guy.

Describe your career to date in five words.Challenging, inspiring, fulfilling, no regrets.

making their site the best it can be, whether that’s on desktop or mobile devices. I’ve worked with numerous global brands that spend millions of pounds a year driving traffic to their sites, but I’ve worked with few who invest even a small amount on improving their on-site experience. Personally, I still believe that this is one of the single most important things that any brand can do in the digital space to make their marketing budgets work harder and secure their long term success in what is an increasingly competitive and fast changing space. I’ll never overcome this!

What’s the next game changer in search?Nine years ago search was all about keywords, now it’s all about audiences. The exponential growth in complexity has been driven by the need to deliver personalised experiences across multiple devices. This rapid pace of change means search teams now have to think far more strategically about campaigns before they are executed.

I believe that new and innovative hardware will be the next game changer.

With the number of searches on mobile and tablet devices already outstripping desktop, I’d expect there to be an increasing focus on how we better reach these users on the go with limited real-estate. Wearables (ie watches and Google Glass) and automotive integration are going to play a major role here.

04 Paul Mead, founder and managing director,

VCCP MediaWhat is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Me and my inner control freak. It took me far too many years to realise that you can’t bat, bowl, field, captain and bring out the drinks at the same time.

What’s the next game changer in search?There is a move in the world of search from pull to push. The old world, where users type in keywords and the search engine and its advertisers return relevant results, is gradually giving way to a new world. The new world is an arms race where technology acts on data from all kinds of connected devices to understand

look To THE fUTUREIntroducing The Drum’s Search Top 50 – our list of the top individuals working in the UK search sector. Here they provide a glimpse into their careers to date.

02 Ben Wood, global president, iProspect

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Launching iProspect into the UK market five years ago – a new brand with a new proposition into a hugely competitive market.

What’s the next game changer in search?The integration of addressable data into the search results page, and through it, increasingly targeted advertising and messaging.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?I’ve never had time to wonder.

How do you relax?Long walks on the beach in Pembrokeshire.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?I’ve been lucky enough to work closely with Mark Cranmer these last few years and he’s been a fantastic mentor.

03 David Richards, global business and strategy

manager, GoogleWhat is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?For nine years one of my biggest ongoing challenges has been trying to convince clients to invest more in

TD_35_18_SEP03_PROFILES 2.indd 4 27/08/2014 15:42


01. Ian Carrington

01 Ian Carrington, director of performance, Google

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Convincing advertisers that mobile is big today and will be massive tomorrow, and that they need to get on board.

What’s the next game changer in search?Mobile was the last game changer and advertisers (not consumers) are still getting to grips with it. Next big one will be the internet of things and how you can search on any device any time eg fridges, cars, glasses, TVs, etc.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?Working at another start-up (this is my third and it’s been quite successful; I want to find the next one!)

How do you relax?Football, tennis, reading and spending time with my dog and/or son.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?Matt Brittin, he is so good at all things but is also a genuinely nice guy.

Describe your career to date in five words.Challenging, inspiring, fulfilling, no regrets.

making their site the best it can be, whether that’s on desktop or mobile devices. I’ve worked with numerous global brands that spend millions of pounds a year driving traffic to their sites, but I’ve worked with few who invest even a small amount on improving their on-site experience. Personally, I still believe that this is one of the single most important things that any brand can do in the digital space to make their marketing budgets work harder and secure their long term success in what is an increasingly competitive and fast changing space. I’ll never overcome this!

What’s the next game changer in search?Nine years ago search was all about keywords, now it’s all about audiences. The exponential growth in complexity has been driven by the need to deliver personalised experiences across multiple devices. This rapid pace of change means search teams now have to think far more strategically about campaigns before they are executed.

I believe that new and innovative hardware will be the next game changer.

With the number of searches on mobile and tablet devices already outstripping desktop, I’d expect there to be an increasing focus on how we better reach these users on the go with limited real-estate. Wearables (ie watches and Google Glass) and automotive integration are going to play a major role here.

04 Paul Mead, founder and managing director,

VCCP MediaWhat is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Me and my inner control freak. It took me far too many years to realise that you can’t bat, bowl, field, captain and bring out the drinks at the same time.

What’s the next game changer in search?There is a move in the world of search from pull to push. The old world, where users type in keywords and the search engine and its advertisers return relevant results, is gradually giving way to a new world. The new world is an arms race where technology acts on data from all kinds of connected devices to understand

look To THE fUTUREIntroducing The Drum’s Search Top 50 – our list of the top individuals working in the UK search sector. Here they provide a glimpse into their careers to date.

02 Ben Wood, global president, iProspect

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Launching iProspect into the UK market five years ago – a new brand with a new proposition into a hugely competitive market.

What’s the next game changer in search?The integration of addressable data into the search results page, and through it, increasingly targeted advertising and messaging.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?I’ve never had time to wonder.

How do you relax?Long walks on the beach in Pembrokeshire.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?I’ve been lucky enough to work closely with Mark Cranmer these last few years and he’s been a fantastic mentor.

03 David Richards, global business and strategy

manager, GoogleWhat is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?For nine years one of my biggest ongoing challenges has been trying to convince clients to invest more in


THE DRUM 03.SEP.14 www.thedrum.com SEaRcH Top 5005

intent and context and give us what we want without having to search for it. The challenge is how advertisers get involved in the ‘push’ in a way that consumers are happy with. Google has stated openly that it wants to pre-empt the user where possible and Google Now is a good work in progress. But Google also understands that the more it pre-empts, the less people might search in the traditional sense. And the less people search in the traditional sense, the greater the pressure on core revenue streams like AdWords. This is a process which will take some time, but the way we search is changing fundamentally, and things like voice inputs on a mobile device and the whole ‘OK Google…’ thing is just the start of a massive game-changing trend.

Describe your career to date in five words.I only need one. Lucky!

05 Brian Kealy, Bing audience lead UK, Microsoft

What’s the next game changer in search?I think that search is long overdue a

02 Ben Wood

a chain of nursery equipment and pram outlet stores around Ireland and online. I have also been extremely lucky to work with and learn from some extremely talented and generous people. It seems to me that the people who have valuable things to pass on are generally only too happy to share them.

06 Lloyd Cook, head of SEO, Latitude Digital Marketing

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?A lot has changed at Latitude in the seven-and-a-half years I have been there, so probably the biggest challenge has been the need to keep adapting to how the organisation has changed, along with the world of SEO and how we conduct it.

How do you relax?In the evening, either watching the football with my mates or ploughing through the next boxset addiction. I’ve nailed Breaking Bad, House of Cards, Mad Men, and Game of Thrones, so I need new suggestions. At the weekends in the football season, out of blind loyalty I go to watch my home town football team Port Vale. In the summer I play a bit of golf, go to gigs or find a local beer garden. The last time I relaxed properly was probably last year on a beach in Zanzibar when I barely moved after a week of climbing Kilimanjaro.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?Andy Heaps and James Lowery while they were at Latitude, and also Amanda Barnes (now at Covario) who helped me realise what SEO was when I had no idea what I was getting myself into at the start.

07 Edward ‘Teddie’ Cowell, SEO director UK and

international, MediaComWhat’s the next game changer in search?I once heard someone from Google say the future of digital is physical. There’s always some degree of day-to-day change in search as we know it, but I think the next really big game changer will come from how people interact with search – fundamentally disconnection from the web browser. The combination of voice interfaces with conversational search, better AI in the engines and personalisation has incredible possibilities.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?Something where I’m constantly learning, inventing and evolving.

major shift away from the ‘10 blue links on a page’ which represents the current paradigm. I think personal agents like Cortana and predictive search absolutely have the potential to change the way we think about finding out information. In my view, very soon we won’t be ‘going to search’, but it will be coming to us, wherever we are, whatever we are doing – we are only at the start of where this industry is going.

How do you relax?As a result of losing a drunken bet I have recently had to learn how to play the ukulele. It turns out I absolutely love it and much to the displeasure of my friends and family I can’t put it down now. Relaxing for me, not so much for anyone who can hear me.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?My dad, no question. He started off running a corner shop, which we all lived over, and managed to develop that into

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is allowing advertisers to refine their paid search strategy and move beyond acquisition to address the full customer lifecycle. Smart advertisers are now using their first-party data via AdWords Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA) to drive customer retention and cross-sell. The advent of programmatic marketing will facilitate synchronised data-driven audience based targeting across search, display and other media channels.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?Balancing my time between adventure sports and running a hip coffee establishment (double filtered only!) in Wanaka, New Zealand. I lived there for three years and it felt like my spiritual home.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?My personal inspiration is driven through leaders that put their teams first and live

by the principles of personal honour and professional integrity. General Stanley McChrystal is a great example. I’ve always endeavoured to put my teams first and inspire people to be successful in their own careers.

11 Fernando Lopez, head of search Europe,

eBay ClassifiedsWhat is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?My greatest challenge was moving into search seven years ago – having been a developer for four years and with no marketing background, convincing eBay to take me onboard was a huge success and a life changing experience.

What’s the next game changer in search?The next phase of search is when we no longer need to search. Using technical advances including big data and the semantic web we can now give people answers to questions they don’t even

How do you relax?I like spending time with my family, being outdoors, going to the beach and taking my youngest daughter skateboarding.

08 Helena Lopez, head of search, OMD International

What’s the next game changer in search?Personalisation, social behaviour integration in search engines and programmatic buying are currently the biggest focal points for natural and paid search. I envision great changes in the way we optimise, plan and buy search marketing in the near future.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?I am passionate about technology and I always wanted to be a humanitarian lawyer or a doctor in developing countries. So I guess I would be helping people in need through technology.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?The passion that my clients have in their products and services coupled with the fast-paced and ever-changing nature of digital are constant sources of inspiration for me.

09 Jonathan Beeston, director, new product

innovation EMEA, AdobeWhat is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?‘No’. The younger me was afraid of hearing ‘no’, so much so that I wouldn’t even ask the question. But over time I learned that short term set backs are just the stepping stones to ‘yes’.

What’s the next game changer in search?Google did a great job of bundling many vertical search use cases into one place. Mobile is now unbundling that through apps (think social media for people, Amazon for retail, Tripadvisor for travel etc). It’s a huge challenge for Google, but also how marketers think about search.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?Making terrible wine on a hillside vineyard, somewhere in Tuscany.

Describe your career to date in five words.Fun. Luck. Edifying. Amazing wife.

10 Andy Mihalop, industry head, insurance, Google

What’s the next game changer in search?Data driven, audience based targeting

11 Fernando Lopez

know they had – this will change online marketing as we know it.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?I’m a big fan of ancient history – so I’d probably be an archaeologist/historian – think Indiana Jones with an Australian accent.

12 David Freeman, head of SEO, Havas Media

What’s the next game changer in search?Brands are now realising that they need to produce great content to support each stage of the user journey, including the post purchase retention phase.

In my view, this evolution in content will drive a change in how brands think about search and SEO specifically. Traditionally search has always been about traffic and the resultant sales, but this evolution in content will change this as brands realise that the content throughout the user journey requires

08 Helena Lopez



is allowing advertisers to refine their paid search strategy and move beyond acquisition to address the full customer lifecycle. Smart advertisers are now using their first-party data via AdWords Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA) to drive customer retention and cross-sell. The advent of programmatic marketing will facilitate synchronised data-driven audience based targeting across search, display and other media channels.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?Balancing my time between adventure sports and running a hip coffee establishment (double filtered only!) in Wanaka, New Zealand. I lived there for three years and it felt like my spiritual home.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?My personal inspiration is driven through leaders that put their teams first and live

by the principles of personal honour and professional integrity. General Stanley McChrystal is a great example. I’ve always endeavoured to put my teams first and inspire people to be successful in their own careers.

11 Fernando Lopez, head of search Europe,

eBay ClassifiedsWhat is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?My greatest challenge was moving into search seven years ago – having been a developer for four years and with no marketing background, convincing eBay to take me onboard was a huge success and a life changing experience.

What’s the next game changer in search?The next phase of search is when we no longer need to search. Using technical advances including big data and the semantic web we can now give people answers to questions they don’t even

How do you relax?I like spending time with my family, being outdoors, going to the beach and taking my youngest daughter skateboarding.

08 Helena Lopez, head of search, OMD International

What’s the next game changer in search?Personalisation, social behaviour integration in search engines and programmatic buying are currently the biggest focal points for natural and paid search. I envision great changes in the way we optimise, plan and buy search marketing in the near future.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?I am passionate about technology and I always wanted to be a humanitarian lawyer or a doctor in developing countries. So I guess I would be helping people in need through technology.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?The passion that my clients have in their products and services coupled with the fast-paced and ever-changing nature of digital are constant sources of inspiration for me.

09 Jonathan Beeston, director, new product

innovation EMEA, AdobeWhat is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?‘No’. The younger me was afraid of hearing ‘no’, so much so that I wouldn’t even ask the question. But over time I learned that short term set backs are just the stepping stones to ‘yes’.

What’s the next game changer in search?Google did a great job of bundling many vertical search use cases into one place. Mobile is now unbundling that through apps (think social media for people, Amazon for retail, Tripadvisor for travel etc). It’s a huge challenge for Google, but also how marketers think about search.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?Making terrible wine on a hillside vineyard, somewhere in Tuscany.

Describe your career to date in five words.Fun. Luck. Edifying. Amazing wife.

10 Andy Mihalop, industry head, insurance, Google

What’s the next game changer in search?Data driven, audience based targeting

11 Fernando Lopez

know they had – this will change online marketing as we know it.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?I’m a big fan of ancient history – so I’d probably be an archaeologist/historian – think Indiana Jones with an Australian accent.

12 David Freeman, head of SEO, Havas Media

What’s the next game changer in search?Brands are now realising that they need to produce great content to support each stage of the user journey, including the post purchase retention phase.

In my view, this evolution in content will drive a change in how brands think about search and SEO specifically. Traditionally search has always been about traffic and the resultant sales, but this evolution in content will change this as brands realise that the content throughout the user journey requires

08 Helena Lopez



through a challenge. Each time it has happened we’ve had to raise the bar. The challenge of making mergers and acquisitions work is only overcome by being able to work with great people. That’s what I like about the DigitasLBi leadership; they’re committed to building a place like no other while doing what it takes to deliver world-class work for clients.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?What a horrible question. I would be doing something very much like this. I did ‘SEO’ long before there was even a cottage industry, after all. The trend I see today is that brands, agencies and people are becoming publishers. I imagine I would be doing something in media, making use of technology, content and news to connect with audiences in order to make money.

Describe your career to date in five words.Early adopter with great colleagues.

16 Yesmin Celis, head of SEO, Total Media Group

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Although I wouldn’t necessarily call it a challenge, the fact that the SEO work force was almost exclusively male when I first started out was very evident. However I found this had a really positive personal effect and spurred me on to work harder and go beyond the norm. It’s pushed me to always challenge myself, making sure I put creativity and innovation at the heart of everything that I do. It’s because of these values that I have managed to get to where I am today.

How do you relax?I enjoy the usual pursuits such as watching TV box sets and hosting friends for dinner. My other ideal way to relax is by taking on a mammoth hike or trek. My favourite trek, the four-day Inca Trail, stretches along for 26 miles. 26 miles might not sound like a lot, but when you suffer from vertigo and have to climb a mountain 4,200 metres above sea level (which can result in altitude sickness) by the time you reach Machu Picchu, you feel really very proud at not having taken a train instead. It’s a great feeling of accomplishment.

17 Samantha Auchterlonie, search manager Europe,

SkyscannerWhat’s the next game changer in search?

equal amounts of support from search and that metrics such as engagement, dwell time and social sharing become significantly more important.

How do you relax?I’m an avid tennis player, so four or five days a week I’ll either be playing tennis or fitness training. That said, you can’t beat a pint or two in the sun.

13 Pete Young, board director – strategy and social,

MediaCom I-LabWhat’s the next game changer in search?In search directly, I would suggest personalisation is only going to get bigger, both on the advertiser side and on the end user side. We have already seen G+ breakout significantly into the SERPs and we are seeing increasing productisation of personalised products from the search engines, whether that be Google Now, RLSA or many of the new betas rolled out month on month by the search engines.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?Arguably – a lucrative career in professional sport beckoned.

Describe your career to date in five words.Rewarding, still work to do.

14 Matt Bush, head of performance, Google

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Deciding to leave a business I’d helped start up early in my career. It was a hugely intensive period and I’d invested a lot of myself in it so a major wrench to leave, but it was the right call.

How do you relax?Run early in the morning – best time for thinking. Hang out with my my wife and three daughters – best for perspective. Eat good food and great wine – best for forgetting it all.

Describe your career to date in five words.Not enough time in the...

15 Andrew Girdwood, media innovations director,

DigitasLBiWhat is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?I once had to answer questions about DoubleClick before being allowed into America by a customs official at Newark Airport. I’ve found all the mergers and acquisitions we’ve been 10 Andy Mihalop

11 Fernando Lopez

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I believe that SEO strategies need to be developed with both semantic search and social in mind. In basic terms this means that search engines will be looking to understand the user’s intent to determine the meaning of the query rather than purely parsing through the keywords. As a result, keywords will become less and less important in search, and search engine result pages will be filled with more meaningful results that often don’t contain any of the queried terms. How do you relax?I like to catch up with friends over a glass of wine (or two), or take advantage of the fact that I recently (and very belatedly) learnt to drive by exploring the beautiful Scottish countryside. On the off-chance that the weather is nice in Scotland you can also find me on horseback. I’ve loved horse riding since I was a young child – it is one of the best methods I know to clear your mind.

Describe your career to date in five words.Best decision I’ve ever made.

18 Rebecca Weeks, group SEO director, Manning

Gottlieb OMDWhat’s the next game changer in search?I could say voice search but I think semantic search should not be overlooked. While it is not a single game changer, and elements of it are already here, it will affect how we plan and execute search campaigns. There has already been a major shift from keyword centric to audience led search tactics and it is only going to continue. Conversational search and understanding user intent is key to delivering a content strategy which has longevity.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?Lisa Myers is without doubt the person who has not only inspired me throughout my career but actually taught me everything I know about search. Lisa started her own company Verve Search in 2009 and has since built a successful agency of 25 people who are as passionate as Lisa is about creating great work.

19 Zoey Chant, group head of SEO, lastminute.com

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Turning a content farm into a value-add in the wake of Panda.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?I’d be an oenologist. Though I’d need to learn to pronounce it correctly first.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?Probably my dad, who always set an example of unfailing and uncomplaining dedication to getting a job done well, no matter how difficult.

20 Chris Hyland, director, 4Ps Marketing

What’s the next game changer in search?For me it’s a continuous evolution that keeps us all on our toes, however the part that I get excited about is the intuitive technology that is being developed. Soon we will know what people want to search for before they do themselves.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?My passion is getting the best out of people, so I’d be getting more involved in other companies, such as the one we’ve recently started, The Happiness Index.

21 Dixon Jones, marketing director, Majestic SEO

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Business relationships should not always be for life, but breaking up really can hurt. My first business break up was way back with a business partner in my Murder Mystery company in the 90s. It doesn’t really get much easier – because if everyone has been committed to the business then someone feels aggrieved when someone else feels it’s time for a change. When you start getting involved in business relationships, the usual rules for changing jobs just don’t apply.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?The author Richard Bach... or more accurately his lead ‘character’ in Jonathan Livingston Seagull. It’s a book which I started reading when I was aged about nine. I was at school in Hong Kong and the teacher asked us to get our reading books out. I had left my Enid Blyton book at home, so picked up the thinnest book I could see on the school bookshelf. It taught me that you

22 Mark Lewis

need to strive to win. That winning was something personal, not something competitive. That term I came top of my class in the maths and english exams. Before that I didn’t know I had it in me.

22 Mark Lewis, online director, John Lewis Partnership

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Learning that the best way to change the world is to change the bit of the world that’s around you first.

What’s the next game changer in search?Getting ahead of the impact of customers increasingly using multiple and mobile devices when they shop.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?An old ad man called Peter Doyle changed how I view business.

23 Laura Scott, SEO director, Walker Media

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?I think my biggest challenge has been



I believe that SEO strategies need to be developed with both semantic search and social in mind. In basic terms this means that search engines will be looking to understand the user’s intent to determine the meaning of the query rather than purely parsing through the keywords. As a result, keywords will become less and less important in search, and search engine result pages will be filled with more meaningful results that often don’t contain any of the queried terms. How do you relax?I like to catch up with friends over a glass of wine (or two), or take advantage of the fact that I recently (and very belatedly) learnt to drive by exploring the beautiful Scottish countryside. On the off-chance that the weather is nice in Scotland you can also find me on horseback. I’ve loved horse riding since I was a young child – it is one of the best methods I know to clear your mind.

Describe your career to date in five words.Best decision I’ve ever made.

18 Rebecca Weeks, group SEO director, Manning

Gottlieb OMDWhat’s the next game changer in search?I could say voice search but I think semantic search should not be overlooked. While it is not a single game changer, and elements of it are already here, it will affect how we plan and execute search campaigns. There has already been a major shift from keyword centric to audience led search tactics and it is only going to continue. Conversational search and understanding user intent is key to delivering a content strategy which has longevity.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?Lisa Myers is without doubt the person who has not only inspired me throughout my career but actually taught me everything I know about search. Lisa started her own company Verve Search in 2009 and has since built a successful agency of 25 people who are as passionate as Lisa is about creating great work.

19 Zoey Chant, group head of SEO, lastminute.com

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Turning a content farm into a value-add in the wake of Panda.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?I’d be an oenologist. Though I’d need to learn to pronounce it correctly first.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?Probably my dad, who always set an example of unfailing and uncomplaining dedication to getting a job done well, no matter how difficult.

20 Chris Hyland, director, 4Ps Marketing

What’s the next game changer in search?For me it’s a continuous evolution that keeps us all on our toes, however the part that I get excited about is the intuitive technology that is being developed. Soon we will know what people want to search for before they do themselves.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?My passion is getting the best out of people, so I’d be getting more involved in other companies, such as the one we’ve recently started, The Happiness Index.

21 Dixon Jones, marketing director, Majestic SEO

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Business relationships should not always be for life, but breaking up really can hurt. My first business break up was way back with a business partner in my Murder Mystery company in the 90s. It doesn’t really get much easier – because if everyone has been committed to the business then someone feels aggrieved when someone else feels it’s time for a change. When you start getting involved in business relationships, the usual rules for changing jobs just don’t apply.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?The author Richard Bach... or more accurately his lead ‘character’ in Jonathan Livingston Seagull. It’s a book which I started reading when I was aged about nine. I was at school in Hong Kong and the teacher asked us to get our reading books out. I had left my Enid Blyton book at home, so picked up the thinnest book I could see on the school bookshelf. It taught me that you

22 Mark Lewis

need to strive to win. That winning was something personal, not something competitive. That term I came top of my class in the maths and english exams. Before that I didn’t know I had it in me.

22 Mark Lewis, online director, John Lewis Partnership

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Learning that the best way to change the world is to change the bit of the world that’s around you first.

What’s the next game changer in search?Getting ahead of the impact of customers increasingly using multiple and mobile devices when they shop.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?An old ad man called Peter Doyle changed how I view business.

23 Laura Scott, SEO director, Walker Media

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?I think my biggest challenge has been



Who has inspired you most in your career and why?Phil Jones (AKA Mr Podge) has been my inspiration from afar even though I have only known him for a few years. I am inspired by how he uses his connections and networks to better our industry and make it a fun and enjoyable place to be. He is my daily reminder that the future of technology is people. Technology is just an enabler to help us build better relationships.

27 Liz Keller, head of digital strategy, Edelman

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?The biggest challenge is always the same – taking a new proposition (whether it’s SEO or strategy or analytics) and baking it into a business so it becomes a core competency.

How do you relax?I cook – risotto is especially therapeutic.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?I had a secondary school teacher who taught me everything I needed to know about management, storytelling, critical thinking and how to organise thoughts to simplify complex messages – she was especially formidable but I still admire her hugely.

28 Monica Chia, head of SEO, Twentysix

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?The SEO industry as a whole has a lot to answer for in terms of its reputation, considering the common practices being associated with ‘SEO’ in the last 10 years. I think the biggest challenge for me has been to re-educate people about modern SEO, its value for businesses and role that it plays in a wider digital marketing strategy.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?Avinash Kaushik for the simple clarity and insight that he brings to complex business considerations dealing with data, measurement and reporting.

Describe your career to date in five words.A career for the curious.

29 Sam Crocker, managing director, Conversion Factory

What’s the next game changer in search?I think there’s a lot more to come from the predictive/personalised space. It feels like we’re only starting to see the

learning to stand my ground when it comes to making ‘unpopular’ decisions.Sometimes you have to tell a client ‘no’ which doesn’t always sit too well, but I learned that – as the ‘expert in some kind of voodoo’ as I’ve once heard those of the SEO profession to be referred to – I am, in fact, in the best position to judge if my decisions are sound.

What’s the next game changer in search?What I’ve come to realise about search is that there is rarely a single ‘game changer’ at any one time. It’s been touted as ‘the year of mobile’ every year for the past five years, without it really ever gaining the ground initially anticipated. ‘On page is dead’ is a message often being rammed down our throats but it is not, and never will be, in my opinion. More and more types of links will get devalued/penalised by more ‘improvement’ updates and social will get more influential with the search engine ranking algorithms. This will mean SEO strategies will include less ‘link building’ and more ‘content marketing via social sharing’ which is already happening in many agencies.

20 Chris Hyland

24 Richard Lamb, head of search, Performics

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Convincing everyone that I had any credibility in digital when I moved from being a press and inserts buyer early in my career. I took to reading and blogging like a maniac – I honestly don’t know how I found the time. More recently, evolving the search team from a very separate, heads-down team to one far more integrated into the output and culture of ZenithOptimedia.

Describe your career to date in five words.Getting better all the time.

25 Colm Bracken, head of search advertising UK,

MicrosoftWhat’s the next game changer in search?Predictive search, its integration across all our devices and the emergence of personal agents like Cortana will change the way we think about search. We’ve had false dawns in the past where technology was supposed to do the

grunt work for us. In Cortana, we can expect much of our daily routines to be positively impacted by technology that works on our behalf and with our explicit consent. Search is moving away from being something that’s exclusively done in a search box, in a browser, in a particular computer operating system to being platform agnostic and sensitive to the many signals we all transmit.

How do you relax?I listen to music. I have questionable taste (folk, electronic) but somebody once said that “music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life” and I couldn’t agree more.

26 Matthew Phelan, director, 4Ps Marketing

What’s the next game changer in search?We will see a movement from a text based dominant search arena to a multi-sensory/behavioural search through the means of voice, movement, and images. Wearable technology like Google Glass and Oculus Rift (virtual reality) are not the long term future but they are a short term leap forward in technology that is starting a revolution that is changing search behaviour. In summary the next game changer is the shift in human behaviour led by technology and it will change how people search. Agencies that don’t keep up with this will be left behind.

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32 Stuart Bryce, search marketing lead, O2 UK

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?A big and exciting challenge throughout my search career has been to keep up with the pace of change within the search sector. Not a week goes by where there isn’t a change to learn about. This prevents the job from getting dull and keeps me on my toes.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?Martin Sorrell. An amazing business person, always looking for and exploring opportunities, be it digital media or the expansion of WPP into China. I am inspired by the way he looks at the world of media. He also comes across in interviews as very honest and on the ball.

Describe your career to date in five words.Continuous learning from great people.

33 Mark Pain, head of search and biddable, Maxus

What’s the next game changer in search?Without wanting to echo Google, voice search is the most obvious. The technology has been around for some time now but ongoing improvements mean it can genuinely add to the search experience. The big challenge now is getting more people to use it and on more devices than just your phone (Google’s Chromecast, for example). People aren’t yet convinced they can get more out of their devices through voice but there is no doubt this will be game changing. At least until we can search with thought alone…

How do you relax?Watching a comfortable Chelsea victory on the box, with a quiet pint.

34 Rob Hammond, head of SEO, Trinity Mirror

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Playing a core part of building up an SEO offering at OMD was a challenging and rewarding experience. There were just two of us when I joined in 2008, and natural search was a new frontier for large traditional media agencies at that time. Over the course of the five years I worked there we built up a fantastic team, won some great clients and got solid results.

Describe your career to date in five words.SEO is still not dead.

strength of products like Google Now and would expect a lot more to come with more wearable tech and connected homes forecast. On the flip side I also think we’ll see the likes of DuckDuckGo gain some market share from some of the more privacy conscious market.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?I really enjoy strategy and product. If I weren’t doing this I’d probably like to launch a product of some description or go manage product for someone like Nike. Either that or run a coffee shop.

30 Rebekah Schelfhout, group head of search, Periscopix

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Having joined the company when we were only 10 people, I’ve had to deal with the challenge of extremely fast paced growth as the company is now close to 100 people. Many of the structures we now have internally weren’t in place when I joined and I really value having been able to play a key role in developing these. Sharing knowledge across 10 people was much easier and as we continue to grow in size maintaining this level of information sharing and communicating effectively is going to be my ongoing challenge.

Describe your career to date in five words.Exciting, dynamic, challenging, fun, evolving.

31 Eleanor DeLong, senior biddable and analytics

director, EssenceWhat’s the next game changer in search?Attribution solutions are becoming more sophisticated and more accessible. As more and more advertisers adopt them we will see big shifts in how digital marketing budgets are spent, particularly search, which has benefitted greatly from the last click model. I don’t think we’ll necessarily see search budgets fall but rather the distribution of spend shift – less focus on achieving full coverage on lower funnel terms (for performance purposes), which deliver questionable incremental value, and more priority on generic terms, whose CPCs have historically been hard to justify.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?If I weren’t doing this I would probably be doing something else with numbers. I’ve always been fascinated with data science and making data work better, deeper and further.

30 Rebekah Schelfhout

35 Ben Norman, CEO & founder, Koozai

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?In all honesty it would have to be looking young. When I first started in the industry as a consultant people thought I’d just left college. This meant I continually found myself in a position of having to prove myself quickly, which I believe actually made me better in many ways.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?Probably something to do with business consultancy, helping businesses function more efficiently and increase their profitability. This or branding; I spend a lot of time focusing on this for Koozai and know how much of a benefit it can bring to a business and their marketing efforts.

36 Jon Myers, VP and managing director, EMEA,

Marin SoftwareWhat is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?There have been challenges on many different levels in my career, starting with learning paid search as a concept in 1999 through to adapting to the constantly changing face of search and the need to continually be learning and reinventing yourself as a result.

29 Sam Crocker



32 Stuart Bryce, search marketing lead, O2 UK

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?A big and exciting challenge throughout my search career has been to keep up with the pace of change within the search sector. Not a week goes by where there isn’t a change to learn about. This prevents the job from getting dull and keeps me on my toes.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?Martin Sorrell. An amazing business person, always looking for and exploring opportunities, be it digital media or the expansion of WPP into China. I am inspired by the way he looks at the world of media. He also comes across in interviews as very honest and on the ball.

Describe your career to date in five words.Continuous learning from great people.

33 Mark Pain, head of search and biddable, Maxus

What’s the next game changer in search?Without wanting to echo Google, voice search is the most obvious. The technology has been around for some time now but ongoing improvements mean it can genuinely add to the search experience. The big challenge now is getting more people to use it and on more devices than just your phone (Google’s Chromecast, for example). People aren’t yet convinced they can get more out of their devices through voice but there is no doubt this will be game changing. At least until we can search with thought alone…

How do you relax?Watching a comfortable Chelsea victory on the box, with a quiet pint.

34 Rob Hammond, head of SEO, Trinity Mirror

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Playing a core part of building up an SEO offering at OMD was a challenging and rewarding experience. There were just two of us when I joined in 2008, and natural search was a new frontier for large traditional media agencies at that time. Over the course of the five years I worked there we built up a fantastic team, won some great clients and got solid results.

Describe your career to date in five words.SEO is still not dead.

strength of products like Google Now and would expect a lot more to come with more wearable tech and connected homes forecast. On the flip side I also think we’ll see the likes of DuckDuckGo gain some market share from some of the more privacy conscious market.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?I really enjoy strategy and product. If I weren’t doing this I’d probably like to launch a product of some description or go manage product for someone like Nike. Either that or run a coffee shop.

30 Rebekah Schelfhout, group head of search, Periscopix

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Having joined the company when we were only 10 people, I’ve had to deal with the challenge of extremely fast paced growth as the company is now close to 100 people. Many of the structures we now have internally weren’t in place when I joined and I really value having been able to play a key role in developing these. Sharing knowledge across 10 people was much easier and as we continue to grow in size maintaining this level of information sharing and communicating effectively is going to be my ongoing challenge.

Describe your career to date in five words.Exciting, dynamic, challenging, fun, evolving.

31 Eleanor DeLong, senior biddable and analytics

director, EssenceWhat’s the next game changer in search?Attribution solutions are becoming more sophisticated and more accessible. As more and more advertisers adopt them we will see big shifts in how digital marketing budgets are spent, particularly search, which has benefitted greatly from the last click model. I don’t think we’ll necessarily see search budgets fall but rather the distribution of spend shift – less focus on achieving full coverage on lower funnel terms (for performance purposes), which deliver questionable incremental value, and more priority on generic terms, whose CPCs have historically been hard to justify.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?If I weren’t doing this I would probably be doing something else with numbers. I’ve always been fascinated with data science and making data work better, deeper and further.

30 Rebekah Schelfhout

35 Ben Norman, CEO & founder, Koozai

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?In all honesty it would have to be looking young. When I first started in the industry as a consultant people thought I’d just left college. This meant I continually found myself in a position of having to prove myself quickly, which I believe actually made me better in many ways.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?Probably something to do with business consultancy, helping businesses function more efficiently and increase their profitability. This or branding; I spend a lot of time focusing on this for Koozai and know how much of a benefit it can bring to a business and their marketing efforts.

36 Jon Myers, VP and managing director, EMEA,

Marin SoftwareWhat is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?There have been challenges on many different levels in my career, starting with learning paid search as a concept in 1999 through to adapting to the constantly changing face of search and the need to continually be learning and reinventing yourself as a result.

29 Sam Crocker



Glass. The magic will happen when they incorporate all those elements into a single platform.

How do you relax?Travelling, exercising, reading… anything that doesn’t involve staring at a screen.

38 David Harling, head of digital, MoneySuperMarket

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Every year is a challenge within the digital space. I love being involved in what is an extremely fast paced industry. Keeping up with how SEO and search evolves is an ongoing challenge. I have been privileged to be part of over a decade of changes and how SEO has been shaped today. Leading global strategy for some of the world’s biggest brands has dictated that I am always changing my views and options on digital and search, recognising when you adapt and respond to changes is a constant challenge which is rewarding when applied correctly with value to business online.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?Lost.

39 Jos Davies, head of SEO, Confused.com

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Helping Confused.com reach and hold on to number one for car insurance for one year.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?I’d be building websites or running my own e-commerce company. That’s where I started my career and it’s something I’d like to revisit one day.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?I know it’s really cheesy, but my mother. She taught herself web design and built a web design company from scratch with no training. Since then I have known that you can do anything if you put your mind to it.

Describe your career to date in five words.Deep dive into web development.

40 Stephen Chester, director of data and industry

programmes, IAB UKWhat is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?Being pigeon-holed, I suppose. I started in ad tech many moons ago at a time when ad ops was very much background staff. It took a while to broaden my career to be more commercial and what do you know, ad ops is now a central focus for many organisations.

How do you relax?Rowing. With an oar. Not shouting. That wouldn’t be relaxing at all.

41 Dylan Coetzee, head of media services, Possible

What’s the next game changer in search?We’ll naturally see innovations and changes from result layouts and enhancements to increased personalisation, from both device and intent perspectives. But the real game changer is integration. More clearly, of paid, owned and earned media. We need to focus on search, not as an industry, but as a tool to assist in understanding, reaching and delighting the chosen audience.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?Thoughts of the road not chosen range

What’s the next game changer in search?Search keeps changing, and many new targeting options are being given to the search marketer. However, for me, the next big revolution is the introduction of audience data into search this year and conversely the ability to use search intent data to target across display and social advertising in a seamless manner to drive exceptional performance.

37 Juan C Vargas, head of SEO, Maxus UK

What’s the next game changer in search?How people access the internet from mobile apps – it’s reducing the amount of search traffic driven by Google as more people go directly to Amazon, eBay or AutoTrader apps for e-commerce, or Flipboard and Feedly apps for news content. Secondly, the transition into natural speaking search via voice recognition devices as evidenced by the Google Hummingbird update and the introduction of more wearable devices, including Google

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44 Guy Donnelly, head of search, Wunderman

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?I could easily make this one up, but instead I’ll be honest because this is something that affects many people. The biggest challenge I had to deal with was depression. For a few years it had completely taken over my life and my career, until one day I made the decision to not let it get the better of me. One day at a time I moved forward until I was back in control. Being back in control gave me so much strength and I put all of that into my career. I never looked back. I know I wouldn’t be in the position I am today had I chosen to give up. When I compare other challenges like difficult people I have faced, it just doesn’t compare to something that affects you within. Either way there is light at the end of the tunnel.

What’s the next game changer in search?New technologies such as Google Glass, digitally enhanced watches and other voice activated devices. There are so many great ideas out there,

from a restaurateur (yes, even thinking up ‘signature dishes’), all the way to yak herding. But there is something really satisfying in the pursuit of trying to find, understand and delight people based on digital behaviours, and I’d like to think I would be able to transfer that passion to a helpful and more personal position – perhaps around behavioural therapy.

42 Jamie Peach, head of SEO, House of Fraser

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?There have been a few but the one that stands out was my first move from client to agency side. This was a big step up for me at the time. I knew I was punching a little over my weight and felt that it was a real sink or swim situation, being thrust in at the deep end. In my first few weeks I was writing detailed technical audits and presenting them to clients – something I was largely unfamiliar with back then, at least to the expected standard. It was tough but I knuckled down and put the hours in, determined to accelerate my level to where it needed to be to thrive in the role. Thankfully it paid off and I went on to enjoy four years of career progression in various agency environments.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?There are so many, I could not name one. My biggest inspirations have not come from some name in a best selling autobiography but from many of the amazing people I’ve been exposed to throughout my career. These are the people I have tried to emulate and incorporate their best skills and attributes into my own game in order to grow and continually improve.

43 Chris Howard, head of digital, Shop Direct

What’s the next game changer in search?As an advertiser, it’s search remarketing. The ability Google RLSA gives to customise paid search ads based on what we know about our customers, while it lags behind other digital marketing channels such as display today, still offers us a massive opportunity to maximise the value of our advertising. As Google opens this up to enable more first and third party data to be used for targeting search ads, the impact of this will only increase.

Describe your career to date in five words.A decade of digital fun.

37 Juan C. Vargas 45 Daniel Peden

46 Dipesh Pattni



44 Guy Donnelly, head of search, Wunderman

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?I could easily make this one up, but instead I’ll be honest because this is something that affects many people. The biggest challenge I had to deal with was depression. For a few years it had completely taken over my life and my career, until one day I made the decision to not let it get the better of me. One day at a time I moved forward until I was back in control. Being back in control gave me so much strength and I put all of that into my career. I never looked back. I know I wouldn’t be in the position I am today had I chosen to give up. When I compare other challenges like difficult people I have faced, it just doesn’t compare to something that affects you within. Either way there is light at the end of the tunnel.

What’s the next game changer in search?New technologies such as Google Glass, digitally enhanced watches and other voice activated devices. There are so many great ideas out there,

from a restaurateur (yes, even thinking up ‘signature dishes’), all the way to yak herding. But there is something really satisfying in the pursuit of trying to find, understand and delight people based on digital behaviours, and I’d like to think I would be able to transfer that passion to a helpful and more personal position – perhaps around behavioural therapy.

42 Jamie Peach, head of SEO, House of Fraser

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?There have been a few but the one that stands out was my first move from client to agency side. This was a big step up for me at the time. I knew I was punching a little over my weight and felt that it was a real sink or swim situation, being thrust in at the deep end. In my first few weeks I was writing detailed technical audits and presenting them to clients – something I was largely unfamiliar with back then, at least to the expected standard. It was tough but I knuckled down and put the hours in, determined to accelerate my level to where it needed to be to thrive in the role. Thankfully it paid off and I went on to enjoy four years of career progression in various agency environments.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?There are so many, I could not name one. My biggest inspirations have not come from some name in a best selling autobiography but from many of the amazing people I’ve been exposed to throughout my career. These are the people I have tried to emulate and incorporate their best skills and attributes into my own game in order to grow and continually improve.

43 Chris Howard, head of digital, Shop Direct

What’s the next game changer in search?As an advertiser, it’s search remarketing. The ability Google RLSA gives to customise paid search ads based on what we know about our customers, while it lags behind other digital marketing channels such as display today, still offers us a massive opportunity to maximise the value of our advertising. As Google opens this up to enable more first and third party data to be used for targeting search ads, the impact of this will only increase.

Describe your career to date in five words.A decade of digital fun.

37 Juan C. Vargas 45 Daniel Peden

46 Dipesh Pattni



however, hands free search is on the top of my list. My only concern is that users will find it difficult to trust these new technologies to provide them with the information they seek.

45 Daniel Peden, head of SEO, Epiphany

What’s the next game changer in search?The complete integration of consumer data into search and segmentation strategy, something we’re already working on with Jaywing’s team of data scientists.

How do you relax?Every moment I get (weather provided) I head outdoors. I particularly enjoy climbing the mountains of The Lakes or Scotland. I’ve also been a season ticket holder at Leeds United for 20 plus years – but in no way is that a relaxing experience.

46 Dipesh Pattni, SEO director, PHD Media

What’s the next game changer in search?This definitely has to be the Knowledge Graph. Now that Google has created a knowledge base to represent the real

world and is combining this with online data about how websites and people connect with each other online, we are entering a new era for search and are still in the early days. Firstly, this means a better user experience, so we can’t argue the direction Google is going in, it just makes things more challenging. Search experts have until now relied on keyword data and site performance data to guide their decisions. The Knowledge Graph changes this and experts have to incorporate advanced audience profiling, consumer targeting and combine this with traditional search data to anticipate what users really want; when and on which platform. Going forward we will see many more campaigns from search that will be more personalised and categorised. One size doesn’t fit all anymore and owning the top position on Google is not as valuable as it once was.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?I would be a Top Gear presenter or a professional snooker player. Or I would be spending my time trying to become a Top Gear presenter or professional snooker player.

47 Greg Cooper, CEO, Search Marketing Group

What’s the next game changer in search?The development of augmented reality and how the application of this technology integrates search (essentially, how to maximise marketing opportunities within an ‘internet of things’). A window into this future is discernible with the dominance of mobile and app development in current search thinking: getting a client’s message and brand to an audience that is permanently on the go represents the challenge all agencies will have to address.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?Naming no names, all the unethical ‘stack ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap’ firms in the search industry that give the good ones a bad name – thank you for the inspiration.

48 Craig Lister, head of Reprise Media, UK & EMEA

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?When I first started in search, it was a dark art that very few understood,

carried out by guys with ponytails. I’d like to think I have helped to work with clients over the years to cut through the jargon these guys (and back then it was just guys) hid behind and show how search is relevant to all marketers even those that focus on brand marketing.

What’s the next game changer in search?Programatic campaigns powered by the intelligent use of data.

49 Matt Bullas, CEO and founder, Click Consult

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?The biggest challenge in the search world is the constant evolution of search marketing, it requires a forward thinking approach to ensure our business adopts a sustainable service offering to ensure we are ahead of the game and can deliver results.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?Simon Nixon of moneysupermarket.com is a great inspiration and a prime example of what can be achieved if your business model is right.

50 Claire Mason, head of SEO services, DigitasLBi

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your career?One of the biggest challenges has been finding good people to join my growing team. There are a lot of people doing SEO out there but only a small pool of those are good at it. So the challenge is not just about recruiting people with the right craft skills, it’s also about finding those with the potential and enthusiasm to make a valuable contribution to the team in the future. I’m a great believer in investing in the right people because at the end of the day the service we provide clients is only as good as the people delivering it.

Who has inspired you most in your career and why?Definitely the SEO team here at DigitasLBi. Within my department I foster a collaborative and innovative environment so they’re constantly coming up with new ideas and ways of doing things which keeps us on our toes and makes sure we’re always delivering great campaigns.

Describe your career to date in five words.Always moving, never sitting still.

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www.thedrum.com 03.SEP.14 THE DRUM14KNOWLEDGE BANK

marin software

In many companies search and social campaigns are managed separately with distinct budgets, strategies, goals and staff. Segregating management responsibilities and workflows for each channel isn’t in itself a bad strategy. However, a siloed approach to campaign management can become a problem when the focus deviates from the company’s overall business objectives in favor of the specific objectives of each channel. Successful marketers are recognizing that meeting overall business objectives requires focusing on the customer, not the channel.

Both search and social have their inherent advantages and disadvantages for targeting high-value customers along the buying cycle. To maximise the effectiveness of each channel and improve overall campaign ROI, marketers are beginning to adopt technology that can target a customer across both channels using audience data. Only by using a single platform that can target across channels can a marketer work toward a common business objective, and break down the often problematic silos focused on individual channels.

In order to better understand the value of integrating search and social marketing programs, Marin Software conducted a survey of more than 200 enterprise advertisers managing Google, Bing and Facebook campaigns through its platform. Our methodology involved two components. First, we divided converting visitors for the sampled advertisers into two categories: those who clicked on both a search and social ad before converting, and those who clicked on only a search or only a social ad before converting. Second, we divided the sampled advertisers into two categories: those who manage search and social in an integrated manner and those who manage search separately from social. Across each set of data, we examined conversion rate, revenue per click and revenue per conversion.

Through our research, we set out to answer two key questions. Firstly, is a customer who touches an advertisement in both channels more valuable than one who touches an ad in a single channel only? Secondly, does managing search and social together using an integrated strategy produce superior results? The study yielded these key takeaways:

1. Customers Who Click on Your Search and Social Ads are More Likely to Buy: Users who clicked on both an advertiser’s search and social ads had an approximately two times greater conversion rate than users who clicked on the search ad only. The impact of a cross-channel touch was even greater when examining

social clicks. Users who clicked on both the search and social ads had a click-through rate approximately four and a half times higher than users who only clicked on social ads.

2. Customers Who Click on Your Search and Social Ads Spend More: The study also shows that users who clicked on both a search and social ad contributed approximately two times more revenue per click than users who clicked on search ads only. Multi-channel touch points are even more valuable for social advertising. Users who clicked on both a search and social ad contributed four times more revenue per click than users who clicked on a social ad only.

3. Search Campaigns Perform Better When They Are Managed Alongside Social Campaigns: According to the study, search campaigns that are managed alongside social advertising campaigns have 26% higher revenue per click than search campaigns managed in isolation. An integrated search and social management strategy also benefits an advertiser’s revenue per conversion. Advertisers have 68% higher revenue per conversion from their search campaigns when they are managed together with social advertising campaigns.

The multiplier effect of integrating search and social advertising

Tel: 0845 262 0404Email: [email protected]: www.marinsoftware.co.ukTwitter: @marinsoftware

The data collected in our study suggests not only that customers are more valuable when they engage with both search and social ads, but also that integrated search and social campaigns perform better than campaigns run in isolation.

The results are more easily understood when we consider our own experiences as both customers and marketers. As customers, we are generally more likely to buy a brand when we believe its message, trust the company and see value in the product. When these purchase criteria are positively reinforced through multiple channels, we are typically more comfortable buying from the brand. From a marketing perspective, we know that the customer’s buying journey touches several different channels along the path to conversion. When we are able to manage, measure and optimize our two most important channels side by side, we are better equipped to make sound budgeting, bidding and targeting decisions that affect performance.

To download the full report visit: http://www.marinsoftware.co.uk/resources/whitepapers/the-multiplier-effect-of-integrating-search-social-advertising

Jon MyersVP & Managing Director - EMEAMarin Software

4.00%

3.50%

3.00%

2.50%

2.00%

1.50%

1.00%

0.50%

0.00%

$3.50

$3.00

$2.50

$2.00

$1.50

$1.00

$0.50

$ -

Social Only Search Only Search and Social

Conversion Rate Revenue Per Click

Impact of search and social touch points in the buying journey

AdveRTISeMenT FeATURe ThIS COnTenT WAS SUPPlIed And PAId FOR By MARIn SOFTWARe

KB-SearchTop50.indd 14 27/08/2014 15:58

www.thedrum.com 03.SEP.14 THE DRUM14KNOWLEDGE BANK

marin software

In many companies search and social campaigns are managed separately with distinct budgets, strategies, goals and staff. Segregating management responsibilities and workflows for each channel isn’t in itself a bad strategy. However, a siloed approach to campaign management can become a problem when the focus deviates from the company’s overall business objectives in favor of the specific objectives of each channel. Successful marketers are recognizing that meeting overall business objectives requires focusing on the customer, not the channel.

Both search and social have their inherent advantages and disadvantages for targeting high-value customers along the buying cycle. To maximise the effectiveness of each channel and improve overall campaign ROI, marketers are beginning to adopt technology that can target a customer across both channels using audience data. Only by using a single platform that can target across channels can a marketer work toward a common business objective, and break down the often problematic silos focused on individual channels.

In order to better understand the value of integrating search and social marketing programs, Marin Software conducted a survey of more than 200 enterprise advertisers managing Google, Bing and Facebook campaigns through its platform. Our methodology involved two components. First, we divided converting visitors for the sampled advertisers into two categories: those who clicked on both a search and social ad before converting, and those who clicked on only a search or only a social ad before converting. Second, we divided the sampled advertisers into two categories: those who manage search and social in an integrated manner and those who manage search separately from social. Across each set of data, we examined conversion rate, revenue per click and revenue per conversion.

Through our research, we set out to answer two key questions. Firstly, is a customer who touches an advertisement in both channels more valuable than one who touches an ad in a single channel only? Secondly, does managing search and social together using an integrated strategy produce superior results? The study yielded these key takeaways:

1. Customers Who Click on Your Search and Social Ads are More Likely to Buy: Users who clicked on both an advertiser’s search and social ads had an approximately two times greater conversion rate than users who clicked on the search ad only. The impact of a cross-channel touch was even greater when examining

social clicks. Users who clicked on both the search and social ads had a click-through rate approximately four and a half times higher than users who only clicked on social ads.

2. Customers Who Click on Your Search and Social Ads Spend More: The study also shows that users who clicked on both a search and social ad contributed approximately two times more revenue per click than users who clicked on search ads only. Multi-channel touch points are even more valuable for social advertising. Users who clicked on both a search and social ad contributed four times more revenue per click than users who clicked on a social ad only.

3. Search Campaigns Perform Better When They Are Managed Alongside Social Campaigns: According to the study, search campaigns that are managed alongside social advertising campaigns have 26% higher revenue per click than search campaigns managed in isolation. An integrated search and social management strategy also benefits an advertiser’s revenue per conversion. Advertisers have 68% higher revenue per conversion from their search campaigns when they are managed together with social advertising campaigns.

The multiplier effect of integrating search and social advertising

Tel: 0845 262 0404Email: [email protected]: www.marinsoftware.co.ukTwitter: @marinsoftware

The data collected in our study suggests not only that customers are more valuable when they engage with both search and social ads, but also that integrated search and social campaigns perform better than campaigns run in isolation.

The results are more easily understood when we consider our own experiences as both customers and marketers. As customers, we are generally more likely to buy a brand when we believe its message, trust the company and see value in the product. When these purchase criteria are positively reinforced through multiple channels, we are typically more comfortable buying from the brand. From a marketing perspective, we know that the customer’s buying journey touches several different channels along the path to conversion. When we are able to manage, measure and optimize our two most important channels side by side, we are better equipped to make sound budgeting, bidding and targeting decisions that affect performance.

To download the full report visit: http://www.marinsoftware.co.uk/resources/whitepapers/the-multiplier-effect-of-integrating-search-social-advertising

Jon MyersVP & Managing Director - EMEAMarin Software

4.00%

3.50%

3.00%

2.50%

2.00%

1.50%

1.00%

0.50%

0.00%

$3.50

$3.00

$2.50

$2.00

$1.50

$1.00

$0.50

$ -

Social Only Search Only Search and Social

Conversion Rate Revenue Per Click

Impact of search and social touch points in the buying journey

AdveRTISeMenT FeATURe ThIS COnTenT WAS SUPPlIed And PAId FOR By MARIn SOFTWARe

KB-SearchTop50.indd 14 27/08/2014 15:58

Search Awards

The new Drum Search Awards are coming soon and will give recognition to the most innovative, creative and effective search

campaigns/strategies across both PPC and SEO.

If you want to prove how good you are, register to enter now at www.thedrumsearchawards.com

For more information on how you can get involved, contact [email protected] @TheSearchAwards

C oming soon

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“ W H E N Y O U C H A N G E T H E WA Y Y O U L O O K A T T H I N G S , T H E T H I N G S Y O U L O O K A T C H A N G E ”

Wayne Dyer

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Discover how our search marketing servicescan transform your digital perspective

Request an organic and paid search consultation today


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