Interviews, insight & analysis on digital media & marketing

My Digital Hero: Dorota Karc, Head of Programmatic, WallDecaux (JCDecaux Group)

Dorota Karc is Head of Programmatic at WallDecaux (JCDecaux Group). We asked her who her hero is.

Who is your digital hero?

There are so many fantastic rolemodels in our industry, but today I would like to choose Kristina Prokop, CEO of Eyeota.

 What has she done to win hero status in your eyes?

Kristina helped pioneer and foster the global industry for online targeting data through her professional efforts on the global data industry. At its founding, Eyeota was the only third-party data provider with a global footprint. Kristina’s knowledge and skills played a vital role in the development of the global data business.

Together with other co-founders Trent Lloyd and Kevin Tan, Kristina built and then scaled the business, while leaving on three different continents. Over 10 years ago running a business digitally seemed unimaginable. Now throughout COVID-19 pandemic building up a business without physical presence in one office seems quite natural.

Currently Kristina as the CEO of Eyeota, masters the shift in the digital industry and I am convinced she will surprise us with new products and solutions as an answer on the revolution happening in the data and cookie world.

Kristina was one of the first women in the programmatic & data industry and an exceptional leader and role model for female leaders in our industry. Having a chance to work with and learn from Kristina had a positive influence on my career my management style, as well as showed me how to navigate in a predominantly male culture.

How has her heroism helped drive digital?

Without Kristina, third-party data might have not taken hold as it did, and perhaps there would have been fewer options for targeting in display and mobile campaigns.

You would not be able to use targeting for your display and mobile campaigns. While planning your next campaign or setting up a line item with targeting in a DSP, think about what marketing would be like without third-party data and who helped you get there.

What are the biggest challenges in digital we need another hero to solve?

We surely need heroines and heroes to help us navigate a world without cookie-based targeting.

I could already name my next hero in this category, Christopher Reher, Director Data Strategy & Products at Media Impact GmbH & Co. KG // Axel Springer SE. Christopher is one of the top data and privacy experts in Europe and is already shaping the future of privacy in the digital space.

Changes in data and privacy will force us to approach marketing a cross-channel, cohort-based and contextual angle. Among other things, it will strongly impact programmatic OOH, the industry where I currently work, and I see a huge potential for more digital heroes there.

Moreover, we need more digital visionaries or virtuosos, those who can translate technological advancements such as quantum computing into digital terms. We need more people who can envision as-yet unimaginable, but of course privacy-forward approaches … I would like to meet the Elon Musk of digital marketing.

What is your most heroic personal achievement so far in digital?

I am proud to have been part of Kristina’s team at Eyeota, and also of the team that helped design, built, and scaled the global data and targeting industry.

Currently I work for WallDecaux, the German entity of JCDecaux  as Head of Programmatic, where together with my colleagues at WallDecaux, JCDecaux, our SSP VIOOH, clients and agencies, DSP partners we are creating a new global industry: programmatic OOH.

Designing a new industry requires groundbreaking work, defining standards, developing products, and educating the market. I feel privileged to be part of the advertising revolution that is programmatic OOH. It is stunning that within such a short period of time programmatic has been thoroughly transformed, and that traditional advertising channels have been brought into the ecosystem. I still believe the best is yet to come, and we are just at the beginning of what programmatic OOH will offer advertisers.