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AT&T poaches Ogilvy exec to accelerate advertiser push

Maria Mandel, head of Ogilvy?s digital lab and North American chair of the Mobile Marketing Association, has moved to AT&T as the nation?s largest telecoms company?s puts on a more advertiser-friendly face.

In her new role as vice president of media and marketing innovation at AT&T Advanced Ad Solutions, Ms. Mandel will work on delivering advertiser services across its online, mobile and U-Verse IPTV units. Based in New York, she will also run trade marketing and event planning for AT&T Advanced Ad Solutions geared to ad agencies.

?Mobile is clearly one of our key channels of focus,? Ms. Mandel said. 

?Due to our large subscriber base, we are uniquely positioned to help advertisers reach their target audiences at scale, create unique programs leveraging rich creative new ad formats, target based on location and even enable couponing and commerce,? she said.

In this exclusive interview with Mobile Marketer?s Mickey Alam Khan, Ms. Mandel lays out her vision for AT&T?s three-screen focus with mobile playing a pivotal role in helping brands and agencies connect with consumers. Please read on.

It?s not often that a wireless carrier poaches senior talent from an ad agency. What does AT&T want from an Ogilvy veteran?
I bring the advertiser perspective on what marketers are looking for in the digital space.

What was the attraction for you ? a carrier is a world apart from an agency that does work for American Express, IBM and Louis Vuitton?
AT&T?s Advanced Ad Solutions team actually works with Fortune 500 companies that include major brands and agencies. 

I am still going to be working with brands to develop strategies leveraging advanced TV, online and mobile channels. 

The specific attraction to join AT&T was the technology, data and insights from over 150 million AT&T customers that they have. 

This enables us to deliver ? at scale ? cutting-edge media opportunities, hyper-targeting and advanced tracking  to sophisticated advertisers and brands.

Your position is not new, however the job description is a step up from previous holder Jordan Berman?s, right?
I come from a different background so the role has evolved. 

In addition to leading our marketing efforts here at AT&T Advanced Ad Solutions, I will also be partnering with the product teams to develop offerings that generate interest and demand from marketers.

AT&T is the largest telecoms company nationwide and can claim credit for shepherding the smartphone revolution with its lock on the iPhone. And yet the carrier is not perceived as having the same lead in mobile ad offerings.
We may not have been first out-of-the-gate, but we have been focused on developing the right ad and marketing solutions that will drive interest and results. 

We are currently building out our mobile offerings and you will be seeing much more from us in this space moving forward.

What is the mandate handed to you?
Drive advertiser engagement across AT&T?s media properties including IPTV [U-Verse], online and, of course, mobile.

What resources has AT&T given you ? a big team, for example?
Starting out with a small, nimble and entrepreneurial team and building out over time.

All right, so give us an idea of what AT&T can offer a brand that comes looking for mobile and digital ad services.
Our current product offerings include YP.com and search extension on online and mobile. 

Through U-Verse, our IPTV platform, we offer advertisers rich data and analytics as well as starting to build out our iTV offerings. 

On mobile, there is ATT.com/MediaNet where we offer display inventory. 

We have additional display and in-app ad inventory across a variety of sports apps as well as other application inventory. 

We also recently launched Click2Fill, Text2Save and 2D bar code products.

And we are quickly building out new offerings that I know are going to excite advertisers.

Obviously, they?d be before your time, but which AT&T-driven mobile ad campaigns did you find interesting in the last couple of years?
Mobile couponing has significant potential and many hurdles. 

AT&T Advanced Ad Solutions actually recently launched a test pilot with Procter & Gamble?s Pampers brand where they allowed people to text-in to a short-code for savings to be applied to their AT&T bill. 

Innovative work-around to some of the issues associated with mobile couponing and was a highly successful trial.

What is the biggest challenge that marketers currently face with mobile advertising?
I think one of the biggest challenges is education and lack of understanding for how to leverage mobile against various audiences and marketing objectives.

And yet some of the challenges facing Internet advertising haven?t disappeared all these years later ?
There are always going to be challenges with any channel ? especially emerging channels. 

But there are also great opportunities as well. Better targeting/less waste ad dollars, better data and consumer intelligence, better consumer experience and more efficiencies.

Carriers sit on the most valuable source to advertisers ? data. How will AT&T tap its understanding of mobile subscriber and customer behavior to help deliver targeted mobile ad campaigns for brands and agencies?
This is true.

We are still working through some of the consumer privacy issues associated with this. No question, this is a huge opportunity for mobile as well as cross-platform targeting.

The relationship with Apple ? will you factor that in for your digital ad work for clients? How so?
Still to be decided at the moment. Will keep you posted on this one.

Are marketers equipped to handle today?s tech-savvy consumers? Do they really understand what their audience wants and doesn?t want?
I think smart marketers are trying to figure this out right now. 

Hopefully, the data and consumer tracking that AT&T offers across platforms can help this in this effort.

Back to AT&T: what is the company trying to do with mobile advertising and marketing? What message does it want to send out to brands, agencies, publishers and retailers?
Mobile is clearly one of our key channels of focus. 

Due to our large subscriber base, we are uniquely positioned to help advertisers reach their target audiences at scale, create unique programs leveraging rich creative new ad formats, target based on location and even enable couponing and commerce.

What do you want to accomplish in the first 100 days?
Solidify our current product offerings and make sure that advertisers are made aware of the full spectrum of unique ad solutions that AT&T Advanced Ad Solutions offers today. 

I plan to start working with agencies and brands to understand their needs and develop three-screen test pilot opportunities that leverage the combined impact, tracking and optimization potential that only AT&T can bring.


CV

Maria Mandel

Previous job: Senior partner and executive director of digital innovation at Ogilvy and founder of the WPP Group PLC-owned agency?s North American Digital Lab

Served stints at: Draftfcb, LoweWorldwide and Ammirati Puris Lintas, as well as brand manager at Kraft Foods

Industry involvement: North America chairperson for the Mobile Marketing Association (current); founding member of the American Association of Advertising Agencies? mobile committee; advisory board member of the Direct Marketing Association?s mobile council

Awards: More than 35 gongs including three Echo awards from the Direct Marketing Association and seven Caples

Educator: Adjunct professor of marketing at New York University?s Stern Business School teaching a course on digital marketing

Education: MBA from the University of Pennsylvania?s Wharton Business School

Base: New York