Mobile women to watch for 2013

Mobile Women to Watch 2013

Mobile MarketerTHE NEWS LEADER IN MOBILE MARKETING, MEDIA AND COMMERCEwww.MobileMarketer.com

Classic Guide

A CLASSIC GUIDEDecember 2012

$495TM

CONTENTS

PAGE

3 Welcome Mickey Alam Khan

4 Julie Ask Forrester Research

5 Anne Bezancon Placecast

6 Serena Ehrlich Mogreet

7 Linda Gluszack Verve Mobile

8 Jesse Haines Google

9 JiYoung Kim Ansible

10 Sharon Knitter Cars.com

11 Christina Koshzow Branding Brand

12 Alia Lamborghini Millennial Media

13 Kathy Leake LocalResponse

14 Sara MacQueen BigFish Media

15 Johnna Marcus Sephora

PAGE

16 Lisa Mitnick Accenture Mobility

17 Marie Ng Millward Brown

18 Lisa Peterson Neustar

19 Jill Renslow Mall of America

20 Janet Roberts Syniverse

21 Marla Schimke Zumobi

22 Kim Siler Coca-Cola

23 Mollie Spilman Millennial Media

24 Catherine Tabor Sparkfly

25 Michele Tobin Rovio Entertainment

26 Amy Vale Mojiva

27 Sienne Veit Morrisons

28 Jade Watts mediahub/Mullen

Mobile Marketer MOBILE WOMEN TO WATCH 2013PAGE 2


Mobile Marketer covers news and analysis of mobile marketing, media and commerce. The Napean franchise comprises Mobile Marketer, MobileMarketer.com, the Mobile Marketer Daily news-letter, MobileMarketingDaily.com, MobileCommerceDaily.com, MCommerceDaily.com, Mobile Commerce Daily, the Mobile Commerce Daily newsletter, MobileNewsLeader.com, Classic Guides, webinars, Mobile FirstLook, the Mobile Marketing Summit and the Mcommerce Summit and awards. ©2012 Napean LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced

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Mickey Alam KhanEditor in [email protected]

Kristina MayneContent [email protected]

Lauren JohnsonAssociate [email protected]

Rimma KatsAssociate [email protected]

Jodie SolomonDirector, Ad [email protected]

Welcome

Chantal TodeAssociate [email protected]

obile Marketer’s Mobile Women to Watch 2013 list celebrates the smart women who are expected to make a difference in mobile advertising, marketing, media and commerce in 2013.

Like their peers from last year, those who made the cut this time shared the same qualities: dedication to craft, ambition, leadership potential and educator. And like previous years’ candidates, they are aware of being role models as mobile evolves to become an attractive career-building option for talented women.

“The challenge is retaining and advancing women to leadership positions,” said Jesse Haines, New York-based global head of mo-bile ads marketing at Google.

This is the fourth annual Mobile Women to Watch honor.

In good companyThe 25 women on the list represent marketers, retailers and brands such as Sephora, Morrisons, Rovio Entertainment, Coca-Cola, Mall of America, Cars.com and Google.

Also on the list are executives from agencies, market research-ers and mobile service providers such as Forrester Research, Placecast, Mogreet, Verve Mobile, Ansible, Branding Brand, Mil-lennial Media, LocalResponse, BigFish Media, Accenture Mobil-ity, Millward Brown, Neustar, Syniverse, Zumobi, Sparkfly, Mojiva and mediahub/Mullen.

To them, mobile is not simply a technology, retail channel or a marketing discipline.

“It is much more about the time, place and screen size than about mobile,” said Sharon Knitter, senior director of mobile for Cars.com, Chicago.

Drawing the linePicking the 25 smartest women with potential was not easy. Mo-bile Marketer invited readers to send in their nominations. The

Mobile Marketer team also had its own table of candidates.

Once the deadline expired, the Mobile Marketer team judged the nominees on their merits and whittled the list to those who showed the most promise to push the mobile envelope in 2013.

The list’s responses to questions confirm their choice. Not only were they enthusiastic about opportunities, but they were realistic about the challenges of including mobile in the multichannel mix.

As Syniverse chief marketing officer Janet Roberts puts it, “The mobile experience is relentlessly migrating to a market-of-one experience.”

MANY THANKS to Kristina Mayne for her art direction on this Classic Guide.

Thank you also to Chantal Tode, Rimma Kats, Lauren John-son and Jodie Solomon for their nominations and judging. All judging was based purely on merit and potential to make a difference.

Please read this guide cover to cover. These Mobile Women to Watch are set to distinguish themselves even further in 2013, no doubt realizing that mobile advertising, marketing, media and commerce’s ultimate job is to move product.

“We want to use the phone in one hand,” said Coca-Cola’s Kim Siler, “to put a Coke in the other.”

Mickey Alam KhanEditor in [email protected]

M

Julie AskVice president and principal analystForrester ResearchSan Francisco

“Too much of mobile today is a scaled-down version of a PC experience”

What do you most like about your job?It is always interesting because it is al-ways new. Being an analyst and doing research gives me the luxury of looking forward three to five years, not something most professionals get to do.

Finally, it allows me to combine my elec-trical engineering and business back-grounds. Mobile commerce and market-ing sit at the intersection of technology and business.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?Getting our clients do what is right for their business over the long term and steer clear of the hype that surrounds mobile and tablets. Everyone needs a strategy to help guide planning and re-source prioritization over the next few years. There is so much focus on front-end development work.

Using mobile technology is not hard. Un-derstanding how mobile changes the rules of your business is. Working with your internal IT team to put the infrastructure in place that you need to support mobile three to four years out is hard.

My toughest challenge is helping our clients create longer-term strate-

gies and understand how it impacts their business.

What is your work priority for 2013?Thinking mobile first tops the list. Too much of mobile today is a scaled-down version of a PC experience. Second, help-ing our clients put organizations, gover-nance and structure in place to enable the broader use of mobile throughout their organizations.

The ability to prioritize initiatives and staff are two of the toughest challenges our clients face. I also need to help them understand the very distinct roles that mobile and tablets will play.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?Tough question. Very few women pur-sue careers in technology. As mobile marketing becomes more mainstream, mobile marketing professionals will not need a technology background – so-lutions will allow them to focus on the campaigns and media and less on the implementation.

Also, as the spend on mobile market-ing increases, it will attract more talent. Larger budgets will translate into higher-level positions.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?Graduating from MIT with my BSEE and MSEE. In the late ‘80s, my thesis work at COMSAT centered on microwave circuit design, so I worked on mobile back when it was satellite communications and not cellular. That is the toughest thing I have done in mobile, broadly.

After my MBA, I worked in management consulting and had the opportunity to evaluate the business side of telecommu-nications.

Now I help business professionals un-derstand the opportunities mobile tech-nology offers to help them engage with consumers. I love it. There are so few jobs that would allow me to use my broad set of experiences.

PAGE 4 Mobile Marketer MOBILE WOMEN TO WATCH 2013


Anne BezanconPresidentPlacecastSan Francisco

“The phone is an extension of ourselves, our interface with the digital universe, and unlike any digital media as we know it”

What do you most like about your job?The intensity. I love building Placecast through creativity, innovation and com-munication on a daily basis. Whether we work on releasing programs for our cli-ents, designing new products or negotiat-ing strategic partnerships that will impact millions of consumers, the constant driver of our success is our dedication to doing things the best we can and as quickly as possible for our clients.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?Time. There is so much opportunity ahead and our clients see it as much as we do. Our unique position in the mobile market-ing space is a magnet for so many inter-esting inquiries and we cannot grow fast enough to satisfy all of them.

What is your work priority for 2013?Leadership. Placecast must continue to lead the market toward what we believe is a fundamental shift in addressing what consumers want through their mobile de-vice.

All of the players in our ecosystem now understand the importance of contextual personalization in the real world.

Mobile interaction is different than any-

thing we have known before, because the phone is an extension of ourselves, our in-terface with the digital universe, and un-like any digital media as we know it.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?Demystifying technology. The past few years have seen many experiments – a lot of noise in a nascent market. Normaliza-tion around successful concepts and ef-fective tools is emerging.

Much like with online advertising in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the mobile marketing space is growing out of its tech-focused infancy and corollary trials and tribulations into a real business by solving real problems and bringing more value to both advertisers and consumers.

Women over-index spend by a large mar-gin. They have more hands-on experience being on the receiving end of marketing campaigns and will prove better at under-standing, communicating and managing mobile marketing initiatives that are much closer to our experience of life as human beings than the somewhat contrived PC-Web universe we have been confined to for the past 20 years.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?

Making every single interaction between our clients and their consumers useful, valuable and simple. And getting my first patent granted, too.


Serena EhrlichDirector of marketingMogreetVenice, CA

“I am bringing sexy back to MMS text message marketing”

What do you most like about your job?I love the adventure of it all.

I am relatively new to the mobile space. For the last six years, I have worked in so-cial media marketing, designing programs to activate consumers across emerging platforms, including mobile. When the opportunity arose to focus solely on it, I jumped at the chance.

To me, the mobile industry is the Wild West. We are in the middle of a revo-lution as new technology adoption – smartphones, tablets, app marketplace – changes consumer behavior and disrupts traditional marketing programs. And it is just the beginning.

As the purchase cycle for today’s con-sumer evolves, brands must create cus-tomer-focused engagement opportuni-ties, providing points of contact using the technology the customer prefers – their mobile devices.

At Mogreet, that is exactly what I get to do every day: show marketers how to en-gage key audiences through rich media text messaging. I love it.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?

My challenge is simple: finding the best way to present Mogreet products’ value propositions within our target audi-ences to ensure our phones never, ever, stop ringing.

What is your work priority for 2013?In 2013, I am bringing sexy back to MMS text message marketing.

Much of the mobile marketing world is still focused on trying new tools – most of which are neither innate nor ubiquitous to the end user. My goal is to remind marketers about the power of multimedia-enabled text messaging. Not only does it drive higher ROI, it is also ubiquitous and, thanks to great photo and video tools built into today’s phones, a na-tive behavior of almost all mobile users.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?Despite this currently being a male-dominated industry, more women are moving into mobile as the industry con-tinues to grow in size and visibility. New positions and faster growth opportuni-ties, coupled with strong evangelism by today’s female mobile leaders are bringing more women with tradition-al, online or digital backgrounds into the space.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?We accomplished a lot this year. If I have to pick one greatest achievement, it was the launch of the Mogreet Developer Platform. This was my first project at Mo-greet that I was a part of from conception through launch and now to a fully active developer program.

If I got to name two achievements, I would say the second is converting my so-cial media following into believers of the real power, opportunity and ROI potential of mobile marketing.


Linda GluszakVice president of east coastVerve MobileNew York

“The biggest challenge is the competition”

What do you love most about your job?I love that every day is different, as mobile is continuously evolving.

The marketplace pushes mobile vendors to come up with new solutions to meet the changing consumer landscape.

I am fortunate to be a part of an organi-zation that is constantly coming up with new products that are based on market feedback, which will in turn change the way brands use mobile as a part of their media mix.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?The biggest challenge is the competition.

Six years ago, there were about six major players. Today, there are over 30 compa-nies, all claiming to offer the same things.

Fortunately, here at Verve we have differ-entiated ourselves based on our location-based advertising platform and unique user base, which makes my job easier.

What is your work priority for 2013?My work priority for 2013 is continuing to build Verve’s East Coast team.

Verve has been in hyper-growth mode

since I joined back in June 2011, and there is no sign of that abating. We have nearly tripled since I started.

What will it take to attract more women in mobile?Organizations such as Women in Wireless have been instrumental in attracting new women into the mobile field.

I am always amazed after attending one of the events at the size of the turnout – attendance has just exploded compared to three years ago.

I am also a big fan of networking with everybody and anybody to evangelize and recruit more women into mobile.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?I am very proud to have been a part of three great mobile startups over the last six years, including Enpocket, Greystripe and now Verve.

I have thoroughly enjoyed helping all of these organizations grow successful busi-nesses from the ground up, especially, at a time when mobile was still in its infancy stage. It has been a great run.


Jesse HainesGlobal head of mobile ads marketingGoogleNew York

“The challenge is retaining and advancing women to leadership positions”

What do you most like about your job?Mobile has changed the way that people shop and stay connected, and advertisers in many ways have had to rethink the way that they market to customers.

Many businesses are overwhelmed by the thought of tackling mobile, but one thing I love about my job is being able to show them how powerful mobile can be for their business and that it is not as hard as it may seem.

It is exciting to see more and more busi-nesses, big and small, that are making mobile work and forging meaningful connections with their customers in the mobile space.

What is the biggest challenge in your job? The thing that is most challenging and ex-citing is the incredible velocity with which the mobile industry is moving.

Technology and consumer behavior is constantly changing, and helping market-ers make sense of it all is a continually evolving challenge.

What is your work priority for 2013?Over the years, the focus of my mobile ads marketing team has evolved. In 2011, our

message to marketers centered around why mobile is important. This year the dis-cussion focused on how to build a mobile strategy.

In 2013, our priority will be encouraging advertisers to maximize mobile. Part of that is helping businesses recognize all the new paths to purchase that mobile advertising opens.

Until we, as marketers, start to assign value to the mobile-led conversions that happen on phone calls, in a store, or on another device, we will not understand the full value of mobile. I want to en-courage and help advertisers to see the bigger picture.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?The mobile space is exciting, dynamic and critical to the future of marketing as whole. I am thrilled to see lots of young women and men getting involved in mo-bile marketing. The challenge is retaining and advancing women to leadership posi-tions.

There are lots of ways to do this. One that is very important to me is to “lift as you climb.” This is about helping other women and creating stronger networks.

I have had amazing mentors throughout my career and believe that it is critical to pay it forward.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?The first step towards a successful mobile strategy is to have a mobile-friendly pres-ence on Web.

GoMo is a global initiative that my team and I developed to help businesses of all sizes create mobile Web sites, and since launching we have helped hundreds of thousands of businesses go mobile. I am especially proud of the work we have done bringing GoMo to small businesses.

Helping salons, restaurants, and even doggy daycares set up mobile Web sites and then hearing the stories of the posi-tive impact on sales and store traffic is very gratifying.


JiYoung KimSenior vice president of creative and new solutionsAnsibleNew York

“When you have been immersed in mobile since infancy, it is dangerous to confuse experience with knowledge”

What do you most like about your job?I feel incredibly privileged to be in a po-sition where I make my living by getting to spend time with some of the smart-est and most ambitious mobile minds within brands, technology innovators and agencies.

My career has been dedicated to mobile for over 12 years now, but I feel every day has been a learning opportunity.

In the last year, my role at Ansible has been focused on pushing into new areas of services and technologies, where suc-cess is essentially dependent on learning and applying emerging opportunities fast-er than others. I could not have dreamed up a better-suited role for myself if I tried.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?The pace of change in any new media field is incredibly exhilarating, but relentlessly grueling. When you have been immersed in mobile since infancy, it is dangerous to confuse experience with knowledge.

If deep roots in fundamentals such as hu-man insights and marketing principles are the essential ingredients to good mobile marketing, then the special sauce that spurs great ideas is the constant humil-

ity that inspires new ways of looking at the classics.

What is your work priority for 2013?My greatest priority is continuing to evan-gelize for mobile, and graduate it from its own corner.

Mobile is forcing every other screen to change too, and for every moment to be-come digital.

For example, approaching mobile as a sub-set of digital, or a subset of anything for that matter, does not acknowledge how mobile devices have irrevocably changed the way we watch television and shop, or the fact that there are more smart-phones and tablets than laptops in the United States.

The biggest priority for us at Ansible is to demonstrate when and how mobile-led strategies create new business value ver-sus incremental enhancements.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?As an industry – and particularly at An-sible, I am proud to say – we are doing a good job attracting a diverse group of tal-ent. I have seen more women rise in their mobile careers recently from every angle

including creative, engineering and strat-egy. This has certainly been the case here at Ansible, where women outnumber men at the moment.

Personally, I believe placing greater value on good old hard work and tenacity has been the key for Ansible to attract not only bright women, but also better talent across the board.

Your proudest achievement in mobile? I cannot pretend winning a Cannes Lion this year for our Intel work was not amaz-ing – it was – but the reality is that agen-cies like Ansible are entrusted with our clients’ hard-earned money to deliver business results.

Every client relationship we have once started as a single test project, and has since grown into a strategic conversation about their business, as a whole.

Each time we have earned a seat at that table, whether it is about cars, PCs, healthcare, software or finances, it makes me feel like I must be doing something right.


Sharon KnitterSenior director of mobileCars.comChicago

“It is much more about the time, place and screen size than about mobile”

What do you like most about your job? The most intriguing part of the emerg-ing mobile marketplace is trying to un-derstand how consumer behavior will change. How consumers use mobile has fundamentally changed entire organiza-tions and mandates us to reimagine value propositions, business models and prod-ucts. And it keeps evolving, making it a very exciting time to be at the forefront of mobile.

What is the biggest challenge of your job?Getting a clear picture of how our auto shoppers use multiple devices and under-standing their cross-platform behavior.

As the use of mobile devices become ubiq-uitous among consumers, there is no lon-ger a discreet segment of mobile users.

It is much more about the time, place and screen size than about mobile. How do all of these platforms work to-gether for consumers and how can we use that knowledge to help improve the car-buying experience for consumers and dealers.

What is your work priority of 2013?We have three main priorities for mobile for 2013.

First, we need to continue to improve our measurement and evolve our key perfor-mance indicators.

Second, understand the cross-device us-age of our consumers.

Lastly, we need to develop more seamless integration between our desktop and mo-bile products.

Each of these goals is multilayered and in-volves a variety of products and divisions within the company. We need to make sure that we are making progress on all of these fronts and continually moving toward a full understanding of consumers and a full integration of products.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?I do not think that mobile marketing is re-ally very different from any other type of marketing. Great opportunities and open environments are always the best way to attract bright candidates to an industry.

Perhaps seven to 10 years ago, mobile was seen as more of a technological industry, and those industries tend to be more male than female.

As we see mobile continue to grow, the

opportunities for women and the attrac-tiveness of these opportunities to women will also grow.

What is your proudest achievement in mobile?I am proud that we have continued to evolve and be at the forefront in mobile since 2007. A successful mobile strategy has to take a long-term approach and continue to change and develop as devices and consumers embrace the technology.

Being able to inspire and encourage in-vestments in mobile and to see these in-vestments readily adopted in the market-place is very satisfying. And the fact that it is paying off in audience expansion and in our value proposition is terrific.


Christina KoshzowCofounderBranding BrandPittsburgh

“Mobile is no longer a pet project for brands”

What do you most like about your job?Changing the way people shop. Going to a mall and seeing our clients everywhere.

The humbling, terrifying and exciting feel-ing that comes with looking around the office and realizing that all of these ri-diculously creative and smart people are here because they believe in something you helped create.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?Remembering names. I am terrible at it.

We hired over 60 people in the last few months and, for a while, every time I re-turned from a trip, the office looked dif-ferent.

We are constantly growing, changing seating arrangements, and knocking down walls. This place is a living, moving, work in progress.

What is your work priority for 2013?All eyes are on us in 2013.

Mobile is no longer a pet project for brands. When done right, it produces real dollars and better experiences.

Branding Brand has never lost a client,

and I want to make sure it stays that way.

Our culture, passion and expertise has to translate into every aspect of our business.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?Mobile changed the rules. The more wom-en, and smart people in general, that re-alize that this is uncharted territory, the better.

We have a chance to be pioneers in a space that will forever change our expec-tations and interactions.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?Sept. 5, 2009: launching our first mobile site, Dick’s Sporting Goods, on the Cowboy Stadium jumbotron.

That day, we became a mobile company.


Alia LamborghiniVice president of salesMillennial MediaAtlanta

“I like to work with advertisers to look at their business through a mobile lens”

What do you most like about your job?Two words: frenetic pace. There is so much room to innovate in mobile. Nothing is ever the same from one day to the next.

Consumers are literally waiting on the advertisers to catch up with them – it is a pretty unique position to be in. I work with such a smart crew at Millennial. All true mobile geniuses. It is fun to be surrounded and encouraged by people like that.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?I love the dynamic environment of mo-bile advertising, but it is a challenge, too. Keeping up with the rapidly chang-ing consumer technology – software and hardware – is crucial to staying relevant.

What is your work priority for 2013?2013 is going to be the year that I will be able to explain to my parents precisely what I do for a living. And they are go-ing to get it too, because they are now officially up-and-running with multiple devices and they are using all the popular apps we work with at Millennial.

My work priority is to constantly push the limits for what is possible in mobile marketing, and provide a better advertis-

ing platform for our clients at Millennial, with richer and more engaging creative and stronger backend analytics and data.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?The speed with which we are moving in the mobile industry is a great leveling fac-tor that transcends gender.

There is no old boys’ club, because the en-tire industry is still fairly young.

As word gets out about how big the pos-sibilities are in mobile marketing, we will see more women attracted to the space.

Your proudest achievement in mobile? My proudest achievements in mobile hap-pen every time I can help change an ad-vertiser’s way of thinking.

I like to work with advertisers to look at their business through a mobile lens.

Mobile is different from online display – we are using the medium differently. We interact with our devices very differently than we do with our computers, we snug-gle next to them at night.

Mobile is first in the eyes of the consum-ers, so when I can help an advertiser un-

derstand how inherently personal mobile is and they then build an experience or an ad campaign for that level of personal in-teraction, then I am most proud.


Kathy LeakePresident and cofounderLocalResponseNew York

“There is nothing tougher than taking something that is just an idea in a PowerPoint and turning it into a real business”

What do you most like about your job?The ability to innovate in a growing field.

I get a lot of satisfaction from inventing new methods of targeting and putting them on the map in the ad ecosystem.

Also, taking a company from ideation stage and turning it into a revenue-gener-ating business is really rewarding for me. What is the biggest challenge in your job?All of the above. There is nothing tougher than taking something that is just an idea in a PowerPoint and turning it into a real business. Creating demand for something that never existed before, in the ad indus-try, is a nearly impossible task. Since this is my second time doing that, I guess I am a masochist. What is your work priority for 2013?Taking the company to the next level. We need to continue our trajectory aggres-sively in 2013. And by that I mean, at a minimum, doubling revenue and demand What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?This probably applies to both women and men, but seeing mobile ad spend increase in alignment with consumer adoption and

usage will attract more to our field. Once this happens, it will truly be a greenfield opportunity for everyone.

There is also an opportunity for women to snag new jobs at a Fortune 500 brand, as the creation of the head of mobile posi-tion is on the rise. Your proudest achievement in mobile?The fact that Local Response has been able to help marketers capitalize on real time intent-based data, helping them reach consumers at the point of decision on their mobile phone. It is a huge and growing opportunity for marketers.


Sara MacQueenFounderBigFish MediaSaint John, New Brunswick, Canada

“I consider mobile marketing to be more about marketing and customer experience than technology”

What do you like most about your job?So many things. As a marketing and cus-tomer experience consultant I am able to work directly with my clients, solve problems, be creative and see the results we achieve.

There is a lot of variety involved in what I do. Helping people achieve their desired outcomes is incredibly rewarding. What is the biggest challenge in your job?As a consultant my job is broad, but with respect to mobile the biggest challenge is education.

When considering mobile consumers as part of an overall marketing strategy it can be a challenge to get the decision makers to the point of yes.

Mobile is sometimes misunderstood and tagged as unproven. In Atlantic Canada I have also noticed a tendency to underes-timate consumer demand. The education point is that many com-panies and brands are proving mobile to be an important aspect of their market-ing strategy, and consumer demand is very high. I share these stories, stats and news articles any chance I have.

What is your work priority for 2013?Connecting with more companies that need help creating a marketing or cus-tomer experience strategy, and measuring their results. Staying on top of my indus-try is always important.

The more I know, the more I can share and help.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?Mobile marketing tends to get lumped into the technology category, which hap-pens to be an industry that attracts more men than women.

The truth is, unless you are a developer, I consider mobile marketing to be more about marketing and customer experience than technology. We either need to focus on the diverse opportunities under the mobile umbrella, or ask “How can we get more women into technology?”

Your proudest achievement in mobile?Being invited into meetings with national companies that want mobile on the table, but are not sure where to start or what it would mean for them.

I love the role as an educator and the opportunity to help companies explore new territory. Being chosen as one of the 25 Mobile Women to Watch is a very proud moment.

This publication shines a spotlight on the industry and the work we all do. Thank you.


Johnna MarcusDirector for mobile and digital store marketingSephoraSan Francisco

“This is still the Wild West of mobile commerce”

What do you most like about your job?One of the things that I like most about my job is the fact that mobile is moving so quickly and no one has it all figured out yet. However mobile cannot just be the place for new, cool stuff – it has to be a cohesive part of the customer experience.

In my job, what I love most is marrying the fast-moving technical capabilities of mobile with Sephora’s cross-channel marketing capabilities and our customers’ needs. The result is that our customers use mobile for shopping, but also as an as-sistant in store. For example, a customer might go to m.sephora.com to quickly re-order her favorite mascara. She might use Sephora to Go for iPhone in-store to scan a product to research ingredients and to read ratings and reviews. Furthermore, she may reference her past purchas-es to recall what shade of foundation she prefers.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?My biggest challenge is one of the things that I also love about mobile – it moves so fast. It is critical for me to spend time talking to Sephora customers and employ-ees, researching trends and technology capabilities and then trying to make the best bets on what to do next.

This is still the Wild West of mobile com-merce. There are big unknowns that we re-tailers, consumers and mobile developers are all going to figure out together: mo-bile Web versus apps, mobile and cloud-based payments, device form factors and usage scenarios and showrooming versus mobile as a loyalty-driver in stores.

What is your work priority for 2013?Sephora’s priority for 2013 is to continue to evolve our mobile capabilities to en-hance our client experience, including ar-eas like Passbook, mobile gifts, our apps and more. It is going to be a great year for mobile innovation at Sephora.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?Women have always been early adopters of technology, especially when it is social and relevant to their everyday lives. And mobile is often the primary tool that she uses to engage with social media, engage with brands and shop online, and to man-age her day.

Sephora’s iPhone and iPad apps have more than 2.5 million downloads and over 50 percent of emails are opened on mobile devices. More than 300,000 Beauty Insid-ers have added their card to Passbook in just two months.

On Facebook, Sephora has 4.4 million fans who engage with Sephora to get the lat-est trends, product information and fan-exclusives such as “Fan Friday” exclusives. In April, we were early adopters of Pin-terest with “Pin It” buttons on all product pages and actively-curated boards. This holiday we launched the ultimate wish list. Users pin their favorite items and the winner actually gets what is on their list.

I believe this wide-scale adoption of mo-bile makes mobile marketing relevant for all marketers and the mobile im-pacts should be considered as part of all marketing planning.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?Mobile at Sephora has grown year-over- year. We were the first beauty retailer to launch a mobile site in 2010, followed closely by Sephora to Go for iPhone in the same year. In 2011, we launched an iPad app in conjunction with the iPad 2, maximizing many of the native features of the device to create a unique tablet shopping experience.

Since then our appetite has grown, along with our clients, expanding our Sephora .com functionality, including a full Web site relaunch in April 2012 and launching new platforms such as Pinterest.


Lisa MitnickManaging director Accenture MobilityArlington, VA

“Very often, mobile activities are highly decentralized with no clear decision-making processes, standards or policies“

What do you most like about your job?Working with clients and helping them to use mobile technology to transform their business, whether it be creating new rev-enue streams, improving customer service, increasing workforce productivity or low-ering cost by leveraging the mobile chan-nel, provides me the most satisfaction. For example, I have had the opportunity to work on mobile sales force enablement engagements with life sciences compa-nies to help them significantly improve sales productivity and improve their de-tailing process with physicians.

I have also had the opportunity to work with companies to implement new re-mote health monitoring programs to drive improved health outcomes and patient/member engagement. And I have sup-ported government clients roll-out mo-bile workforce management solutions that have improved the productivity of employees through redesigning work pro-cesses and delivering mobile apps that improve activities like collaboration, busi-ness intelligence and human resources functions, as well as field service ac-tivities such as scheduling, dispatch and case management.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?

My biggest challenge is perhaps my biggest opportunity: educating my cli-ents and the market on the tremendous breakthrough potential mobility holds for businesses. While mobility is taking off in many dramatic ways, most com-panies are still at an early stage in their journey and may have a narrow view of mobility.

My job, and that of all mobility lead-ers, is to educate our clients on the art of the possible and help them think be-yond basic mobile enablement. Very often, mobile activities are highly decentralized with no clear decision-making processes, standards or policies. Many organizations are starting to implement mobile device management in response to employee de-mands to bring their own device to work or have built mobile apps that duplicate functionality of their Web portals.

What is your work priority for 2013?To continue educating the market on mo-bility and helping clients implement win-ning solutions that differentiate them in the marketplace to delight their custom-ers and employees. The consumerization of IT is pushing chief marketing officers to adopt user-friendly mobile applications to support access anywhere, anytime, from any device.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?I think having more women’s forums about mobility to share our stories is one way to attract more women to mobility. GSMA, for example, sponsored the “Celebrate Women in Mobile” event in New York last year that I participated in that attracted a wide range of female businesspeople from across corporations and nonprofits, as well as entrepreneurs and students.

We need to be talking about mobile tech-nology in the classroom both at the uni-versity level and at the MBA level. Your profiling of women in mobility will also attract women to the field by highlighting successes and opportunities in this impor-tant technology growth field.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?Making mobility accessible to the busi-ness person looking to transform busi-ness processes, change how they deliver their products and services and create new business models that result in new revenue streams is what excites and mo-tivates me. Therefore, I am proud of the research and leadership I have led here at Accenture to advance the understanding of mobility for lay people.


Marie NgVice president of client solutions and innovation Millward BrownNew York

“Move fast/fail fast, done is better than perfect”

What do you most like about your job?I am a bit of a tech geek. I love that my job, which consists of leading the idea devel-opment, execution and adoption of new mobile research solutions for Millward Brown, enables me to be at the forefront of mobile technology and also pushes me to use that technology in creative ways to better understand consumers and brands.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?The challenge with innovation is remain-ing extremely focused and not being tempted by all the shiny objects. In addi-tion, I generally try to stick to a few guid-ing principles: move fast/fail fast, done is better than perfect, be bold and ensure to connect the dots with existing solutions – building an ecosystem of solutions, not standalone.

Last but not least, leverage other people’s knowledge and expertise. There are always people who are smarter than you.

What is your work priority for 2013?Working together with marketers on ways we can use mobile research to better un-derstand the relationship their consumers have with brands. To do this successfully is to leverage both the intimate nature mo-bile has with consumers – it is with them

at all times, allowing us to capture data in the moment – and the core functional-ity of the device: taking photos, obtaining location-based data.

It is not necessarily about transforming traditional research methodologies into mobile research, it is about diversify-ing the type of insight clients have ac-cess to given the unique benefits mobile can bring.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?When people talk about technology there is often a tendency, among both men and women, to tense up.

There is a fear that it is new and we might not understand it. However it is really just like anything else.

We need to understand the advantage it brings, its limitations and how to apply it in the context of what we are doing.

Regarding mobile, we actually should have a better chance of understanding, as we all have hands-on experience with it.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?I am proud to lead a fantastic team that is developing a new research solution using

a mobile app to capture how consumers experience brands.

Brands invest heavily in positioning, cre-ative campaigns and smart media place-ment, but if the brand experience does not live up to expectations, it can undo all that good in an instant. It is critical to measure the consumer experience.

I am also proud to have owned more than 30 mobile phones to date, and my mobile email signature now reads, “Sent from one of my mobiles.”


Lisa PetersonDirector of mobile solutions and business developmentNeustarSterling, VA

“I have often felt that I have been on a very long roller coaster ride in this space”

What do you most like about your job?What I love about my job is the opportu-nity to have a holistic view of the mobile landscape and the ability to engage with companies that are providing innova-tive, leading-edge solutions. Neustar has a unique position as a trusted, neutral partner to the mobile industry, providing services that enable interoperability, that are absolutely critical to the industry’s in-frastructure. Because of this role, we serve participants across the mobile ecosystem – operators, application providers, cam-paign managers, messaging aggregators, social networks and advertisers, so this really allows me to keep a good pulse on the market movements.

On a more personal note, I guess, it re-ally comes down to the people that I have had a chance to interact with and build relationships with. I know I am a bit bi-ased, but I think this industry must have the smartest, brightest, hardest working, most ambitious and most persistent – a must in this industry – personalities. And, generally, they know how to have a really good time.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?The biggest challenge in my job is making the right bet on where to invest time and

resources – of which there is never enough – when it comes to mobile. Mobile is, of course, very broad and there are many areas where we can leverage our existing capabilities to drive new solutions for the mobile market. So the most difficult part is focusing in on which of these areas we can be the most successful.

While the hockey-stick growth in revenue that mobile is already showing in market-ing and advertising, commerce and apps certainly has our attention, there is also more unpredictability in this area com-pared to other lines of business, so we need to balance that. I have often felt that I have been on a very long roller coast-er ride in this space, but I like the thrill, which is why I am here.

What is your work priority for 2013?As I mentioned, my charter is to bring new solutions related to our commer-cial insights and analytics services to the mobile marketplace that I believe will drive new revenue opportunities for the industry, as a whole. This will help Neus-tar move forward to achieve the promise of mobile to be an unmatched medium for marketing.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?

Actually, judging from recent events, I think there is a growing number of women coming into this space already. Also, associations such as Women In Wireless are doing great at outreach and engaging all of us so we can get to-gether to share ideas, establish new part-nerships with companies and generate new business opportunities.

For many years, my main focus was on GPS, telematics and mobile location-based services. I was one of a handful of women at these events, which early on were dominated by the navigation com-panies, automotive, fleet management, logistics and vehicle-tracking companies. As these capabilities moved to the phones, this opened up new opportunities for lo-cation-based content and applications for consumers, which started to draw in some more women, but for the most part we were pretty outnumbered.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?Well, this honor is not bad. But, aside from this, it is hard to name any one achieve-ment. Looking back to my days at Nextel, when I had the opportunity to pioneer mobile location-based services portfolio and bring game-changing solutions to the mobile phone, like GPS navigation.


Jill RenslowVice president of business development and marketingMall of AmericaBloomington, MN

“My biggest challenge is working in one of America’s largest malls and never having time to shop”

What do you most like about your job?I thoroughly enjoy the talented people within various departments that I work with every day. The innovative minds and dedication our team exhibits makes for an amazing work environment at Mall of America.

I also have the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with hundreds of successful brands in the retail and entertainment in-dustry. Working in business development, I am encouraged to forge unique partner-ships and brand alliances to create inno-vative guest experiences.

With technology at the forefront of con-sumer experiences and with the speed of innovation, we no longer have to wait years for exciting change but have the opportunity to discover new ideas around every corner. It is thrilling to work for an ownership group and marketing organiza-tion that supports creative thinking and innovative teamwork.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?My biggest challenge is working in one of America’s largest malls and never having time to shop.

Honestly, a challenge in my job, as is for

many working moms, is to manage the time with family, staying connected with friends and remaining on top of our ca-reers. Thankfully, mobile devices have connected us 24/7, allowing us to multi-task anytime and anywhere.

Also, it is an ongoing challenge to stay on top of the technology and consumer trends to remain relevant for our custom-ers. As a marketing team, we need to stay focused on our goals and to not be easily swayed by new shiny objects. But when opportunities present themselves and they align with the overall strategic plan, you need to be willing to take risks to stay on top.

What is your work priority for 2013?In 2013, we will continue to develop our communication strategy using multiple digital channels including mobile Web, apps, SMS and social media, in addition to traditional media. We will have specific focus in our entertainment properties, including Nickelodeon Universe amuse-ment park and 14-screen digital movie theatres, to roll-out mobile platforms that deliver custom experiences providing our guests convenience, personalization and sense of community.

As a destination for retail and entertain-

ment, we will continue to add value to the on-site guest experience. We will encour-age our 520-plus retailers to train em-ployees to be more knowledgeable about omni-channel retailing and to engage with tech-savvy customers to manage showrooming to close sales in the store.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?Working in the retail industry, it is obvi-ous that mobile is and will continue to be a major player in researching, buy-ing and interacting with merchandise in store and online. With so many women in retail professions, they will natural-ly have more exposure to the impact of mobile opportunities.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?I am most proud that our team has spent significant time developing a strategic communication roadmap for 2013 with mobile as the primary driving force. Wel-coming over 40 million annual visitors, we are challenged to provide a variety of communication channels delivering guest service to a diverse audience. The person-ality of our brand and immediacy of re-sponse is very important. Our team does a great job staying focused on our plan and what is best for our guests.


Janet RobertsChief marketing officerSyniverseTampa, FL

“The mobile experience is relentlessly migrating to a market-of-one experience”

What do you most like about your job?I love working in a truly global industry where the pace of innovation is unparal-leled and end-user demand is insatiable. The products and services provided and enabled by the mobile ecosystem have fundamentally changed the way people around the world interact with one an-other, conduct business together and en-rich their lives.

What is the biggest challenge in your job? The biggest challenge is keeping a finger on the pulse of mercurial market forces – new market entrants, a rapidly growing ecosystem, disruptive technologies, new regulations and changing end-user de-mands. At Syniverse, we sit in the middle of the mobile ecosystem and it’s our job to eliminate technology barriers, connect what is disparate, simplify complexity, and help our customers mine market intelli-gence to consistently provide a superior end-user experience that is customized to individual needs.

What is your work priority for 2013? While we are strictly a B2B company, we need to better understand end-users’ de-mands around the globe, so we can assist mobile service providers of all shapes and sizes – operators, app providers, Internet

service providers, big brands and every-one else – in providing a consistent, high-quality experience on any mobile device, from any location. The mobile experience is relentlessly migrating to a market-of-one experience through which individual users expect a highly personalized expe-rience where their personal interactions and business transactions are tailored to individual needs.

In 2013, our marketing efforts will cen-ter on communicating to our audiences that the advanced intelligence and loca-tion tools exist today to address millions of markets-of-one, and Syniverse is the company that makes it all possible.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?With increasing levels of always-on con-nectivity driven by new technology and social networking trends, it is difficult to distinguish between traditional and mo-bile marketing – they are increasingly one and the same.

Mobile is a dynamic industry that needs the best and brightest marketing minds. I think young women entering the work-force are looking for opportunities where individuals can make a real impact, where creativity and talent are celebrated, where

a global mindset is required, and where industry growth fosters opportunities for personal growth and advancement. In a nutshell: that is mobile.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?At the time I joined Syniverse six years ago, we were largely focused on provid-ing roaming solutions for North American mobile operators. Today, we have diversi-fied our customer base and serve every form of mobile service provider that has emerged in every corner of the globe with a unique combination of interoperability solutions that include real-time intelli-gence, Wi-Fi, LTE, messaging and roaming.

We have grown to more than 900 custom-ers in 160-plus countries worldwide, re-sulting in more than 100 percent revenue growth in five years (2007 to 2012). This growth was achieved through focus on customer service and carefully curated ac-quisitions, underpinned by a commitment to establishing local operations globally that are led and staffed by local experts.

It has been my privilege to support this transformation through strategies that assess market opportunities, build brand awareness, and support sales to a myriad of new markets and segments.


Marla SchimkeVice president of marketingZumobiSeattle

“Helping advertisers and publishers think beyond the mobile banner is both my biggest challenge and greatest opportunity”

What do you most like about your job? The amazingly talented people across our rapidly growing mobile industry inspire me daily. From the extraordinary Zumobi team to the pioneering brands, agencies and publishers that we partner with, I am honored to be working with the brightest in the business.

Being on the cutting edge of mobile ad-vertising innovation brings exciting op-portunities and new ways to challenge the norm to delight and engage people on mobile.

What is the biggest challenge in your job? Helping advertisers and publishers think beyond the mobile banner is both my biggest challenge and greatest oppor-tunity. For far too long, our industry has been trapped in a standard 320x50 box, but with the rise of rich media and native advertising capabilities, new opportunities are evolving.

Through our Zumobi Brand Integration platform we are showing brands how to build a deeper connection with consum-ers by leveraging the unique capabilities of mobile devices. With ZBi, we are not just thinking outside the box, we are en-couraging people to look inside the box,

shake the box, create entirely new ways to construct the box, and most of all have fun with the box.

What is your work priority for 2013? Evangelizing how brands can leverage the amazing advertising experiences crafted through native ad integration on mobile and connected devices will be a promi-nent focus for me in 2013.

I feel that as an industry, we are just now diving deeper into the real potential of mobile advertising and I believe that in the next year we will begin to see brands evolve from simply executing a mobile strategy to truly optimizing the mobile experience.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing? I feel that educating and mentoring women throughout their careers will be a key factor. Many of our industry lead-ers are drawn to emerging markets, and as the mobile marketplace begins to ma-ture into a mainstream platform, it will be critical to keep talented women engaged through mentorships.

We also need to help the younger, mil-lennial generation understand what mo-bile advertising career options are avail-

able and empower these young women to succeed.

Your proudest achievement in mobile? Launching ZBi was a tremendous experi-ence and seeing it used by American Ex-press to increase consumer engagement really brought our vision to life.

I am grateful to be a part of such an in-credible team that helps brands leverage the mobile platform like never before.

I am also proud to work at a company that supports my values.

Just recently, we worked with the Ameri-can Red Cross to enable some of the first mobile campaigns to benefit Super-storm Sandy relief efforts. It was so im-pressive how quickly the Zumobi team and our partners dropped everything to help those in need. I am thrilled to say that Zumobi has run more than 20 mil-lion relief ads in partnership with our amazing publishers.


Kim SilerMobile brand strategist for global connectionsCoca-ColaAtlanta

“We want to use the phone in one hand to put a Coke in the other”

What do you most like about your job?More than like my job, I love my job. It is a deep passion. At Coke, I have been given the challenge to push the boundaries of what is possible or expected across many functional areas of the business. That means everyday there is something new to learn, a new opportunity to do what I love.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?The biggest challenge is balancing the external and the internal. For consumer experience, the challenge is weaving to-gether a myriad of connection points — many not even on mobile devices — into an authentic and larger story.

Internally, the intersection of the scale of mobile with the scale of Coca-Cola pres-ents its own, but not unexpected, chal-lenges. Getting both right is critical.

What is your work priority for 2013?For 2013, we remain focused on the op-portunities mobile presents to growing Coca-Cola’s business.

Building upon the learning from the 2012 Summer Olympic Games so that FIFA World Cup and 2014 is even better is one example. We will need to make sure we are executing brilliantly on the basics.

In the end, it is simple: we want to use the phone in one hand to put a Coke in the other.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?I have been a minority in this business for over 10 years now and I have to hon-estly ask, what is stopping women from being attracted to mobile marketing? I believe we hold our own destiny and in that the only barrier I see is ourselves. If you want it bad enough, you can do it, man or woman.

I do have a bit of a caveat, though. I could not do what I am going without the un-ending support of my husband and family. I believe they are the ones that have made the ultimate sacrifice.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?Without a doubt being able to say I was the mobile expert on a core team that defined the strategy, managed the de-velopment and ultimately implemented a successful and unique global digital cam-paign for The Coca-Cola Co. and the Lon-don 2012 Olympic Games.

A program that did not just activate a mobile piece but integrated mobile as a foundation into a program that has al-

ready been awarded a Bronze Lion for the mobile strategy at Cannes and three Mo-bile Marketing Association SM2 Smarties, including 2012 Best in Show.

An amazing journey that has given me experience and learnings in areas I would have never dreamed.


Mollie SpilmanExecutive vice president and chief marketing officerMillennial MediaBaltimore, MD

“I see smart, motivated and successful women in mobile every day”

What do you like most about your job?Mobile is the fastest growing and most dynamic market in digital media, and I feel extremely fortunate to have a first-hand view.

Every day, I have an opportunity to learn new things about companies, consumers and technology, and that makes coming to work exciting.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?While mobile has made tremendous strides over the last few years, there is still a need for market education.

Brands and agencies have certainly moved beyond the experimental phase, but there is still a need to continue to help them understand the power of this medium so that they can take advantage of all the opportunities that mobile presents.

What is your work priority for 2013?My top priority is to evangelize and ac-celerate the opportunities that ex-ist for mobile overall, and Millennial Media, specifically.

Millennial Media’s unique view into how various sets of data, most importantly lo-cation, interact is enabling our platform

to deliver new products and insights for advertisers and developers. My job is to make sure that our advertiser, agency and developer partners are aware of what we are bringing to market and how they can leverage our platform to drive their business.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?To be honest, I think that women are already here. I see smart, motivated and successful women in mobile ev-ery day, and I expect that to continue in the future.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?When I came to Millennial Media, one of my immediate priorities was helping the team articulate why our data asset is so critical to powering our mobile audience solutions, and why that is incredibly im-portant to marketers and agencies. Since then, it has been really gratifying to see brands use this uniquely mobile offering to drive results.


Catherine TaborCEO SparkflyAtlanta

“Women helping other women, I think that is a great place to start”

What do you most like about your job?We are solving a very real problem in the marketplace.

Truly understanding the return on in-vestment of marketing and advertising is something that has never been possible. Sparkfly can track the entire ecosystem of an item-specific digital promotion from the moment that promo-tion is clicked all the way through to real-time redemption at the point-of-sale.

The results can then be tracked back to both an individual consumer and the specific marketing channel that was used, such as mobile ads, social media, third-party apps, email and QR codes.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?Convincing retailers that our solu-tion is easy to implement is definitely my biggest challenge. The concept of integration at the physical point of sale has historically been complex. Sparkfly spent years developing a high-ly scalable and secure platform and we have integrated with most of the leading point-of-sale companies. We can now offer an extremely low-impact solution with very short lead times in most cases.

It is also a challenge to get the attention of retailers considering all of the mobile opportunities they are exploring. However once we do get in front of them they are amazed at how simple our platform is to turn on and what it can deliver.

My hope is that they begin to realize that we can enable them to understand the success rates of all their digital programs.

What is your work priority for 2013?Deployment is our number one priority for next year. We have deep partnerships with enterprise point of sale, manufacturer and digital marketing channels and are now laser-focused on rolling out our platform at retailers.

My goal is to have CMOs saying, “We are not going to run any digital promotions unless we can track their return on invest-ment.” That is the capability we bring to the table. It just makes so much sense.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?I think it is already happening. I live in At-lanta and there are a number of women involved in mobile marketing. We are in-cubating another mobile application com-pany here at Sparkfly lead by a woman.

Women helping other women, I think that is a great place to start.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?It has to be our campaign with Coke, Mil-lennial Media and Auntie Anne’s pretzels this past summer.

Sparkfly proved, for the first time, that an item-specific mobile advertisement could be tracked in real-time through a mer-chant point of sale and attributed back to an individual consumer and a specific advertising channel. The setup and activa-tion was quick and easy, and the program ran flawlessly.

Oh, and we got some great coverage in Mobile Marketer.


Michele TobinHead of advertising for North AmericaRovio Entertainment Santa Monica, CA

“Anyone who knows me knows that I am the biggest customer advocate around”

What do you most like about your job?I work at a well-known global brand, with a world-class team. Rovio is a trailblazer in the world of mobile entertainment, and I love that I am able to help define and execute the advertising strategy for one of the fastest-growing entertainment brands in the world.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?We have a massive, highly-engaged audi-ence across connected devices globally, as our Angry Birds and Bad Piggies games are dominant across the app stores.

In addition to this incredible penetration, we have a schedule of new launches and updates planned for this year, including a new animated series.

I need to ensure we are clearly articulat-ing the reach and engagement opportu-nities with the right brands, in a timely manner. It is a great challenge to have.

What is your work priority for 2013?My priority for 2013 is to continue to build an exceptional, industry-leading di-rect sales force for Rovio in North Amer-ica, and to develop even more innovative ad products to offer to our client partners.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?In the over 10 years I have been work-ing in mobile, I have seen a huge increase in the number of women coming into the industry.

There are a number of talented, dynamic women in mobile now that serve as great role models to younger women looking to make a career in this industry.

Continued outreach by these senior wom-en, and men, in this industry to the bright rising stars is critical.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?Anyone who knows me knows that I am the biggest customer advocate around.

I demand excellence for my clients and I am thrilled to be at Rovio, which ensures that the consumer and brand experiences are symbiotic.

This mutually beneficial relationship un-derscores that mobile advertising and positive consumer experiences do not have to be mutually exclusive.


Amy ValeVice president of global research and strategic communications

MojivaNew York

“Brands and agencies need proof points to justify spending money in mobile”

What do you most like about your job? I love the diversity of my role. My day-to-day activities can range from developing industry initiatives with our trade organi-zations, to brainstorming marketing ideas with my team, to delivering a presenta-tion to a group of publishers or advertis-ers, to writing a policy for internal com-munications, to art directing a print ad, to researching the end-user perceptions of mobile advertising or developing strate-gies for clients. The variation in my role on any given day is what keeps me coming back for more. What is the biggest challenge in your job? I would say the speed in which the mobile industry evolves can be a challenge, sim-ply from a planning and strategy perspec-tive. However, in saying that, I also see that as a positive. Being nimble and re-sponsive to change is just as important to me as having a strong strategy with which to go to market. The speed at which things evolve and change is exciting because the opportunity is almost unlimited. What is your work priority for 2013? Education. Brands and agencies need proof points to justify spending money in mobile. Unfortunately, unless they actu-ally spend the money to get the results, it

is going to be tricky for partners to supply that proof.

My efforts in 2013 will be focused on pro-viding as much data as possible to fuel brand and agency spend from an end-user perspective, instead of simply from a cam-paign-related one.

I will also spend time helping brands and agencies connect the dots when it comes to layering mobile onto all of the other media channels they purchase, looking at how mobile can play an integral role in leveraging an online, TV or radio buy be-yond the 720x90 leaderboard or 30-sec-ond spot. What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing? I think more of the women who are cur-rently in mobile could be more vocal about the work that they are doing. There are some incredibly smart women in this industry who are moving the space for-ward, many of whom I am very fortunate to work with on a day-to-day basis.

Joining mobile-focused groups, such as Women in Wireless, where you can voice opinions on the industry, or here in New York City by being a part of AWNY (Adver-tising Women of New York), and bringing

mobile to the broader conversation is key. Starting a blog or tweeting about opinions in the industry is also important to attract more women to mobile marketing. Your proudest achievement in mobile? Being recognized as a Woman to Watch is a very proud mobile moment for me. Being recognized by my peers is something that continuously pushes me to do better work and always keep ahead of the curve.

Aside from that, I would say developing research programs and workshops for Mojiva that have helped many agencies, brands and publishers understand how a consumer views mobile advertising has been a big accomplishment.

I strongly believe that data and educa-tion is providing more clarity in mobile and why it is such an essential part of the marketing mix. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to produce these types of programs without the support of my CEO, Dave Gwozdz, or the help of my team who come to work every day willing and able to move mountains in order to make these big ideas a reality.


Sienne VeitHead of mobileMorrisonsPeterborough, England, Britain

“Mobile will be the glue between our online and offline channels”

What do you most like about your job?Morrisons presents a great opportunity to develop mobile as part of a truly multi-channel retail experience from the start with a commitment to providing custom-ers the opportunity to shop when they want, how they want, where they want and to move seamlessly from channel to channel or device to device.

We have recruited a great team of people who are experts in their fields, all work-ing to build the best technical foundation capable of delivering great customer ex-periences on Web, mobile and in stores. What supports our technical foundation is that Morrisons is the only retailer in the U.K. which directly owns its entire supply chain, from field to fork.

This means we have more visibility and data about the provenance of each and every product we sell than most other re-tailers, which is a real asset when creating great shopping experiences for customers who really care about fresh ingredients and great value.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?Delivering a great multichannel experi-ence on mobile that is also beautiful and easy to use is an enormous challenge. I

am passionate about providing customer journeys that are fast and functional, but that also make shopping delightful.

Mobile devices are the key tools in the lives of busy mums and dads, but they are also much loved devices that pro-vide the opportunity to create a personal connection with those customers on the device that is always with them and al-ways on. The challenge of combining bril-liant technology and great design is one I really relish.

What is your work priority for 2013?My priority for 2013 is to deliver the foun-dation mobile technology and customer experience to grow Morrisons’ online shopping presence and to do so in a way that offers future flexibility and a great customer experience. Mobile will be the glue between our on-line and offline channels and is the perfect tool to help drive forward a single view of our customers so we can communicate with them more effectively and offer them great value every day. We are also looking at how we can incorporate mobile pay-ments and wallets to provide our custom-ers with new ways to shop on the go.

What will it take to attract more women

to mobile marketing?I have found that there are many women in the creative side of mobile marketing, but hardly any within mobile develop-ment. I think we need to address this and actively train and recruit women to cre-ate more balanced teams to deliver mobile applications, which in many cases may be primarily targeted at women.

This needs to start early on. I believe that schools should incorporate program-ming languages throughout the cur-riculum from primary school onwards, both to foster the skills to innovate and build and also to break down the percep-tion that development is for geeks or the mathematically inclined.

Great coding is creative, fun, challenging and provides a rewarding way to make a real difference in people’s daily lives.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?It is not often that you can say that you helped two of the U.K.’s oldest, largest and most respected retailers to go mo-bile, but I can. I am lucky to have worked with great teams to launch the U.K. high street’s first transactional mobile Web site for Marks & Spencer and, more recently, Morrisons’ very first transactional mobile site for Morrisons Cellar.


Jade WattsVice president and group digital media directormediahub/MullenBoston

“Without the accountability that other mediums bring, mobile is often left as last priority”

What do you most like about your job?I love that every day I get to be part of a team with a shared mission of conceiving innovative ideas and delivering results for our clients.

Mediahub/Mullen celebrates ideas. We are committed to creative media, with the opportunity to shape culture and conver-sations. Mobile plays a critical part in all of this for us.

The opportunity I have before me to be the mobile voice of mediahub/Mullen and the potential to make a difference in mobile 2013 is exciting and inspires me to con-tinually learn, collaborate and create.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?The biggest challenge in my job related to mobile has always been demonstrat-ing mobile’s importance in the marketing mix. Without the accountability that oth-er mediums bring, mobile is often left as last priority.

I think as mobile evolves and consum-ers mobile usage continues to grow, there is a real opportunity for advertis-ers and agencies alike to exploit this me-dium and finally give it its fair turn in the marketing mix.

What is your work priority for 2013?First and foremost in 2013, my priority re-mains much of the same as prior years: being a mobile evangelist for mediahub/Mullen and our clients.

Second is working with the teams at me-diahub to develop innovative strategies and tactics that drive successful mobile marketing campaigns.

Lastly, I want to work in partnership with analytics to drive mobile measurement for our clients. Until we can truly figure out this piece of the puzzle, mobile will con-tinue to be under-utilized in our industry.

What will it take to attract more women to mobile marketing?As mobile continues to gain traction and importance in our media worlds, more women will naturally be attracted to this medium.

In the meantime, I think it is lists such as this that help to foster admiration for women in leadership roles and bring rec-ognition to this growing medium.

I also think it is critical for women al-ready in leadership roles to act as mentors and coaches and inspire those around us. We need to foster an environment where

women can connect, learn, share and in-spire each other.

The successful women will be those that challenge the norms and fearlessly push the limits of mobile.

Your proudest achievement in mobile?As a mobile evangelist, I am honored and humbled to be nominated to Mobile Mar-keter’s Women to Watch list.

However, I think my proudest moments are centered on taking clients who have either not considered mobile in the past or who have shied away from mobile due to misconceived perceptions to making mo-bile a critical part of their marketing mix.

We have all worked tirelessly educating our communities and it is great to be rec-ognized for this, but equally as great to see clients’ mobile spend grow as part of our efforts.

Mobile women to watch for 2013

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