Keri Toniette Sacks is Programmatic Trading Manager EMEA at BBC Studios. We asked who her digital hero is.
Who is your digital hero?
Sir Martin Sorrell.. Although I have never met him personally, he is well known for his entrepreneurial spirit and industry leadership.
What has he done to win hero status in your eyes?
A man with a vision – having foreseen the shift towards digital advertising early on and strategically positioning WPP, the company he founded, to capitalise on digital opportunities. Under his leadership, WPP acquired numerous digital agencies and companies, expanding its digital capabilities and footprint globally.
Despite challenges posed by digital disruption, Sorrell demonstrated agility and adaptability, steering WPP through industry shifts and technological advancements. His insights and commentary on digital trends, consumer behaviour and the future of advertising have been influential in shaping industry discourse and strategies.
How has their heroism helped drive digital?
Through acquisitions and investments in digital agencies and technologies, Sorrell’s leadership at WPP helped expand the digital capabilities of the company and the industry as a whole. This included integrating digital expertise into traditional advertising services, fostering innovation, and driving growth.
His strategic vision enabled him to recognize early on the transformative potential of digital technologies in advertising. His strategic vision guided WPP to embrace digital platforms, data analytics, and programmatic advertising, enabling the company to stay ahead of industry trends and capitalize on emerging opportunities.
As a prominent figure in the advertising world, Sorrell’s advocacy for digital transformation and innovation has had a ripple effect across the industry. His thought leadership, speeches, and writings have helped shape industry discourse, encouraging other companies to invest in digital capabilities and adapt to the changing landscape.
Sorrell’s initiatives and leadership at WPP had a global impact, influencing advertising practices and standards worldwide. By promoting digital best practices and facilitating knowledge-sharing within the industry, he played a key role in driving digital forward on a global scale.
His entrepreneurial mindset and willingness to take risks contributed to a culture of innovation within WPP and inspired other advertising professionals to embrace digital entrepreneurship. His leadership style encouraged experimentation, collaboration, and continuous learning, fostering a dynamic environment conducive to digital growth and advancement.
What the biggest challenges in digital we need another hero to solve?
There are the usual suspects when it comes to this topic such as ad fraud, Privacy regulations, Ad blocking, Data privacy concerns, attribution challenges, ad quality and brand safety, fragmentation of platforms and ad viewability. Let’s however focus on the hot topic at the moment – AI.
While AI offers significant opportunities for innovation and efficiency in the digital landscape, it also presents several challenges that need solving such as: Ethical concerns, job displacement, privacy risks, security vulnerabilities, explanation and transparency and social impact. We should benefit from the brilliance of AI whilst still trying to preserve the human element. It is crucial to recognise the unique capabilities and contributions of human intelligence and empathy. I am sure we have many heroes working on finding this right balance as we speak.
What is your most heroic personal achievement so far in digital?
In 2018, being new to the media landscape back then, I was honoured to receive the BBC Global News award for ‘Quality’. This esteemed accolade symbolizes values of integrity, ambition, pride, and the ability to cultivate enduring and trustworthy relationships with clients.
