Brad Stockton is the SVP, Head of US Media Investment Solutions at dentsu. Stockton focuses on identifying data and technology partners and creating solutions for dentsu’s clients to enable them to effectively reach their consumers in the marketplace. Watch this video to find out more about his work and how he partners with VIZIO.
Who are you and what do you do?
Brad Stockton, I’m the U.S. Media Investment Solutions lead at dentsu. And in my role, it's really about identifying the right data and technology partners, and creating solutions for our clients to enable them to effectively reach their consumers in the marketplace.
So in my position, it's really helping our teams and clients navigate the various tools and techs that they have at their disposal to effectively run their advertising campaigns. Really it's about education internally to all levels, making sure they know what is at their fingertips to bring to their clients, working with the marketplace, making sure that our tools and tech are enabled by, inevitably, the inventory that the marketplace owns and operates, working with the technology partners themselves, on how that is interoperable to our data.
And then inevitably, of course, the end state, which is our clients, and really making sure that they are aware and know what options are for them to execute again.
Fortunately, I have an amazing team that I get to work with, that really helps me with navigating all of this that comes together. But inevitably it's about working with the partners, understanding how we're actually executing our campaigns against technology, but then making sure again where we are utilizing the technology that is up to snuff with what we're trying to deliver accordingly.
How did you start working with VIZIO?
VIZIO is such an interesting partner, given their legacy backing as VIZIO-Inscape and having the data side of things. For the longest time we knew that there was this great data set that was behind many measurement offerings and solutions in the marketplace, being that Inscape data.
Then the evolution of now having a proper ad-sales team and being able to utilize the VIZIO television as a canvas to reach our customers – whether it's on the VIZIO Homescreen or through, for lack of a better term, spots and dots, 15 and 30 seconds, in premium Connected TV environment and streaming that is on VIZIO television.
The evolution has been: utilizing as a measurement source, but now also as a media partner to run our campaigns for our clients.
What's it like running media campaigns with VIZIO?
It's been really successful. I mean, they really stood up a rock star team. So it's really great to work with people that are really rooted in this business, understand the ways of working and what we're looking for as advertisers and as agencies.
So that's been a really great start. And then working with them for how we want to execute as dentsu, has really been to me a shining star in this relationship. Because it is truly a partnership, and a partnership is rooted in understanding what our goals and needs are, as well as VIZIO's, and then working together to deliver the best outcomes for our clients.
VIZIO is second to none when it comes to the human element. I think the best part about Vizio is that at any point in time, if you have a problem, you have a concern, you have a question, you can pick up the phone and actually call your VIZIO partner, and be able to work out any of those solutions that you need accordingly.
What part of the marketing funnel do you use VIZIO for?
VIZIO, being that Smart TV, allows it to play in the upper funnel awareness tactic, especially with over 23 million devices across the U.S.. It allows us to really reach a mass audience across the board.
But because it is digital in nature, it allows us to go up and down the full funnel, so we can understand those who are exposed to our ad; did they go to a store, did they go to our website? did they actually buy our product?
Working with VIZIO allows us to truly understand the full funnel impact and be able to close the loop where applicable.
What is your advice to young people in the industry?
To me it's about: be curious, be human and be humble. I think those are three things that we need to be more of.
And you have to be curious, especially if you are coming up in this industry. There are so many things that are changing. You’ve got to ask questions and you should feel free to ask questions because the more you ask, the more you know, the more you know, the better you're going to be at this job. So being curious is so core to everything that we do.
I think being humble is super important. And as much as, you know, we're on the buying side, so as much as you're doing, as much as you might be the hot agency, where you're getting promoted in your career, you have to still be humble.
Be human, is really the most important thing after that. Because being human – you never know what anybody is going through. Whether you're having a bad day or something's going on in their life. You don't know that. We're all at work every single day. Be human, be understanding. And that will, in my opinion, get you really far in this career.
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