I started as a Digital Media Planner with Havas in Paris in 2007. It was very manual and relationship-driven: you would phone publishers to secure placements and negotiate to swap formats mid-campaign to optimize click-through rates. But there was already a sense that things were falling into place for the industry to scale. Four years later I had an opportunity to move to London with Orange’s freshly acquired Unanimis and I was hooked! AdTech is constantly evolving and full of smart people – 15 years later I still learn something new every week.

I have been with Xaxis for 6 years now, always in roles building a bridge between new technology and business and clients’ needs: first on Mobile, then on Innovative Solutions like Video, Digital Out of Home and Commerce, now with Artificial Intelligence. It’s a great place to grow and learn about different aspects of the industry.

I have two small kids so sleep deprivation can be brutal. COVID-related restrictions added an extra layer of challenge over the past two years. It’s been great to have a workplace supportive of working parents.

I hope this is less and less true. I have had brilliant managers throughout my career and am still regularly in touch with them. I learned something from each of them, be it a way to shield their teams from pressure, or methods to prioritize efforts and encourage collaboration. A good feeling with the hiring manager was my main criteria for taking on a new role throughout the first years of my career.

It was from one of these great managers actually: “You don’t ask, you don’t get.” The conversation was on a senior role we were struggling to fill and I finally asked her why she had not considered promoting me into it. This little pearl of wisdom was eye-opening: you can deliver great results in your role but unless you articulate what growth means to you your manager can’t possibly guess. Different people want different things. A good manager will help you articulate what you want and set you on the right track. I did get the senior role in the end and it was a great experience.

Having a network of brilliant people I’ve worked with over the years has been an invaluable source of inspiration and support in good times and even more so in bad times. I know “networking” as a term can sound intimidating. If so, think of it as being a good person: help people if you can, ask for help if you need it, and stay in touch. I hope this is something young professionals entering the workplace can still fully develop in remote/hybrid set-ups.

Pragmatic, optimistic, fair

In 10 years the ad market will still be wherever consumers are. By then virtual reality will probably have had its “killer app” which will have brought users to it en masse, opening a whole new realm of experiences. In the meantime we still have work to do to build the right solutions for our clients and the right experiences for end users in a way that is both creative and respectful of their privacy. I believe that a lot of value will be unlocked in the next few years by leveraging Artificial Intelligence to connect the dots.