This is the first post in a new series where we profile our New Marketing Institute facilitators, who are responsible for leading trainings for clients, partners and colleagues around the globe. The first up is Vanessa DiSpena, Senior Manager, Global Training and Certification, who was interviewed by Ohi Oni-Eseleh, Business Analyst for NMI.
- Tell us about your previous work experience prior to starting at MediaMath.
My advertising background is in Sales and Account Management. I’ve seen the industry from various angles—starting in a creative agency, then managing campaigns on ad networks, then selling social media advertising technology, and now running programmatic education for the New Marketing Institute (NMI) at MediaMath.
- How did you first get involved in adtech?
I got involved in adtech by accident, as many of us do. The marketing courses I took in college didn’t go into depth on the technologies modern marketers use to execute campaigns and measure performance, likely because this part of the industry was so new. After a brief stint at Rapp, a creative agency in New York, I joined AOL in 2010. I was one of the first hires on their mid-market sales team. The learning curve was steep to say the least. After a few months on the job, I built and ran internal training programs for new hires at the urging of my manager. My introduction to adtech was also my introduction to adtech education.
- When did you realize that you wanted to go into training?
Throughout my nine-year advertising career, educating clients on the technologies they need to grasp in order to be expert in the programmatic space has been the most fulfilling part. Because I found it so rewarding, I built team and client training programs before it was my actual role. So in 2014, I looked to make an official move into digital marketing training and certification, and that’s how I found NMI. The role was a perfect fit: I started by training our clients in the use of our DSP, Terminal One (T1). Two years later, I’m still facilitating those classes twice a week, while also leading training and certification for our five other courses globally.
- Why do you feel education is important in the adtech space?
Elise James-Decruise, my boss and NMI’s leader, published a post last year on the enormous education and talent gap that the adtech industry faces. One million jobs will go unfilled by 2020 because digital marketing experience isn’t where it should be among marketers. On top of this challenge, this is technology we’re talking about—an ever-changing environment. In my classes, I often say our platform and the industry in general change as often as I brush my teeth (and yes, I brush my teeth twice a day.) This creates two critical needs: (1) addressing the talent gap and (2) easy access to professional, current educational resources. NMI’s mission is to solve for both of these.
- What courses do you currently facilitate?
NMI offers seven certification courses. T1 Platform Certification is made up of T1 Beginner and T1 Advanced, both of which I teach. We also offer a series of functional marketing trainings, non-specific to MediaMath’s technology but looking at the industry as a whole. These include Introduction to Digital Marketing, Programmatic 101, and Omnichannel Video, Mobile, and Social. My team is responsible for building (and constantly updating) these curricula, and facilitating all of these courses. We do so on a regular cadence weekly, but we also customize our classes based on the needs of the learners. NMI meets the learners where they are not just in their experience, but also in their physical locations. We run custom sessions and masterclasses for clients, partners, trade associations and universities around the globe.
- What is a new topic you hope to learn about (industry-related or not)?
“Hope to” learn about or “have to” learn about? 🙂 It’s impossible to know everything, but it’s my job to stay up-to-date on as much as possible. I’m currently finalizing an interactive training on identity management and cross-device identification. This is crucial for marketers to gain holistic views of their customers across all devices and environments, resulting in improved targeting, attribution, analytics and optimization. Aside from this, there are many new and exciting T1 features coming up, so my team is busy learning those and building fresh content.
- How do you stay up-to-date/current on what’s going on in the industry?
I read, but more importantly, I listen. I have a trusted network across the industry with whom I’m in regular contact. I seek to make new adtech connections and stay in touch with old ones. We say in our courses, “The learning happens not with our slides, not with our supplemental documentation, not with our exams, but in the dialogue between the facilitator and participant.” This is also true of everyday life and how I stay up-to-date on trends.
- Do you have an industry leader you look up to?
Elise James-Decruise, head of New Marketing Institute. Elise founded NMI in 2012, and we share a passion in educating and empowering the new generation of marketing professionals. The entire global NMI team shares that passion actually, which is what makes us the best in the biz!
- Tell us your secret talent
I love to play cards! Pretty talented in Rummy 500. Games in general are my thing. This next one isn’t really a talent per se, but my mother, sisters and I were on The Family Feud in 2011. While it was a lot of fun playing, we unfortunately lost. Miserably. (No, you won’t find it on YouTube!)