Transparency, Authenticity, & the Speed of Culture: Driving Forces for Change
Opaque supply chains are driving advertisers to demand more visibility into ad placement and how media dollars are being spent. At the same time, a shift in consumer expectations means that - more than ever - brands need to stay authentic to their values and how they represent themselves. Culture and conversations are moving faster than ever. These combined forces require innovation in navigating inventory supply, brand suitability, and culture in order to keep up.
Speakers
Alex Stone
SVP, Advanced Video & Agency Partnerships
Horizon Media
Alex and his team are responsible for the development of agency level partnerships with key media, data, and technology vendors across all marketplace mediums. Alex developed the agency’s strategic approach to partnerships maximizing negotiations with key partners emphasizing areas of interest that provide the greatest value to the agency’s clients in the form of innovation, competitive rates, research, data, programmatic and education. He has worked closely with his peers on an SPO strategy for the agency and has played a key role in the development of new curated marketplaces products. Most recently, Alex merged the Advanced Video Solutions team with Agency Partnerships where he leads the charge behind advanced and addressable Video opportunities while pressing forward on innovative agency ventures.
Marissa Price
Chief Client Officer
Sightly
Marissa Price is the Chief Client Officer at Sightly where she oversees all client relationships and development. She has a passion for working with brands and agencies to accomplish marketing goals and always brings an unmatched enthusiasm. She takes immense pride in the retention of her amazing team and works everyday to support them. Her strong desire to bring best-in class-solutions to her clients has led to her being one of the most instrumental parts in shaping Sightly’s award winning Brand Mentality™ platform. Her team leverages the platform along with the expert human element to help advertisers stay authentic and move with culture. Prior to joining Sightly, she held positions at the leading independent agency Horizon Media and OMD where she brought that same passion for those brands and the teams she worked with.
Elijah Harris
EVP, Impact Investment
IPG Mediabrands
Elijah Harris is the EVP, Impact Investment at IPG Mediabrands, a role that capitalizes on his expertise in media responsibility to drive impactful investment strategies worldwide. Under his leadership, the Impact Investment division is committed to enhancing media investments by not only achieving compelling commercial returns but also fostering social and environmental improvements. His team strategically partners with innovative media companies that align with clients' core values, promoting responsible storytelling, advancing brand safety, and supporting crucial global objectives such as reducing inequality, fostering diversity, and empowering historically underserved communities. Harris is the creator of IPG Mediabrands’ Media Responsibility Index, an influential tool he developed to assess and mitigate the impact of harmful content on social platforms. This index now forms a central component of his strategy at Impact Investment, guiding the division's efforts to set benchmarks for platform responsibility and drive systematic changes across the media landscape. Additionally, Harris oversees IPG Mediabrands’ equity investment practice and orchestrates the US’ annual Equity Upfront, a cornerstone initiative designed to create a more equitable media field by providing diverse media partners with direct access to clients and agency leaders, thereby creating opportunities for all. Previously serving as EVP, Global Digital Partnerships and Media Responsibility at MAGNA, Harris provided pivotal products and services to Mediabrands teams globally and led significant digital media partnerships. His extensive background includes roles as Global Head of Social at Mediabrands agency Reprise, and performance marketing positions at Dentsu Aegis Network APAC, Channel Advisor, Sensis, and Internet Brands. Renowned for his data-driven approach and deep understanding of the evolving media ecosystem, Harris continues to be a formidable advocate for media integrity and innovation.
Matthew Katz
CEO
Here2Help Consulting LLC
Matthew Katz is a senior operator and team leader with extensive experience in scaling organizationsthrough strategic change management and operational optimization. With a strong focus on data-driven decision-making, he excels in leveraging systems, processes, and cross-functional collaboration to drive growth and efficiency across diverse revenue streams. Throughout his career, Matthew has led high-performing teams at such places as Turner/Discovery, WebMD, GroupNine, Univision and FreeWheel.Katz considers himself as a true developer of people, a true collaborator who believes that truecollaboration and working together raises all boats, and that strategy without clear execution is failure.Matthew is recognized within the industry for his thought leadership and contributions to brand safety, ad fraud prevention, and digital media operations within the AdTech/Publisher perspectives. He is an active member of several industry councils (IAB/TAG/BSI etc.), is on the advisory board of The Binghamton Marketing Collective and has spoken at key industry events on topics such as Verification Services, Revenue Optimization and Programmatic Advertising.His most proud and notable experiences have been seeing those he has managed progress and move on to bigger projects and more responsibility, selling and executing the first non-walled garden led ad buy on a "redacted" Social Media Episodic Viewing platform, building a fully comprehensive brand safety/risk mitigation platform from scratch across multiple AdTech platforms with continuous improvement, and successfully migrating Ad Servers and OMS across 25+ major brands in a companywide project without losing a dollar.Outside of his day job, Matthew enjoys giving back to his many networks through mentoring, careercoaching sessions, being an active member of Long Island CERT Division #1, leading college careercourses with his alma mater Binghamton University’s School of Management students, attempting to live the Salt Life by fishing, hitting the beach and any other ocean or lake based activity anywhere he can make time for, he also watches a lot of School/Travel Volleyball and Travel-Soccer/Volleyball for his two kids with his wife and extended family. Here2Help Consulting reflects Katz’s desire to give back, help others and be a giving member of the network, among other Advertising Thought Leadership projects, Property Tax Assessment in Nassau County and more.