Ashley Hill.
The MFA’s NGEN Award gives media executives with less than five years’ experience the opportunity to create positive impact by flexing their creative and strategic muscles – and gaining career-defining experience along the way.
NGENers were this year invited to respond to a brief for Share the Dignity, a charity dedicated to helping women, girls and people who menstruate who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness, domestic violence or poverty.
In this series, AdNews meets the NGEN Award Finalists. This time, we catch up with Match & Wood senior communications executive Ashley Hill.
How long have you been in the industry?
2.5 years.
What were your greatest lessons from the experience of entering the NGEN Award?
I’m a big believer in taking on as much feedback as you can. But the real kicker is knowing when to back yourself and your own opinion.
What’s one myth about working in media you’d love to bust?
I’m not actually aware of any myths about working in media. More broadly though, there’s probably a bit of a myth that marketing is only about immediate conversion, and if that’s not achieved, then the rest of your dollars were wasted.
If you could describe the future of media in one word, what would it be and why?
Data. More specifically, 1PD. For agencies or our clients, data is going to be one of the only remaining forms of competitive advantage that will set apart the winners and losers in the long term.
From your experience of the industry so far, which skills do you think are most valuable for now and for the future?
By far the most valuable skills will continue to be real, true creativity. I also think advanced data analysis and the underrated ability to ‘make it happen’ will yield more positive results than anything.
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