[The Big Idea is a distillation of conversations held during our Cannes Expert Interview Series. The full conversation with all of our experts can be found here.]
In the ever-changing world of advertising, leaders are challenged to build effective teams, foster collaboration, and create strategies that truly resonate with their audience. Insights from our conversation with Katie McAdams, CMO at Basis Technologies, sheds light on how embracing cross-functional collaboration, cultivating a feedback-rich culture, and adopting user-centric marketing can drive success in today’s dynamic landscape.
Collaboration is Essential
Marketing thrives when it breaks free from silos and actively involves all teams to develop strategies that align with both the company’s goals and market needs.
“Marketing can’t operate in a silo. I believe very strongly in involving all the go-to-market teams, which includes the product organization, the sales organization, customer success, in crafting what that marketing strategy needs to look like.”
Feedback Enhances Team Performance
Creating a culture where feedback is regularly given and received in a supportive environment empowers teams to operate more effectively and fosters personal and professional growth.
“I believe very heavily in creating a feedback-rich environment… In order to do that, though, you actually have to develop safety, so that folks know ‘this is not a bad thing’. The feedback is actually meant to help you grow… That creates an environment where people can operate a lot more effectively.”
User-Centric Marketing
Understanding and prioritizing the user’s perspective is crucial for crafting messages and campaigns that truly resonate and drive engagement.
“It’s not necessarily what we think we need to say; what’s important is what they want to hear. And so we need to get out of our own heads—thinking about creating messaging and decks and materials and copy that we think best explains what we do—and actually shift to thinking about what the end user actually wants to hear.”
By focusing on collaboration, open communication, and user-centric approaches, marketers can navigate the complexities of the digital landscape and create impactful strategies that resonate with both their teams and their audiences.
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Transcript
Cannes Interview Series
[This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.]
Terry Taouss (Acceptable Ads Committee): I’m here with Katie McAdams, CMO at Basis Technologies, a global programmatic advertising and software provider. Katie has over 20 years of advertising experience where she’s led sales teams, customer success teams, marketing teams, and revenue teams. Katie, it’s great to have you here today.
Katie McAdams (Basis Technologies): Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.
Terry: Before becoming CMO, you worked very closely with publishers and advertisers, providing them both with services and technology. How did that experience shape how you take on your role as CMO today?
Katie: It’s interesting because when people ask me “what part of marketing did you start out in?” the answer is I actually don’t have a marketing background at all. I’ve been in this space for almost 20 years, but my background is across different areas of the business, which has suited me really well coming into this marketing role.
Before I was in marketing, I was actually an internal customer of the marketing team. Running sales divisions, product divisions, customer success, we relied heavily on marketing for a lot of different aspects. So I had that perspective of what it’s like to be an internal customer of marketing and then also the perspective of what it was like to be out there in the marketplace. I think bringing that perspective really helped me in terms of having a vision for the type of marketing organization that I wanted to build, knowing that, if we’re not properly supporting all of these internal teams, we’re not doing our job.
Marketing can’t operate in a silo. I believe very strongly in involving all the go to market teams, which includes the product organization, the sales organization, customer success in crafting what that marketing strategy needs to look like.
Terry: You work at Basis Technologies, a company that has won many accolades over the years for being one of the best places to work. I recently read an article that you wrote where you talked about the benefits of conscious leadership and how it can help you build high performing teams. Whether we’re talking about a marketing team or a team in general, what should a leader be doing to develop the soft skills that contribute to a team performing at its best?
Katie: I believe very heavily in creating a feedback-rich environment. But it’s something that’s really hard to do because I think as we go through life, a lot of us, we don’t get real feedback from people. Even in our professional lives, we don’t always get direct, critical feedback from our bosses and our managers. I’ve worked with a lot of folks who have come into our organization and it was a very unique experience for them to receive direct critical feedback because they hadn’t received that from their boss in previous roles. In order to do that, though, you actually have to develop safety, so that folks know “this is not a bad thing”. The feedback is actually meant to help you grow.
Once you start doing it more regularly, it just starts becoming more natural. Ideally you get to the point where you’re not waiting for a one-on-one or a performance review to do that. You’re actually giving feedback in real time. That creates an environment where people can operate a lot more effectively. The ‘way’ that we work tends to be almost more important than what we produce because if we’re not working well, what we produce is not going to be great.
Terry: At the Acceptable Ads Committee, our mission is to develop standards that ensure an acceptable experience for users when they’re browsing the web. A lot of that involves thinking through what is in the best interest of the user. In marketing, how important is it to start from the user when you’re building campaigns or building a brand?
Katie: Marketing can’t create a strategy or messaging in a silo. We can’t sit in a room and come up with what we think is the best copy. We actually have to listen to the market and we have to start from understanding how the market actually perceives us today. Too often we assume we know how the market is perceiving our brand and understanding what our products do. Every so often you have to make sure that you’re checking in – whether that’s through market research or canvassing the marketplace and doing customer or prospect interviews. You have to have different ways that you’re actually taking in that input and then applying it to your strategy. Even if it’s just to validate that what you’re doing is actually on the right track.
It’s not necessarily what we think we need to say; what’s important is what they want to hear. And so we need to get out of our own heads – thinking about creating messaging and decks and materials and copy that we think best explains what we do – and actually shift to thinking about what the end user actually wants to hear.
Terry: You were recently honored by Ad Exchanger and Ad Monsters in the ‘Top Women in Media and Ad Tech’ category. If you could give one piece of advice to a woman who is starting off in the marketing function today, what would it be?
Katie: By nature, I’m a doer. Like I love doing, I love crossing off a checklist. And as we get more seasoned in your career, sometimes you’re like “what did I actually produce today?” Because we’re not the ones cranking out the media plan anymore, or doing the one sheet, or signing the new client agreements. What your team is producing is actually a reflection of your leadership. Pointing to a list of different deliverables that you were cranking out every day – that’s no longer the mark of how successful or how impactful you are. It’s more about developing strategies. It’s more about removing roadblocks for your team. It’s about ensuring that they’re set up for success.
I don’t think that leaders talk about it a lot. I don’t think that people acknowledge that there is a shift that you have to go through to let go of the fact that you’re no longer the doer. It’s about focusing on that high level strategy and ensuring your team’s successful.
Terry: How have you seen the digital media and ad tech industry evolve over your career? And what are you most excited about right now?
Katie: Honestly, this is part of the reason why I’ve been in this industry so long. The industry changes. That’s the challenging part – and the exciting part – about it. It is trying to stay on top of the trends, trying to cut through what’s real and what’s not.
Change is constant and anyone who’s in this industry probably thrives on change or they wouldn’t be here. One of the things that I’m really excited about, especially since part of my remit is overseeing all of our ad campaigns, is the “cookieless” changes that are coming. It gives us a little bit more freedom to lean into the creative side of advertising. Things have been so focused on audience targeting – which is still important, obviously – but I’m excited because it is giving us license to get back to focusing on great creative and great content.
Terry: Katie, thank you for joining me. As always, it’s a pleasure. A lot of great insights from the conversation today, so thank you again.
Katie: Thank you so much for having me. Always great to see you, Terry.
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