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As a Media Analytics and Insights Manager, Ashlyn Wade works with clients upfront, before their campaigns even begin to gain access to critical first-party data like their CRM system, sales info, targeting lists, etc. Based on the business and media objectives and insight we wish to glean from the campaign, she sets to work determining relevant KPIs and benchmarks and the best way to measure against them. Once the data connections have been integrated into our reporting platform, campaigns launch and the data begins to flow, Ashlyn builds visualizations to highlight KPIs and answer key media questions. She works closely with Mindstream platform managers to gather insights and develop recommendations that are presented back to clients in monthly and quarterly reports.

Although she originally went to college with the intention of earning a management degree and eventually opening her own bakery, Ashlyn got a taste of marketing in a required class during her Junior year and really enjoyed it. The idea of helping companies put their best foot forward and tell their story led her to shift gears and seek further education in marketing. She says, “I’ve also just always liked to work with numbers and spreadsheets so the more I got into the data side the more I realized it was something I was interested in pursuing.”

Possessing an unusual mix of analytical skills and creativity, Ashlyn loves the opportunity to apply both in her daily job duties. She says, “I enjoy the problem solving we often have to do to clean and manipulate the data. The analytics team is a weird mix of data and creativity, which is how my brain works. The analytical side enjoys working with data and finding those key insights to share with the client while we use creativity to present the data in the best way and create visually appealing dashboards.”

Heightened awareness and concerns around data collection and consumer privacy have made a significant impact on the industry over the last couple of years. Ashlyn notes, “Consumers are becoming more aware of the amount of data that corporations have about them. This has not only impacted media through people opting out of cookies and tracking, but also on the data side and the steps we have in place to make sure any shared PII (personally identifiable information) is shared securely and stays protected. I only see this getting additional restrictions as time goes on especially with customers becoming more and more aware and concerned about the data that companies have about them.”

To stay sharp on all things analytics, Ashlyn reads Avinash Kaushik’s blog, Occam’s Razor, checks out Think with Google and follows Digital Chadvertising on Instagram.

In addition to baking, Ashlyn enjoys cooking, reading, traveling, music and hanging out with her dog, Levi (above). She plays the cello and is currently trying to teach herself how to play the piano.

Ashlyn credits her parents, owners of a Dickey’s Barbeque franchise, for instilling her passion for small business. She says, “They are a large portion of the person I am today and have given me an ideal example of work ethic and working to not just support yourself and your family but for the Lord. They showed me how to work hard and do the best you can, while showing compassion for your customers and coworkers, which is what I strive for.” You could say it’s like the icing on the cake!

An enormous part of what makes Mindstream Media Group successful is the collective talent and collaboration of its employees across the country. While we as an agency love to share stories about client successes, industry news and product updates on our MMG Blog, we also want to feature the actual people behind the work we are doing to grow client business.

Our recent video series, Fast-Forward the Conversation, discusses the HOW behind supporting client growth through media strategy, with topics like shopper marketing, franchise work, QSR challenges, agency partnerships and more.

 We’re also now featuring a Mindstreamer (as we like to call ourselves) periodically to share their stories and celebrate the diverse people, backgrounds, interests and qualities that make us unique.

To commemorate International Women’s Day, Mindstream Media Group is celebrating women’s achievement by shining the spotlight on our very own Marti Janson, Chief Client Officer.

Marti provides the leadership, management and vision necessary for our team members to consistently remain ahead of the needs of our clients. She oversees media operations, media buying, account services and strategy teams and arms them with the proper tools and resources to provide agency clients with omnichannel media strategy and implementation. Marti also directs the IT and analytics teams to ensure our technology is assembled with scale and perspective, enabling the use of data to find the insights and opportunities to help drive better results for our clients.

Based in the agency’s St. Louis office, Marti has been in a leadership role for fourteen years, but her experience dates back 28 years. In true agency fashion with the constantly evolving landscape, she’s worked through eight different mergers and acquisitions. Having started her career making copies of print ads and sending tear sheets to clients, she worked diligently to develop her career, which led to an Account Executive role two years later, then progressed to Account Manager and Account Director.

Marti has worked with some client accounts for up to for 17 years and reflects, “My career has been focused on accounts and building relationships with clients. I have been a VP of Accounts and Chief Operating Officer and have filled the role of Chief Client Officer for the last year.”

To reinforce her client focus, Marti says what excites her most about her job is working as a team to provide results for our clients. “For me, it is that collaboration and brainstorming of ideas, playing off each other’s strengths and presenting a solid recommendation to the client and seeing those results exceed the client’s goals, that’s exciting.”

A few years out of college, Marti was inspired by working with an all-female leadership team. “I was fortunate to have this experience right out of college, because at the time in the early 90s, this wasn’t common. The remainder of my career transitioned to organizations that were primarily male-led organizations. I feel what I learned in those first few years from those women really helped shape me as a leader. I was fortunate to have those strong female mentors and colleagues. I remain in touch and continue to try to get together with them regularly.”

Although there have certainly been challenges in Marti’s path to leadership, she has witnessed positive changes in how women are represented in the workplace, and she hopes that equality will continue to improve.

Marti credits her work ethic and focus on personal growth for helping lead her career trajectory and evolution into a leadership role. She has definitely learned some lessons along the way and shares these words of wisdom in developing her confidence and leadership style. “Over the years I have worked really hard, but it took me a bit longer than it should have taken to become a leader. The advice I would give women aspiring to leadership is to be confident and don’t be afraid to speak up. It is okay if you are wrong, as long as you admit it when you are. Take a seat at the table and be sure to ask for what you want. It took me too long to get this confidence.”

For ongoing inspiration, Marti listens to audiobooks focused on leadership and career development, follows the Skimm for female leadership inspiration and, of course, reads many industry articles and publications to stay on top of the latest developments in media and marketing. One of her go-to references relating to leadership is the book Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office by Lois P. Frankel.

As an industry veteran, Marti has seen the evolution of technology greatly change consumer behavior. Starting out, she explains that consumers didn’t have as many avenues for research, which has changed tremendously with technology. The immense change in online spending has resulted in a large amount of data available. These consumer shopping patterns and data have made it table stakes to invest online. Marketing is no longer primarily based on awareness; it’s about narrowly targeting and getting in front of the consumer in the different phases of their consumer journey. She also notes, “it will be interesting to see how regulations change how far consumer tracking has come and how Google and other platforms will react to pressure from the regulations on data privacy.”

In her personal life, Marti’s two sons have kept their family busy playing several sports throughout their high school years, but now that they’ve both started college, she has more time for her own hobbies. Marti enjoys listening to true crime podcasts, audiobooks and playing sand volleyball. While competitive in her high school days as a three-sport athlete, and now in her business life, she notes that her sand volleyball league is just for fun. Although some who know her might find that hard to believe.

Another important lesson that Marti shares is, “Learn from your mistakes and move forward. I have made a lot of mistakes and will probably make a few more—the key is learning from them and changing. I feel my mistakes have helped me learn so much along the way. Sharing my mistakes is one thing I feel has also helped me to become a better leader.”

As a woman in a C-Suite role and an inspiration to many, Marti believes in the importance of eliminating gender bias, calling out inequality and creating a more inclusive world. She says it’s important to advocate for fellow women and foster those relationships, building other females up and not tearing them down. “It is easy to listen and give her advice on what you think she should do, it is another thing to advocate on her behalf, give her a shout out, put your name on the line and say, ‘you need to see her, look at what great things she is doing!’”

International Women’s Day is March 8, 2021.

“A challenged world is an alert world and from challenge comes change.
So let’s all choose to challenge.

How will you help forge a gender equal world?
Celebrate women’s achievement. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality.”

Credit: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

An enormous part of what makes Mindstream Media Group successful is the collective talent and collaboration of its employees across the country. While we as an agency love to share stories about client successes, industry news and product updates on our MMG Blog, we also want to feature the actual people behind the work we are doing to grow client business.

 Our recent video series, Fast-Forward the Conversation, discusses the HOW behind supporting client growth through media strategy, with topics like shopper marketing, franchise work, QSR challenges, agency partnerships and more.

 We’re also now featuring a Mindstreamer (as we like to call ourselves) periodically to share their stories and celebrate the diverse people, backgrounds, interests and qualities that make us unique.