Name With the Face

Scott Marino

Job Title

Director of Marketplace Partnerships

Organization

BrandVerge

URL

gobrandverge.com

Job Function

Scott Marino is director of marketplace partnerships for BrandVerge, which was founded in 2017. It offers media clients a marketing and analytics platform to build, manage, and share premium branded content programs and opportunities. Marino says, “I’m the first touchpoint for agencies and ad team clients for the BrandVerge solution, which aggregates and streamlines premium content partners and opportunities.” Once a client implements BrandVerge, Marino works with them to ensure they take advantage of the full breadth of platform features. It means careful listening. He states, “I have to understand clients’ goals and objectives and act as a strategic resource to them.”

Of course, startup life being what it is, Marino says, “We don’t always operate in the confines of one job description. We’re each doing anything we can to scale the business and optimize our product in the market.”

In a Day’s Work

For Marino, mornings begin by reading the trades to stay current on trends and issues that may impact his customers. “Then I head out on meetings with agencies and account teams where I learn about the challenges they’re having and discuss how BrandVerge can help,” he says. Time back at the office for the rest of the day is spent checking in with existing clients and prospecting new ones.

Most Memorable Customer Encounter

“We had a client looking for a new B2B media partner, a process that normally took them weeks to complete. Within an hour of using the BrandVerge platform, they had not just found a new partner, but had 15 specific premium content opportunities that they immediately and automatically followed up on. They called me afterward to say that we had saved so much time; it was awesome!”

View From the Desk

“My goal is to spend as much time as possible meeting with potential and current BrandVerge users. So you might catch me Citi Biking from office to office throughout the day, but when I’m back at ‘home base,’ I sit right in the mix of our team’s open desk space.”

Outside Interest

“After swimming competitively in college, there are a number of ways I let out my competitive side (while staying much drier) … on the golf course or range, skiing, at the gym, or even playing in my shuffleboard league.”

If Not Econtent, Then What?

“As a serial optimist who appreciates a strategic risk, I’m particularly interested in venture capital. I’m constantly curious to learn about companies that have contrarian and forward-thinking value props.”

Name With the Face

Christopher Hill

Job Title

Product Manager/Project Manager

Organization

DCL

URL

dataconversionlaboratory.com

Job Function

Christopher Hill wears two hats in his role at DCL, which provides data and content transformation services and solutions. He is a product manager for Harmonizer, a software application that analyzes document collections using natural language processing to identify redundant content in the collection, and he’s also a project manager focused on internal projects.

“I’ve spent the last year updating and modernizing our Harmonizer product. I work closely with our sales and marketing teams as well as our customers and partners to gather requests and requirements for future versions of the product,” says Hill. His internal role calls for him to track company content strategy. He notes, “I work with all our departments to monitor and understand how we generate and manage content internally and work to improve the use of our tools.”

In a Day’s Work

Over the past year of redesigning Harmonizer, Hill has worked closely with the development team to test it and provide input. “Since the new product was released, I’ve presented the product to prospects, partners, and customers to gather feedback and develop specifications for the next version,” says Hill. The internal project management role requires cross-departmental meetings to document current content management processes and help co-workers adopt new tools and workflows to improve efficiency and collaboration.

Most Memorable Customer Encounter

“In my career prior to DCL, I once attended a translation conference held at the Disneyland Paris resort. I had a meeting set with an important customer; there was some tension on the project we were doing for them, and we had only ever spoken on the phone. After meeting at my company’s booth, we left the show floor to find a quiet corner for our meeting.

“During this tense technical discussion, one of the Disney characters came into the room, and suddenly the place was flooded with children. We relocated, but I soon noticed another small audience of children assembling around us; that’s when a large screen next to us began showing a Disney movie. The lead customer said, ‘I think the bar is the only place we will be able to meet.’ What could have been a tense conversation quickly became casual, and we got a challenging project back on track. I may owe some of the success of that project to a mouse.”

View From the Desk

“I work out of my home office in Seattle with a third-floor view of my neighborhood, often over the shoulders of one of my two cats gazing out the window.”

Outside Interest

Hill enjoys snowboarding, traveling, listening to podcasts, and playing board games.

If Not Econtent, Then What?

“I would return to public school teaching,” Hill says. “I began my career as a middle and high school teacher.”

Name With the Face

Amanda Dameron

Job Title

Head of Content

Organization

Tastemade

URL

tastemade.com

Also Visit

watch.tastemade.com/browse

tastemade.com/shows/tiny-kitchen

Job Function

As head of content for Tastemade, a video network that offers food-related and travel-related programming for online audiences, Amanda Dameron oversees creative and operations for all content. That consists of branded and original content, including short videos optimized for mobile and distributed through platforms such as Facebook and Instagram as well as longer-format television shows distributed on Tastemade’s streaming network through Hulu and Amazon Prime. Dameron says, “I work closely with Tastemade’s sales, brand strategy, business development, research, and finance departments. For me, success is measured in audience growth, viewership in time watched, cost of production, and engagement.”

In a Day’s Work

“Most days include reviewing versions of videos in various states of development and engaging in strategic conversations with my colleagues to perfect processes and workflows,” Dameron says. She brainstorms creative concepts with Tastemade’s brand strategy and sales teams, reviews metrics with the programming team, and shares insights and metrics analysis with other departments. Planning future content strategies and campaigns is another key facet of her job.

Most Memorable Customer Encounter

“Anytime we give a tour of our headquarters and studios, it’s memorable, because it includes Tastemade’s Tiny Kitchen, a 1:12 scale replica of a working kitchen within which we film our popular series of the same name. I believe that most humans enjoy seeing tiny rooms and tiny meals being prepared over a stove lit by a tea light because it offers an immense sense of control and delight. No one can keep a smile from crossing their face when they see Tiny Kitchen in action.”

View From the Desk

“At Tastemade’s headquarters in Santa Monica, I sit in an open work environment surrounded by colleagues, mounted televisions broadcasting our daily content captured in seven languages, and people bustling through our main studio. When I work from home, I look out a window that frames a lovely loquat tree in full bloom right now.”

Outside Interest

Dameron loves books and magazines; she spends her free time “unplugged from electronic devices and buried in reading words on paper.”

If Not Econtent, Then What?

“I have grand fantasies of a life ensconced in books and fresh air, in a bucolic location that is a multigenerational, sustainable compound from which I can somehow help others through the pursuit of quality, life-affirming, positive storytelling.”