Henry Hellegas.
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.
Henry Hellegas: Senior sales director at Perion
Time in current role
Coming up to 2 years
How would you describe what the company does?
We help advertisers deliver better business outcomes through AI-powered advertising technology. Specifically in the region, we provide programmatic Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) buying and planning capabilities, giving advertisers access to premium inventory and the tools to plan, activate and optimise campaigns more effectively.
We also offer Outmax, our AI-powered optimisation technology, which continuously analyses campaign performance and helps advertisers optimise media investment toward their business objectives across channels.
What do you do day to day?
Meet with clients to help them understand what tools they have at their disposal and how they can buy DOOH more strategically. I also meet regularly with our partners to hear what’s new and how we can support it in our platform or offering. I manage a team as well, so helping them out with their patch as much as I can.
No two days or weeks are the same, we cover all of Australia so there are a few trips here and there to visit clients around the country as well.
Define your job in one word:
Rewarding.
I got into the industry because:
I originally started in Marketing because of my dad, it seemed challenging but he always looked like he was having fun doing it. I started out doing something quite similar to him and eventually found myself more on the media side of things.
What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role?
The landscape is always evolving, sometimes for the better and it's exciting, sometimes it’s more restricting and we quickly need to find another way of doing things.
The nice thing about Programmatic DOOH, is that unlike other channels, it is mainly changing in the way that you can do more instead of less.
It’s what keeps the role interesting, what we do with clients today is very different to what we did with them this time last year.
What’s the biggest industry wide challenge you’d like to see tackled?Measurement. There’s still an opportunity and need for modelling when it comes to even measuring one channel most of the time. There are some great companies and tools coming to market, but the cost of using them is often too high and not feasible for the everyday advertiser.
Who has been a great mentor to you and why?
My dad has always been a great mentor. He had a (sort of) similar career path so he understands where I am at.
My current boss Matt Bushby is a great mentor too, he has a wealth of knowledge in this industry and he brings a very calm approach to getting things done even when it’s very stressful, which I really appreciate.
Words of advice for someone wanting a job like yours?
Find a channel that you genuinely find interesting and are passionate about, learn everything there is to know about it, then go and reach out to companies in that space about a job. Don’t wait for a job to be posted, get on the front foot and show that you really want to work there and that you already know the business like the back of your hand. Even if something isn’t currently on offer, you will make an impact and be front of mind when they can hire.
If I wasn’t doing this for a living, I'd be:
I still dream of one day owning the Manly Lodge and turning it into an incredible boutique hotel. If anyone has some connections or wants to invest, I’m all ears.
My philosophy is:
Just give it a go.
I learn by doing.
It probably won’t be great the first time round in whatever you’re doing, whether it’s work, cooking, learning to surf, taking photos etc.
You suck at something before you are good, and the only way to be good is to practice.
My favourite advert is:
Budlight with Shane Gillis and Post Malone
Music and TV streaming habits:
Landman and Goliath S1 were a couple of favourites I watched earlier this year.
What do you subscribe to?
Apart from Surfline Premium, Netflix and Spotify, nothing really.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
I love cooking. A perfect weekend would be spent cooking up a nice long lunch for my nearest and dearest.
In five years time I'll be:
Hopefully writing another one of these saying that I have a side hustle, and that is, refurbishing the Manly Lodge.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.