NDA editor-in-chief Justin Pearse interviews industry veteran Giles Ivey about his new role, the future of contextual advertising, and why Sightly is the company that tempted him back from consultancy life.
What is the new company, why did you go there, and what is the attraction of your new role?
I’m joining Sightly as head of EMEA, effectively their first hire outside the US. Sightly has been around for over 10 years but reinvented itself during lockdown. The company began as video advertising business driving outcomesbut pivoted into data and intelligence as clients were so excited by real time marketing.
The real game-changer was when Adam Katz, now CEO, led the creation of a tool called Brand Mentality. That’s what hooked me. It ingests huge amounts of data, from social to news datasets, but crucially has direct integrations with platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and CTV partners.
For example, they can pull the top 200 trending hashtags every hour on TikTok. That level of live insight means brands can act on cultural moments in real time.
For me, after MIQ and then loving working as a consultant and with businesses like Equativ and SeeViews, I wasn’t sure I’d find something that would get me excited enough again to commit most of my time to. But this did. And the great thing is, Sightly has been flexible enough to let me continue my advisory roles alongside this new position.
What sort of clients does Sightly work with?
In the US, Sightly already works with some huge names like United Airlines, Sephora, and New Balance, often via both holding companies and indies.
The exciting part is taking the Brand Mentality platform to market in EMEA, showing how it can help brands react to cultural trends in real time, across channels. In such a fragmented market, that unified approach is compelling.
When you say real time, what does that mean in practice for brands?
Most cultural spikes last about 36 hours. Think about Taylor Swift’s recent engagement announcement: 90% of the online conversation around a key moment happens in the first day or two, so you need to be able to react in real time to associate your brand with moments like that. Yet most digital campaigns still take five to eight days to go live. That means brands are missing the window.
With Brand Mentality, the moment a relevant trend spikes, the brand gets an alert. Existing assets can be activated against that content almost immediately. Research shows even current assets perform well when placed in the right context, though the next phase will be dynamically created assets powered by AI. That’s where the future lies.
What is your strategy for launching Sightly in EMEA?
My remit is to build the business here. That starts with getting the right people interested in the platform and securing test campaigns. I’m also hiring a managing director straight away, someone with strong activation expertise who can run the day-to-day.
We’ll work with independent agencies and holding companies. The big six are already leaning in because the model gives them flexibility: they can use us as self-serve if they have resource, or as managed service when they don’t. Agencies like that choice, especially when client fees don’t always stretch to cover in-house activation.
Our competitive set is contextual players, but Sightly is different because it spans social, CTV, YouTube, and the open web. That breadth makes us more of an omnichannel contextual platform, which is rare.
You’ve had a long career in the industry. What made Sightly feel right at this stage?
I’ve always been drawn to challenger brands. Even at Virgin Radio, we were up against giants, but being the challenger kept us sharp. Sightly feels the same. It’s a 13-year-old company but still operates with startup energy. They’re about 90 people globally, with the ambition to scale quickly in the UK.
I like that. Media, at its core, is a game of persuasion, convincing clients to give you a go. Once you prove yourself, you grow. Sightly has built something genuinely different, and I believe the timing is right. In a fragmented landscape, agencies and brands need partners who can help them act fast and stay relevant. That’s what Sightly delivers.
What does success look like for you over the next year?
By Q1, I want us to have run a strong set of campaigns in EMEA that prove the value of Brand Mentality. By Easter, I’d like us to have proper case studies, evidence of performance, and real traction with both agencies and brands.
Longer term, it’s about scaling sustainably. That means continuing to hire the right people, building relationships with major agency groups, and ensuring that Sightly becomes the go-to contextual platform in this market.
I’ve been in this industry for a long time, but the great thing is I still love it. I still get excited about innovation, about finding new ways to connect brands with audiences in meaningful contexts. That’s why I joined Sightly, and why I can’t wait to get started.
