In our latest Monster In the Mirror, we thought, who better to showcase than our very own Content Czar Rob Beeler. Rob works like a champion, and all you have to do is read below to find out why. Only Rob can make magic from two MacBooks, a ThinkPad, and an iPhone 3GS.
And, if you haven’t yet, make sure to check out last week’s Monster In the Mirror, highlighting UM’s SVP of Ad Ops and upcoming OPS Markets speaker Mitchell Weinstein.
Vitals:
Name: Rob Beeler, but please – call me Beeler
Title: Content Czar. Technically I’m VP of Content and Media, but we’re a fun, small company built to serve a great community, so why not? Plus if I used “El Jeffe”, people would overestimate my ability to converse in Spanish.
Company: AdMonsters
Location: Ever in motion, but when I stop I’m in Hazlet, NJ. Yes, that’s down at the shore. You got a problem with that? Rebuild Exit 117!
Current Computer: Macbook Pro, and a Macbook Air, and a ThinkPad. I have this vision that I can actually use more than one computer at a time, but I can’t. I think I just like having multiple screens to deliver distractions at a faster rate.
Current Mobile Device: An iPhone 3GS. Yes. That’s right – a 3GS. I have never dropped it despite all my attempts to do so.
Next Mobile Device: I’m torn. I know iPhone, but like the idea of playing around with Android. Then again, I always want the phone that hasn’t come out yet, so I wait. Any suggestions?
One word that describes how you work: Czar-like? Czar-esque? Czar-ish?
How do you describe what you do to your family? What I do is easy: I’m an editor and a moderator. What I edit and moderate – not so simple. People get what digital advertising is now – they’ve seen enough. I used to get asked if I was responsible for all the pop unders people saw. I said yes, that was me. Those people don’t talk to me anymore.
If you weren’t in ad operations, what would you be doing? Wicker. I doubt there has been a single innovation in wicker ‘technology’ in decades. I sometimes wish I wasn’t in an industry that changes every day and so wicker is appealing.
Last AdMonsters Event? Like, um. ALL of them. More importantly, where will I be next?
Management of Time Questions
Inbox – aim for zero or is it infinitely long? I go for zero, but I always fall short. I like to ponder emails before responding. I find first impulse responses often don’t push the conversation as far as it can. Unfortunately that means I always have emails and I’m always late in responding. I’m not the best email role model. I do like and use Boomerang Mail extensively because I can clear my inbox and have emails pop back in when I’m ready to work on them.
How do you manage your to do list? EverNote, OmniFocus and email. Evernote is where I jot the things I either need to get done that day or I have a shot at getting done today. Omnifocus is my parking lot. I have tons of ideas and hate to let them go, so I’ll set myself a task for 3 months down the line. I’m getting better at limiting the amount of time email takes in my day (see previous answer).
What’s your workspace like? It’s in my home and is both office and my sanctuary from my 3 kids. Basically it’s a mess.
Are you 24/7 or you turn off work at some point? “I go 24/7 like 7-11” (source unknown. Public Enemy, perhaps?). I’m always thinking about our community, our events and our projects.
What do you spend most of your day on? Two unrelated analogies: I’m herding cats and steering glaciers. Steering glaciers is a Rob Beeler original. Trademark pending.
Ad Operations/Tech Questions
What’s your least favorite industry buzzword? Discrepancies. I mark the time when it’s first brought up at one of our conferences. Sometimes I think our industry is built to come up with new ways to miscount things.
What buzzword do you find yourself using the most? Disruption, but hopefully in the proper context. Disruption isn’t always a good thing, but we talk as if it is. Disrupting advertising isn’t necessarily the best thing for the advertising word. Innovation on the other hand, is definitely what is needed.
What industry trend are you following the closest? It was viewability, which is still important, but seems to have lost some steam. It was mobile, which is still really important, but I thought mobile could and should change everything. Instead I’m seeing people duplicate the web on smaller screens. Yuck. I like programmatic guaranteed if only because I think there is hope that some automation can occur on terms that are good for the buyer and the seller.
What’s your advice to up and coming digital strategists? We are all in sales and management even if what you are selling is yourself and what you are managing is your boss. Boom! I just blew your mind.
Anything you’d like to add?
I will share what I as a publisher would like to have in my ad tech stack. I’d like my CMS and my ad server joined at the hip so I could customize ad delivery based on the value of the user instead of just standard spots. I’d also like my CMS to serve up ads only when they become viewable. I’d like my ad servers and SSP connected so I’m making the most money for each impression and at the same time make sure I deliver on guarantees and have accurate forecasting.
I’d like a private exchange and to continually work with my clients to automate manual processes. I’d like a workflow system and reporting system that let me have the best display ad server, mobile ad server and a video ad server out in the market and migration/integration wasn’t like brain surgery. I’d of course like a Data Management Platform so I could understand my users and I would certainly give audience extension a try or have it in my back pocket. I’d also like the interface for all of this to be like a video game (thanks Ruth Calhoun for the idea) so that trafficking would be like a game of Halo.
Lock and load troops, we’ve got some late creatives to blow away.