New DAWN for UK Women Working in Digital Advertising

DAWN (Digital Advertising Women’s Network) launched officially on Wednesday 13, October 2010. The first event sponsored by Microsoft Advertising and attended by over 130 women from digital media/marketing finally came to fruition after 9 months of planning. Founding members include:

Cat Agostinho (OMD), Kelly Jacobson Collins (MSN), Kip Knapman (Propel London), Joanna Lyall (Mindshare), Caroline Mastoras (Microsoft Advertising), Nickie Smith (Microsoft Advertising) and Nikki Wilkinson (M2M).

On May 5, 2010, DAWN’s destiny was confirmed when digital agency i-Level went into administration and DAWN founders worked together using their combined networks to help some people affected by the fallout to find new roles at other media companies.

As founding member, Joanna Lyall, so eloquently wrote in her own blog:

“DAWN will be many things, but most importantly, it will create a connection between like-minded people in the digital media industry, this connection can be felt in the real world at events but can also be experienced everyday through technology.”

DAWN aims to be the sister group to DAN (Digital Advertising Network), a group for both men and women in Digital to collaborate and share ideas and foster a sense of community.

Wednesday’s inaugural event was all about Connections and Networking. We had four wonderful speakers who all shared their experiences and ideas for how to go further as a women working in media.

Sonia Sudhaker – Head of Online Marketing – Virgin Media

Sonia originally started in marketing 15 years ago in Direct Marketing (DM). She took the principles and disciplines from her DM roles and applied them to Digital. How did she come to work for Virgin Media? She had a big passion for wanting to work with Richard Branson and liked the ethos of the company. She interviewed for 7 different roles across the various Virgin brands before landing a great role at Virgin Media.

Sonia’s top tips…

· Women don’t brag as much as men; sometimes bragging is good.  Never be afraid to ask a silly question. Have the confidence to speak up; if you don’t ask, you don’t get!

· Don't fear technology - making friends with the tech team can be really helpful. Be humble and be prepared to listen and you can learn a lot.

· Network – Sonia did not have a single guiding light or mentor, but instead took leads from the team and built her network from there.

Pippa Glucklich – Arena Media – Managing Director

Pippa’s biggest inspiration in her life has been her parents; her mother worked for Equal Opportunities Commission and is a published novelist, and her father was a Czechoslovakian refugee who worked hard to bring up the family.

Pippa is married, a mother of two boys, and has also worked in marketing for 20 years. She currently works for Arena Media (recently acquired by Havas Media) which has an annual turnover of £150m+.

Pippa is the only female director in quite an ‘alpha male’ environment. Pippa has thrived on the extra challenges that her role has thrown at her over the years, such as learning to run a business and also to sell one (she worked on the deal when Arena was acquired by Havas).

She readily admits that her career has delighted and terrified her in equal measures. She finds that team work, trust and the help of others have been essential to her success.

Pippa’s Top Tips….

· Build your own personal brand, networking, the more you put in the more you get out.

· Try and plan your career as much as you can. Men spend 70% planning, 30% on day-to-day. Little boys always play competitive team games. Girls: You never win playing dolls!

· Embrace your imposter syndrome – don’t let you inner Geraldine tell you that you’re not worthy. Build your confidence and put away negative thoughts.

· Get a mentor! Get along to NABS speed mentoring event in December

· Never wear flip-flops to work (dress for your position), don’t be the first to pour the tea/coffee because it reinforces the female stereotype of ‘being mum’.

· Give something back to the local and global community (Big Society)

Leigh Smyth – Managing Director Race Online 2012

Leigh works with internet entrepreneur Martha-Lane Fox on the RaceOnline2012 project. Leigh’s remit is to enable 9m people in the UK who currently don’t have access to the internet to get online by 2012.

1 in 5 in the UK do not currently have computers or internet, the largest unconnected groups within the population are the elderly and people from low income families. 3m elderly and disabled people a week don’t get any visitors. With the web, they’ll be able to access the services they need and join social groups online.

If the whole of the nation were connected to the web then the benefits to society would be far-reaching and positive. An average family can save £600 pound a year by using web to access essential services and pay bills, kids can improve school grades from extra-curricular learning programs and the UK Government can save £20billon a year in administration and business costs.

Leigh’s personal mantra is to never say no to anything and aim high; but also not to beat yourself up too much if you don’t hit that 110% target. Celebrate all your achievements big and small.

Leigh’s ABCs to the Top…

Attitude and ambition – have a positive mental attitude in everything you do

Bloody mindedness – don’t give up when things get hard or somebody says no, stick at it!

Clever - intelligence pull on experiences and knowledge of others. Think wisdom in crowds

Dedication – trustworthy employee and be on-board with group vision

Enthusiastic – one of Leigh’s first job was looking after Christmas crackers at Superdrug, bring passion to everything you do no matter how small or uninspiring the original task at first might seem.

Nickie Smith – UK Trade Managing Director UK (Microsoft Advertising)

Nickie is a marketing veteran with 23 years of service in the biz, with 15 of them coming from working with some of digital’s biggest brands; IBM, Microsoft, MSN, Hotmail and was employee number 2 at Expedia!

A mother to two young sons under 10, Nickie’s husband has been very supportive of her career and balancing the family’s needs when he became a house husband 10 years ago (he’s now the envy of many working family men!)

Nickie’s current role is at Microsoft where she is the UK Trade Marketing Director for Microsoft Advertising. She believes the older you get, the more you depend on the network you build. Be bold and brave. Take challenging projects as gifts, (Nickie’s was launching Hotmail!), and make that your turning point.

Nickie’s Top Tips…

· Be prepared to zig/zag – take risks, step out of your comfort zone and look for stretch goals.

· Value what you do - know your talent, know your worth.

· Realise your one main skill and build upon it. Nickie’s personal one is orchestration. She feels she is able to deliver clarity, build a team and give direction and leadership.

In summary, I would say the first DAWN was a lot of fun, very inspiring and motivational. The volume of chatter and general energy during the networking drinks and nibbles afterwards was incredible!

To see the official DAWN pictures or learn more about up-and-coming DAWN events then please join the DAWN Facebook Group.

Cheers,

Kate

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