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This year’s Upfront/ Newfront season did not disappoint with numerous exciting new announcements about renewed and brand new TV shows that will keep Canadians glued to their TVs (or other viewing devices) for hours. Several broadcasters, social networks, and technology companies have launched new products and services to help you better connect with Canadians for your upcoming campaigns.
Once again Profectio had a front-row seat and provided coverage of several of the announcements, and this year we took some time to interview several senior media buyers, and this year we had a conversation or two with people on the brand and publishers.
In this edition of our 2024 Upfront/ Newfront Interview Series, we sat down with Gary Edgar, for a conversation about the changing advertising and media buying landscape and to gain more insight from a client-side marketer.
Highlights:
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Who are you and what problem do you solve?
My name is Gary Edgar. I am the Head of Social Media at RBC, and I lead our social media team. We are in charge of all of the bank’s, social media, marketing, content creation, and governance for social media.
When it comes to brand safety, are we there yet?
I think there’s two sides to that question. I think we, as a brand, it’s obviously such a big, big part of everything that we do every day, and so it’s always top of mind and I think outwardly focused. I don’t know that we’re ever going to be there, but we have a team of people that really look at that every single day from all aspects. Whether that’s ensuring that our brand shows up in consistent ways, or whether that’s ensuring that our placements match the tone and the outlook of the brand outwardly. We’re risk averse as a lot of financial companies are, but I think we still do very exciting and dynamic things within that button down culture, I guess you could say. So I don’t think we lack for innovation certainly, but we do it in a very thoughtful manner so that we are not exposing ourselves or putting ourselves in situations that are just opposed to everything that the bank stands for.
What trends or differences have you observed in marketers’ desires in the media landscape over the past few years?
I think they’re always looking for a leg up. I find that a lot of marketers are always looking for a fast way through. The reality is, the media landscape, the marketing landscape is a fragmented one, and it continues to become more and more fragmented every single year. There’s more channels, there’s more options. There isn’t sort of a pick linear television, pick one digital outlet and just push everything out. It doesn’t really work that way anymore. So I think coming to terms with that perhaps is challenging. And so not constantly looking for that, not a silver bullet, but that sort of really through line straightforward approach to marketing. I think it’s less about it is fragmented and you have to accept that, but I think it’s really just being about very specific about your choices and the audiences that you’re chasing down.
What are the skill sets or qualities that you feel will be in most demand for a successful media buyer?
I think a keen understanding of audience motivations and data. I think you can’t do these jobs without, there’s definitely a tendency sometimes for people to have that bias of one or that focus group of one where they’re like, well, I don’t use these channels or I don’t think that way. And I think the best marketers and the best media buyers certainly are agnostic about those things. They don’t let their personal opinions colour those decisions. They’re relying on data, facts and historical information. I think that is, to me, one of the biggest points to lean into. And adaptability and innovation I think are two big things too. Everything changes quickly, and so you have to be able to adapt with the times and sort of kill your darlings in a way. If it worked last year does not necessarily mean it’s going to work next year as well.
What is it that excites about the future of social media?
I think just the consumption habits, the way people, it’s become very niche and almost tribal in a sense. AndI think tribal in the sense that people are trying to find like-minded people online where they’re either surrounding themselves with close friends and family, or they’re kind of moving towards niches of similar interest pockets where the idea of broadcasting your life on social media ad nauseum for everyone to see, it’s not really the habit anymore, right? You’re either consuming really great interesting content via things like TikTok or reels, or you’re interacting with people that are close to you via Snapchat or WhatsApp. You’re playing, you’re engaging or you’re trying to find information from like-minded people via Reddit or YouTube. So I think the reality is that people are just consuming data or consuming social media in such different ways that each channel becomes relevant and each channel becomes topical depending on what you’re trying to do, what levers you’re trying to pull.
As a consumer is there anything that scares you about social media?
I think the reality is people’s ownership in the usage of social media. I think it’s really simple and easy for people to point at the social media companies as the bad villains here. But I think how your children interact with it, how you interact with it, it’s a binary decision. You do or you don’t. And so if you don’t like the way certain social media channels operate or you don’t like the way that they do something, then you have the ability to turn it off and walk away from it. I think blaming the social media companies for the ills of society, I think that’s an unfortunate, and I don’t want to say lazy way out, but it certainly doesn’t, it really deflects the blame away from your part in this as a user.
So listen, I know that you and I just met today for the first time. However, we’ve become instant BFFs and I know that Taytay is coming this fall. So are we going to the concert? Are we going to go see Taylor together?
No. The hottest ticket in all of Toronto, I can’t get anywhere near that. No way. Alright, well I appreciate that people think I have that kind of sway. I definitely don’t.
Media & Publishers mentioned:
Learn more about each vendor in our Media Marketplace.
Other 2024 Upfront/ Newfront Announcements & Interviews:
2024 Upfront Interview Series with Horizon Media’s Jenny Croswell
2024 Upfront Interview Series with M&K Media’s Jill MacDonald And Jennifer Young
2024 Upfront Interview Series with True Media Canada’s Bruce Neve (Updated)
2024 Upfront Interview Series with RBC’s Gary Edgar
2024 Upfront Interview Series with Microsoft Advertising Canada’s Lynn Clark-Drew
2024 Upfront Interview Series with TikTok Canada’s Joshua Bloom
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