Our Infectious Media ‘Pathways’ series of interviews aims to highlight the career options available within the business. In our third interview, Rosie Shimell, Head of People, speaks to Nicolas Gallet, about how he became an Infectious Media Account Director.
What did you do before you began working for Infectious Media?
As part of a gap year I worked for a French TV channel M6 within the advertising department - I gained experience in analysis, working with the sales team to sell our advertising space and media planning. I also spent six months in the licensing team. I then went on to finish a Msc in International Marketing and Business Development in Taiwan. After leaving Taiwan I did a bit of travelling in South East Asia before deciding to look for a permanent job in London with my new qualification and work experience. Within three weeks I was offered a job at Infectious Media!
Tell us about your Infectious Media career journey, where did it begin, and how did you make your way to Account Director?
I started as an Account Executive when the Business was much smaller - 30-35 people. So my role was quite broad - as well as working looking after our client relationships I was optimising campaigns. Within three months of joining IM I was working on the Netflix account which was very exciting and great experience. During the following few years I was promoted from Account Exec to Account Manager, and then again to Senior Account Manager. I started working on the adidas account and was managing two AEs, we grew the adidas account and not much later I was promoted to Account Director, which is the role that I am in today. I have a really great team now, with two Account Managers and three Account Executives.
You’ve worked for the business for nearly 4 years, how has the business changed?
It’s changed massively, and I think each year has been very different. In my first year here programmatic was less well known, nobody really knew how to do it, most of our clients were agencies (except Netflix). That’s a big contrast to today, as we only deal with advertisers directly now and there is a better understanding from them of what programmatic is.
When I first started there were no real robust internal processes. Having a smaller start-up atmosphere was great because everyone was very sociable, and everything had to be done. It’s great that today we’ve managed to keep that small company feel despite our growth. For instance, the fact that we can still change anything that’s not working correctly internally, work on any ideas we have and make them come true is very important to me.
Today we know what our goals are and our headcount has doubled. There is real transparency from the Leadership team and there is a lot of positivity that has come from hiring some great people. There is a lot more structure today and we feel like a more professional business, but we’ve still got the feel of a start-up
Describe a typical working day.
There is no such thing as a typical working day I’m afraid! A lot of my time at work is spent checking in with different teams internally to make sure we’re doing what we need to do, and reporting back to the Exec team on our work. I might spend time planning for strategy presentations and thinking long term - asking myself what we can do for the client, how can we improve our partnership. I might spend time with the Solutions team to find out how we can develop the right solutions for our clients and how we can market them. I’ll also be on the phone or in the offices of our clients. Once every month or so I’ll travel abroad - for example to visit adidas in Amsterdam. And finally, checking the work of the team and ensuring they know what I am doing and how we can all support each other.
What advice would you give to someone thinking about entering into a career in digital?
For those just starting out , you have to be quite humble and understand you don’t know everything about digital, even if you think you do! You should be open to learning every day. Always be curious and willing to challenge your knowledge.
It is also important to never forget the end goal, which is Marketing to improve our client’s brand and help them grow. You should be analytical and logical and enjoy this part of work, but without forgetting why we’re doing this.
Finally, accepting that things change a lot, and that there isn’t a routine is key. You will have to change your processes and way of thinking every 3 months or so, because people are thinking differently, because new technologies come along, because the company itself is growing.
If you are interested in an exciting and rewarding career at Infectious Media, visit our careers page