Digital Minds: 60 seconds with The Rubicon Project’s Jay Stevens

How did you get into the digital sector?
I started off in digital in the field of public relations in 1998 for the boutique hi-tech PR firm, Alexander Communications, which was bought and folded into Ogilvy Public Relations.  While there I managed the DoubleClick and RelevantKnowledge (now comScore MediaMetrix) accounts, cutting my teeth in all things digital. I then moved on to build my first start-up in 1999, RadicalMail.

What's most impressed you recently and why?

The rapid adoption of smartphones and the implications it has had on the market and the way its effecting the industry. Specifically, I think it’s interesting to watch how online content providers are creating strategies to effectively monetize those channels. Consumers have changed their interaction and continue to further integrate mobile into their daily lives. Ultimately, the line between mobile and fixed line has morphed.

How does your business help people or markets be more efficient or more effective vs traditional approaches?
Our platform, REVV for publishers™ enables web publishers to maximise yield through effective channel-management; optimisation of both direct and indirect ad sales; data targeting and brand protection technologies. REVV for publishers™ is the first complete platform on the market that empowers premium Web publishers with the control and visibility they need to best manage their direct and indirect inventory to match every impression with the highest paying demand source.

What frustrates you most at the moment in digital?
Fragmentation of the marketplace, for publishers its challenging to find and effectively pull in revenue from all the various sources of demand around the world. For advertisers, its challenging to find the right audience they are looking to reach and finding themselves having to work with too many buying points.  

What’s over hyped and under hyped right now?- and why?
I think Foursquare and Groupon are overhyped. These companies have gotten a ton of buzz and as a result have been made the belle of the ball.

As for what is under hyped, I believe the opportunities for local advertising is. To date, AdWords has been the primary source for local online spend but there is a lot of opportunity for publishers to take this share of wallet directly.   

What was the 'ah!' moment for you - the moment where you suddenly realised the scale the web or digital marketing would play in your business?
I think it was when I saw the first images of the Comet Shoemaker-Levy impact in July of 1994.  Online has come a long way in the last 16 years, but it was then that I realised the power of the medium.

Many senior directors still just don't get the scale of what’s happening. How do you convince them?
Tell them to look at what their kids are doing, where they spend their time.  It’s in front of the PC and on their mobiles, and if they are watching TV, it’s time and place shifted.  The world is changing fast and senior directors needn’t look beyond their own front doors to realise where people are spending their free time.

What's different in the formula for creating successful teams / companies / products in the digital space?
I believe in people and products that solve a problem.  Good people are hard to find and when you do, don’t let them go! They are the key to any company’s success. 

What’s the most common mistake people make in digital media or marketing?

That technology alone can solve your problems. 

If you could go back in time to a key 'digital moment', where and when would it be – and why?

I would have bought shares of Yahoo and Google when they went public.  

Where do you spend your time most online, and why?
Kayak.com, I travel A LOT!

What are the big changes yet to come, in marketing, media and beyond?

I think the big change that we are going to see is publishers embracing audience extension programmes. The industry is going to automate a lot more over the next 12-14 months with DSPs, commanding a larger share from advertisers piece of the pie. We are also going to see a rise in integrated multichannel campaigns – between online, mobile, video, etc.  

Who should own digital strategies in an organisation (brand/marketing director, agency, technology team, CEO, operations director) and why?
It’s all the above and it should be integrated, as each are shareholders in keeping messaging constant and strategy as a whole.

What’s will be mainstreaming by this time next year?

Audience buying, we are going to see more and more media plans based around audience and less around content adjacency. As such, we’ll continue to see an increase in use of data to identify those audiences – Blue Kai and AlmondNet are both making their way onto English soil.

And any final words of advice to people developing their own digital careers?

Get into digital now, if you aren’t – it’s the future. Learn everything you can about digital and no place is too low.  The people that start at the bottom end up being the smartest, brightest and know more about the business than anyone who starts in the middle.

Jay Stevens

Age: 37

VP and General Manager, International

The Rubicon Project

Jay has most been recognised by the Evening Standard as one of the 1000 most influential Londoners, by Revolution Magazine as the 5th most influential person in digital media in the UK and by Advertising Age as one of the top 20 interactive marketers of the year in the United States.  He has also served as a press aide to former President Jimmy Carter and holds a B.A. in History from Emory University. 

www.rubiconproject.com