With our 24 Hours at IPONWEB series, we sit down with one of our employees to discuss their role here, what they do, why they do it, and what they love about working with our team. In this edition, we’re spending time with Kevin Boyrivent, Sr. Strategy Manager, Principals, based in Barcelona.
Hi Kevin! Thanks for taking the time to give us a glimpse into your everyday life at IPONWEB. Let’s begin with a little bit about you and how you made your way to IPONWEB.
10+ years ago, I started monetizing websites/apps for a publisher in Canada and found myself eager to understand the advertising value chain. After working for an ad network in Thailand, I joined GroupM to build their supply marketplace and, after a while, started selling proprietary solutions to their advertisers.
From publisher to ad network to agency…where next? It was only logical to dip my toe into AdTech and join IPONWEB in the UK.
What does corporate strategy mean to you, and how does your role contribute to the success of IPONWEB’s customers?
Corporate strategy entails a long-term framework where competitive advantages are built over time, leading to market share gains.
The constant challenge with digital advertising – and what makes it super interesting – is how fast the landscape is evolving. To counterbalance such instability, my role is to refine recommendations (short-term/mid-term) while keeping the same defined north star (long-term). Ultimately, resources are limited, and priorities are needed: our corporate strategy supports our progress in the right direction, influencing product development, positioning, and more.
To IPONWEB customers, it means the right IPONWEB solution at the right time, unlocking product or service capabilities which feed their success now even though we planned for it a while ago.
What are some of the tangible things you work on during a day at IPONWEB, and how do you work across teams?
My day always starts with my Google Alerts and reading advertising-related news.
A strategy requires an astute understanding of the advertising landscape, which means being exposed to as much information as possible from reliable sources.
The issue with over-exposition to news is that your head is full, the choices are infinite, and at some point you need to come back to earth – meaning the day-to-day business. I therefore often conduct interviews and surveys, take part in calls with the sales and CS teams for direct contact with consumers, and check capabilities with the Product team.
Through internal and external research, the myriad potential paths shrink down to a handful which are then thoroughly validated. Once the strategy and recommendations are defined and validated, project management is required to ensure proper activation with the relevant teams.
What’s your favorite thing about working at IPONWEB?
The sheer amount of intelligent people at IPONWEB is just insane, and it always comes with an open-minded approach that makes every question addressable.
What skills do you think are most important for being effective in your role?
Before talking about skills, I would just like to say that humility is necessary. Someone working in strategy must strive to do their best and be open to adjusting their work whenever necessary based on reliable data. You are never entirely correct, so your work is never complete.
Beyond that, the key skills I rely upon every day are:
1) Writing: The ability to articulate my thoughts in a succinct manner.
2) Communication:
– Engage with internal and external stakeholders to gather relevant information.
– Convey a particular strategy internally and generate traction.
3)Analysis: Put simply, crunching data.
4)Project management: Activating the strategy.
What’s one site, newsletter, or podcast that you’d recommend to someone just getting into the AdTech space?
The Quo Vadis newsletter by Tom Triscari and The Lemonade Project is a fantastic resource for a more strategic and analytical viewpoint on the fast-moving world of programmatic. You can sign up to the newsletter for free here.
A big thank you to Kevin for sharing his story in this Q&A. If IPONWEB sounds like your kind of place, we’d love to welcome you to the team. Learn more now by checking out our current opportunities.