Custom sponsorships, iframe ad units, and tweeting calories burned
Editor's Note: What’s top of mind for media professionals? That's just one question we’re tackling as we talk with media and search planners around the country in our "Meet a Media Planner" series. Today we’re touching base with Candace Chang, a seasoned media planner turned newly minted Account Manager for Tribal Fusion in New York City. Candace entered the world of media during college when she took an internship with Carat, working on the Pfizer account. After graduation, she moved on to Ogilvy then Universal McCann and answered the call of the Verizon FiOS account for a year and a half. When we spoke to Candace, she had just moved into her current position at Tribal Fusion.
Yahoo! Ad Blog: What makes you feel most satisfied about the work you do?
Candace Chang: I really like it when I find creative, custom executions that translate into sales. In my previous job, we ran integrated sponsorships with trulia.com, apartmentguide.com, forrent.com, and apartments.com that allow people to sort by or select Verizon FiOS as an amenity they want in a home. The site then pulls all the search results for apartment listings that include FiOS capabilities, and we get to see exactly how many orders we get as a result of it.
YAB: That sounds good for searchers and Verizon, alike. Are there other digital trends or technologies out there right now that have you excited?
CC: I like iframe units because they act like a landing page right in the ad. For example, we could pull the entire Verizon website into an iframe unit and allow users to skip the step of going to the site. They can enter their email addresses or other information right into the ad unit---just like a lead capture form. And then we get an immediate conversion.
YAB: Are there any digital campaigns you’ve seen during your time as a media planner that really inspired you?
CC: The Nike FuelBand campaign was great because it had a social component with Twitter and Facebook, and then an offline piece where they used real-life Twitter handles on posters around the NYU campus. You could actually tweet at other people who had the Nike FuelBand.
YAB: What exactly does the FuelBand do?
CC: It’s a wristband you wear that counts how many calories you’ve burned and sets goals for you. It also connects to Facebook, so you can share with your friends and tell them---“Hey, today I burned this many calories running 4.4 miles.”
YAB: Sound great, I gotta get one of those. Oh, but then I’d have to exercise… Anyway, what do you think outsiders misunderstand about the job of a media planner?
CC: They definitely think we just get taken out to free events and parties all the time. But really, we’re on Excel all the time, deep diving into numbers and data to see what performs and what doesn’t!
YAB: What advice would you give a friend who was thinking of going into media planning?
CC: I’d tell them it’s really important to stay organized, keep your ears open, take in as much as possible, and be personable. You learn so much from meeting different people and different vendors. It really helps you stay up-to-date on what’s trending.
YAB: If you had to change careers tomorrow, what would you do instead of media planning?
CC: I’m a huge foodie, so I think I would want to be a food critic. I would love to travel the world, trying out the best restaurants. I’d go to Southeast Asia---maybe Thailand. I’ve heard it’s beautiful and the food is great.
It’s actually funny you ask about changing careers because I’m moving over to the ad network side of the business; going to Tribal Fusion, so I’ll be working as an account manager, serving media planners and getting a comprehensive 360-degree view of the industry. It feels like a great next step to grow my career.
