Lauren Byrne.
In this series, AdNews spotlights young talent in the Australian media, marketing and advertising sector. This time it's Foxcatcher's senior programmatic trading manager Lauren Byrne.
Time in current role/time at the company:
1.5 years
How long have you been in the industry?
Almost 6 years!
How did you get here? Was this always the plan?
I studied Marketing at University and in my placement year I worked as a Marketing Officer, mostly across events, social and the broader marketing sphere. I ended up working in freelance across a range of industries but always wanted to work on the more technical side. So, when a programmatic role came up in my first post-grad job, I had to take it! And honestly, I wasn’t 100% sure what it was at the time, so it was a risk.
Who is your right-hand person/who guides you day to day?
Day-to-day my right hand would be the trading team. Having collective brainpower to lean on makes sure that none of us are trading in the dark and it speeds up how quickly we can fix things. And of course, WorldView, which is Foxcatcher’s proprietary programmatic platform.
What’s the best thing about the industry you work in?
The constant evolution! What I love most about the media industry, specifically programmatic, is that it forces you to never stop learning. Between the shift from third-party cookies and the integration of AI platforms, the industry is constantly re-writing what is next. If you’re like me and like innovation, there’s no better place to be!
And the biggest challenge?
There can be a risk of letting AI run on autopilot, especially with campaign optimisations. We have so many targeting parameters, AI driven bidding strategies and the challenge with this is lack of human oversight. Machine learning is incredibly powerful, but it definitely requires a human eye to make sure that, combined, we are driving value.
Whose job have you set your sights on in the future?
I aspire to be Head of Programmatic / Programmatic Lead at some point. As I continue to master day-to-day trading and optimisations, my goal is to, in the future, lead across media buying decisions, supply path optimisations and scale our approach to programmatic.
Where do you turn for inspiration?
Honestly, I get a lot of my inspiration in media & programmatic through being a customer out and above at the weekends, travelling etc. I never skip ads because I want to see how they are targeted to me. I love trying to figure out how other brands are set-up because it gives me inspiration on how I can layer audiences, which channel etc.
My favourite advert is (and why):
I absolutely love the John Lewis Christmas ads, as much as they are tear jerkers. Every year I’m waiting for it to be released to see what the storyline is going to be. One of my favourites is the 2025 Man on the Moon. Aw crying real tears!
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
A fun fact people at work don’t know about me is that I used to play the harp. Looking at my Spotify daily listening habits, you wouldn’t think this is a real fact lol.
In five years' time I'll be:
In five years time, I hope to be leading a team of traders. I want to be a person who mentors junior traders, builds out best practices for QA and of course campaign and operational excellence. On a personal level, I just want to be happy, healthy, living my best life and seeing the world.
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