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.
This week we speak to Captify agency head, APAC, Maddie Basso.
Time in current role/time at the company:
Four years (two in London, two in Australia).
How would you describe what the company does?
We help marketers and publishers extract value from the largest Search dataset outside of Google with our insights, programmatic creative activations and cookieless measurement.
What do you do day-to-day?
I work with our agency partners to help brands reach higher quality audiences and access great creative and measurement solutions.
Define your job in one word:
Chameleon – you’ve got to wear a lot of hats in our industry these days.
I got into ad tech because:
It was a total accident! I was working front of house at Soho House in London, and the Mozoo director came in and gave me an on-the-spot interview. Turns out I fit the mould and here I am.
What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role?
Being expected to do more with less time and at cheaper rates every year, the biggest challenge is selling a focus on quality rather than price. Good data costs money, but we’ve set a precedent that it should be free which isn’t good for anyone in the long run.
What’s the biggest industry-wide challenge you’d like to see tackled?
I’d probably say the same - the chain reaction of racing to the bottom on price. Consumers get poor experiences, good quality products don’t get used as much as they should, and industry folk end up burning out as a result of everyone wanting more for less. It’s a big one to tackle but I’m optimistic that there’s a lot more openness and discussion about these issues nowadays. We take this one pretty seriously at Captify and are proud of our product and our culture.
Previous industry related companies you have worked at:
Mozoo (FR).
Notable ads/campaigns you have worked on:
UK Government, Toyota, EA Games, Federal Government, Amazon, Apple, Samsung, Adidas
Who is/has been a great mentor to you and why?
At the risk of sounding cheesy, my Captify colleagues collaboratively have been amazing mentors over the last four years. I’ve learnt so much through osmosis, by working with the great talents of the industry! I think there are a lot of industry folks in Australia who will testify to that having worked with our awesome UK team. Hence why they haven’t managed to get rid of me after four years.
Words of advice for someone wanting a job like yours:
Don’t try and be someone else - find your own formula! It’s a trial-and-error process, but as long as you have the support to do that, you’ll stand out in a competitive industry.
If I wasn't doing this for a living, I'd be:
100% a kids’ TV show presenter - think Totally Wild or Playschool – the energy just suits me to a T and I love getting a smile out of people (even if it involves me looking like a bit like a donut).
My philosophy is:
Why not! Let’s give it a go!
My favourite advert is:
I feel like the total underdog in the ‘90s was the reading writing hotline ad - completely useless brand for me but I can still remember the entire jingle “If you’ve got a problem reading, that’s something we can fix! 1300 6555 06”. Absolute victory there by the marketers at the time!
Music and TV streaming habits. What do you subscribe to?
Disney+ purely for Star Wars, The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers. Music wise I follow my dad’s easy listening playlist (I’m a total old soul).
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
I have a secret obsession with sauerkraut.
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