Ash Dharan.
Our Industry Profile takes a look at some of the professionals working across the advertising, adtech, marketing and media sector in Australia. It aims to shed light on the varying roles and companies across the buzzing industry.
Ash Dharan: Head of paid media at NP Digital
Time in current role
Two years
How would you describe what the company does?
At NP Digital, we help our clients acquire new customers profitably and grow their lifetime value mainly through, but not limited to, performance channels. What sets us apart is we tie activity back to our clients’ business objectives - I know everybody says that but we really do get the calculators out. We focus on business metrics rather than just media metrics, making sure we’re delivering real results for our clients.
In a nutshell, NP Digital is a technology-enabled performance marketing agency built by marketers, for marketers. We pride ourselves on speed, efficiency, and outcomes.
What do you do day to day?
Every morning starts with a team standup, to check in, run through our deliverables and identify blockers. After this call, the day could go anywhere! Some days I’m in client calls presenting or simply being present, while others I’m deep diving into accounts looking for opportunities to scale. A large part of my role is staying on top of changes in ad platforms, so I carve out a portion of time to learn and communicate these changes to the team and clients.
Define your job in one word:
Ringmaster
I got into my the industry because:
I’ve always been fascinated by advertisements - I was fortunate to have grown up in a time when advertising was about epic storytelling and unmissable, memorable ads. I got into marketing when I was living in Bordeaux, France, where I did my Masters specialising in Wine Marketing. I got a job in the wine industry in the UK after that, and the rest followed!
What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role?
There is a significant number of people who don’t understand business numbers (or know how to calculate them) and believe ad platform data is accurate despite being shown evidence to the contrary.
What’s the biggest industry wide challenge you’d like to see tackled?
We’re supposed to be marketers but so many don’t know the fundamentals of marketing and how it ties into our clients’ business objectives.
It’s great to be the absolute master of a channel, but a channel cannot be the entire strategy.
This is especially true in Performance Media where there is a lack of training on how each platform fits into the strategy, or how to leverage them properly. This results in wasted ad spend, inaccurate reporting and eventually a breakdown of the client relationship.
Who has been a great mentor to you and why?
I consider anyone who has believed in me and given me space to grow as a mentor.
Words of advice for someone wanting a job like yours?
Be tenacious, get involved with projects outside “your scope” and never stop learning, even in your own time. Giving 10% more than everyone else will take you where you want to go.
If I wasn’t doing this for a living, I'd be:
A commercial pilot.
My philosophy is:
You can have it all, just not all at the same time.
My favourite advert is:
It’s an oldie but a goodie, Emirates: Keep Discovering, from 2004. It asks, “When was the last time you did something for the first time?”
Music and TV streaming habits:
My music tastes run from Oasis to Orff, with most stops in between. Netflix and YouTube are my go-tos for streaming and I love a good MAFS binge from time-to-time.
What do you subscribe to?
I love learning from the experts in my realm of work, as well as political and business thought leaders. I fall asleep listening to true crime though.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
I’ve never read Proust, the books are for decoration only.
In five years time I'll be:
Hopefully still helping businesses achieve growth profitably, and adding another dog or two to the household.
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