This Interactive Marketing Manager strives to have the online team drive overall brand strategy.
As Interactive Marketing Manager, Janelle Photopoulos is accountable for overall project management of AT&T interactive initiatives for all phases of development including communications planning, user experience design, messaging strategy and creative execution of web communication and rich media. She is also responsible for ongoing maintenance of web properties including site tracking, analytics and optimization. She leads outbound emarketing, including online advertising and search engine marketing initiatives.
Photopoulos has been with AT&T since 2001, working in the interactive arena since its inception. She has agency and client-side experience in a variety of industries including telecommunications, hotel and travel, fashion, banking and publishing.
iMedia: How has the media mix changed for you over the last few years? Is online still "an afterthought" or are campaigns, for the most part, conceived of in an integrated fashion from the get go? Or are you somewhere in between?
Photopoulos: In the last year or two I've seen that online has proven its viability as a targeted, cost-effective awareness and sales channel and therefore is being funded at the inception of a campaign or fiscal year, rather than an afterthought as done in the past. Additionally, I've seen that the percent of total media budget allocated to online channels has increased dramatically (over 100 percent in some cases).
iMedia: What is the greatest benefit of online advertising? The ability to measure? Precisely target? Gather data? Something else?
Photopoulos: I believe the greatest benefit of online advertising is the one-to-one concept ... the ability to reach a specific audience with a specific message that they're most likely to respond to. The ability to track performance is the bonus.
iMedia: Are you doing any behavioral targeting? If yes, please describe.
Photopoulos: Some. We've started targeting specific users who have already visited certain sections of web sites that appear to be more responsive to our message (visited "international news" channel, target with "international message").
iMedia: Have you found agencies to be able to handle your changing interactive/integrated needs? What could still be better?
Photopoulos: My experience is that the interactive agencies have really stepped up to the plate and have been taking a more integrated approach than ever before. On the other hand, a constant challenge is getting the offline agency teams to keep the online space top of mind when developing end-to-end marketing programs. Better yet, I'd like to get to the point where the overall brand strategy is driven by the online team and integrated into all other aspects of the media mix. Perhaps 2005 is the year!
iMedia: Have you done much with wireless, iTV or other emerging mediums?
Photopoulos: Not yet.
iMedia: It's the beginning of a new year. What do you hope to accomplish this year?
Photopoulos: Continue to get a better understanding of the customer mindset and their dynamic online behavior so that our online advertising can be even more effective than last year.