Alessandro De Zanche is a consultant working across the media industry. In a carreer spanning over two decades, he has held roles at companies including Three, FT, News UK, Telefonica, Yahoo and many more.
Who is your digital hero?
Stefan Havik, Chief Digital Officer of DPG Media Group, NL & BE.
What has he done to win hero status in your eyes?
Stefan has transformed the digital strategy of the DPG Media Group, over 70 media brands spanning across TV, Radio, Media, News, Online Services and Magazines.
He and his teams have developed a unified, holistic advertising proposition across the DPG Media brands in both The Netherlands and Belgium, covering display, video, audio and branded content.
They created the “Trusted Web”, a sort of own walled garden on top of platforms that they built and manage, covering most areas and elements of the entire advertising lifecycle (identity, data, data enrichment, formats, ad delivery, insights, etc.).
How has his heroism helped drive digital?
By thinking independently, Stefan and his teams have made a reality of the famous saying advocating for media owners to “take back control”. He has shown that with resources and assets, but more than anything with a visionary approach, the right choices and a powerful strategy, Google’s dominance can be overcome.
What the biggest challenges in digital we need another hero to solve?
We need the boards of media companies to rebuild their strategies so that their whole organisations and the teams will be aligned in objectives and, crucially incentives.
Media brands must go back to an audience-centric approach, create unique content that fulfils the needs and expectations of that audience, and diversify their revenue channels. None of this can happen if even only one area of the company works against the others.
So, in a nutshell, we need hero CEOs who will understand that after the first big transformation, from print to pixel, now their companies need to undergo a second company transformation.
This would be a blessing for the wider industry as, for the advertisers and media agencies out there, it is important to remember that without quality media environments, which can be maintained only by self-sustaining media owners, there will be no quality digital advertising.
What is your most heroic personal achievement so far in digital?
I haven’t done anything heroic so far, I’m afraid. The element I am most proud of is to have always and consistently provided honest, forward-thinking insights, even when they went against prevailing trends. I
have been helping clients and employers prepare for future challenges rather than simply echoing popular but short-sighted wisdom.
And in an industry full of mutants and shapeshifters who have been selling dreams for too many years, tuning in on whatever the mainstream trend was in that particular moment and causing a lot of damage to the industry, it hasn’t been always easy.
