Meet The Team - StackAdapt's agency-focused mindset

Self-serve programmatic advertising platform StackAdapt, despite starting life as a native-only platform with a focus on data, has grown to include display, video and CTV to audio, digital out-of-home and in-game.

Berina Colakovic, StackAdapt’s director of sales for APAC, said that StackAdapt had a few Australian-based agencies that it worked with while still operating out of Toronto, Canada.

“The overall Australian ad space industry has been phenomenal,” said Colakovic. 

“The Australian agencies and the clients that we deal with are open, honest and direct. It's an advanced market, they're eager to adopt new technologies and have this mindset of testing new tech. 

"What I love about the Aussie market is they're not afraid to ask you the tough questions."

Having grown from a team of four upon initial entry into the country to now around 30 people in Australia - a number that doesn’t include movements between internal teams – Colakovic said that StackAdapt is not just about growth and expansion from outside the business, but also about promoting from within.  

“That's inclusive of sales, business development, client services, programmatic strategy, creative, programmatic analysts, tech support; all sorts of different functions of the business where we have local support here on ground,” said Colakovic. 

“How we're set up is quite unique to some other platforms as well. Each agency gets a dedicated team assigned to them, ready to help service and support all of our agency and brand partners.” 

Colakovic told AdNews that the adtech’s ‘bread and butter’ is mid to large sized independent agencies and brands looking to bring programmatic in-house.  

“In Australia, I think it's wonderful that there are so many opportunities through organisations and not-for-profits, such as the IMAA,” said Colakovic. 

“We have a very agnostic approach though, so as long as the shoe fits, we are willing and able to support an agency, brand or a holding group with our services, our product and our support. We work across all different verticals and all different industries.  

“Because we don’t have any contracts or any minimum spend commitments, we do a really great assessment with agencies to make sure that we're approaching it from a long-term strategic partnership perspective, and not just a campaign-by-campaign basis.” 

Colakovic told AdNews that one difference between StackAdapt’s platform and some of the other platforms that clients might use is the ease of use that the company utilises. The market seems to be responding; in last year alone, StackAdapt brought on 100 new clients, “with most of that growth skewed towards Australia.” 

“From a product usability perspective, we make it really user friendly for even those agencies that might not be programmatic savvy; we give them the opportunity through education and through resources to really become a subject matter expert,” said Colakovic. 

“Part of our product as well is the solutions that we provide, how we present them on the UI and how easy it really is to plug and play on our platform. That would be one of the biggest differences from a product and solutions perspective.” 

From a services perspective, Colakovic told AdNews that one of the adtech’s biggest USPs is the flexibility in providing self-serve, hybrid and managed service offerings. 

“For those who have traders who are face to face with clients, who know the back ends of the campaigns, who want to troubleshoot, who want to QA - we give them the tools and the resources to be able to do that on their ends,” said Colakovic. 

“Where we come in is we add more of a strategic consultative value there. We highlight what's coming down the pipeline with our products, we're able to A/B test and really work not on a reactive approach but more of a proactive approach.” 

On the internal culture at StackAdapt, Colakovic said that in her over four years at the company, she hasn’t had the same role for over a year 

“I’ve not seen as much opportunity at a company as I have at StackAdapt,” Colakovic told AdNews.

“A large part of the culture is growth. That really stems from top down and comprises everything from the onboarding process to team collaboration to generating ideas - every voice is heard. What we try to do - not just for our clients, but also internally - is make sure that everything is cohesive, everything is collaborative, and it fits in well.  

“We don't want to just be seen in the market as a tech provider or as a tech stack. We want to be seen as a solutions partner as well.We want to be one step ahead, we want to see what the trends are from a macro lens and be able to offer our agencies the best value.” 

Cauê Camargo, Manager, Client Services ANZ 

What’s the biggest challenge in your role? 

For any company entering a new market, the challenge is to build the right brand message, with the right product and the right team. For the best part of 2022, we worked to establish our offering in the Australian market and we can see a great future ahead. 

What does a typical day look like for you? 

A good chunk of time is set aside to understand client needs and how we can better service them. Making sure we are running at our best capabilities is key to deliver performance and alsoestablish a high standard of service. A constant check with all different sectors makes our product as strong as it is - we ensure we are up to date with industry trends, regulations, and features. 

What attracted you to StackAdapt? 

The challenge of helping to establish the company from the ground up in Australia and also the people and culture as well. The culture is a big part of what StackAdapt is. From the interview process until today, there hasn't been a single day I looked back. Also, being an Adelaide-based marketer, remote working was a big part of it as well. 

What are you focused on for 2023? 

My goal for 2023 is to help our team of Account Managers thrive in this market. We are building great momentum, and we have a tight team and a tight operation. I want to make sure we make the most of it. 

What do you love most about your role? 

The chance to work with world-class professionals from different backgrounds and coaching a team obsessed with getting results and getting things done. 
 

Krishan Lal, Sales Director, ANZ 

What attracted you to StackAdapt? 

I was excited about the challenge and opportunity of being one of the first team members to join the APAC team, and I felt that I was ready for it. During my interview process, I found myself among motivated and intelligent individuals who shared a progressive culture and a strong commitment to the company's vision. It was this culture that drew me to StackAdapt and made me want to be a part of it. 

What are you focused on for 2023? 

My primary objective is to maintain a high level of support and leadership for our seasoned Sales Managers throughout ANZ. I aim to foster a sense of empowerment and motivation among them, encouraging them to engage with clients in order to identify their needs, while being confident that they have access to a suite of top-notch products, capabilities, and solutions with which they can create successful strategies. 

What does a typical day look like for you? 

As the Sales Director for ANZ, my daily routine usually starts with analysing revenue reports to gauge our performance for the current quarter. Although my workdays are dynamic, I usually spend time connecting with individual team members to comprehend their client portfolios, assist them with any obstacles or issues, and attend meetings with them. The rest of my day involves several tasks, such as product and partnership meetings, proactive planning, and pipeline health management. 

Louise Hutley, Senior Manager, Client Services ANZ 

What are you focused on for 2023? 

Growing awareness and adoption of the platform in ANZ, and across the APAC region whilst maintaining a strong Client Services team that genuinely gets excited about their work and their contribution to the company's success. 

What do you love most about your role? 

To avoid being too cliche, the people are what make the role. Both locally and globally, I am exposed to incredible, passionate, and talented people who genuinely care about making StackAdapt a global success. We want to earn our place at the table through excellent product and service, and I think it is hugely valuable to see our founders and their teams still as involved and invested in the business and its people as they were on day one. 

What’s the biggest challenge in your role? 

As the Client Services lead for ANZ, my team is responsible for delivering superior campaign results to clients whilst providing a world class service experience. To stay ahead, we work closely with our data scientists, platform developers, and inventory teams to put client feedback into action, and develop a product that is truly competitive in the market. Change is constant, and finding ways to improve our capabilities and solutions in a privacy-compliant world is a rewarding challenge. 

What attracted you to StackAdapt? 

I was excited by the opportunity to be part of building something from the ground up. I've had the opportunity to get my hands dirty to support multiple functions such as product, marketing, and events. Leading a team of Client Service specialists and launching and growing our platform adoption in Australia has been very rewarding. 

No matter who I spoke to within the interview process, I got an overwhelming sense of pride from everyone that worked here. I could see that culture was core to the success of the business—driven from the top down. 

What does a typical day look like for you? 

As a global company, the first hour of my day is typically spent catching up on overnight updates, and scheduling calls with North America to ensure consistent and productive communication across time zones. This can start from 7am, so it is normally followed by a strong coffee from Bourke Street Bakery and a short walk with my (adopted) dog, Cookie. 

Outside of this my focus is on the team, our client retention plans, and campaign pacing and performance metrics to ensure we are growing and maintaining a healthy business where outcomes drive our growth. 

Caroline Campbell, APAC VP of Sales 

What attracted you to StackAdapt? 

The leadership was a real standout for me during my interview process. The founders are still active members of the business, and I could really feel the strength of the culture that they created from day one. I was also attracted to the opportunity that we have as a business in Asia Pacific and beyond. The commitment from the business to support our growth both in APAC and globally - especially as we enter new markets - always stands out as strong. It is truly an amazing place to work, with amazing people that we invest in heavily. 

What do you love most about your role? 

Working with such a fantastic team is definitely what I love most about my role. None of our success would be possible without our amazing teams. They are all so passionate about their roles. It is a joy to see this and feel this energy on a day-to-day basis. It is very motivational for me and the rest of the team to be surrounded by everyone driving towards the same goal and being so pumped to work together. 

What’s the biggest challenge in your role? 

Since joining StackAdapt as VP Sales in February 2022, the biggest challenge was being a new brand in a big region - we had a big job to do. Growing a new team from scratch, launching the StackAdapt brand across the region, and ensuring that we were positioning StackAdapt both within the Australian market and across the wider APAC region. The team has done a phenomenal job; we now have a really solid presence, lots of fantastic partners and a solid number of independent agencies using our platform and a strong brand identity, especially in the Australian market. As a business we have grown in the Australian market far quicker than in other new markets and this is a true testament to the team. 

What does a typical day look like for you? 

I spend a lot of my time working with internal stakeholders as well as out and about meeting clients and partners across the region. My team is split across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, and North America so I need to manage my time across the time zones. This can be challenging; however, we are a remote-first working company so we can work from home. I have a great work/life balance as I can work early calls or late evening calls around my family commitments. I have 2 young girls, aged 10 months and 2. I travel a couple of times a quarter for client events across the region, I always look forward to meeting the StackAdapt team face to face and also engaging with our clients across the region. Face to face time is still so important for both internal and external purposes. Relationship building is far richer with that regular face to face time in addition to the efficiency of connecting over video calls for the day-to-day conversations. 

What are you focused on for 2023? 

My big goal for 2023 is to continue to grow the team that we have built, support them, invest time in them, and invest resources to empower them all to grow within our business. We will also focus on growing our core markets - of which Australia is number one - continue to grow our customer base, and empower our customers to have deep knowledge of our platform.