Tell us a bit about yourself – who you are, what you do at IAS!
Hi! My name is Gemma Jebb. I made the move to IAS after 14 years at MediaCom and a 4 year stint at Starcom before that. Anyone that knows me will testify to the fact that I have long been banging the brand safety and suitability drum agency side. GroupM was like my second home and, as for my heady days at Starcom, well let’s just say I have a few stories. IAS was therefore a carefully considered move and driven by a motivation to do good. My role as Agency Success Director means I get to strengthen agency relationships / drive awareness of macro brand suitability challenges and how we can collectively tackle them using existing and new tech.
What is your favourite thing about working at IAS?
The pace at which we are developing new tech and acquiring companies to build on existing IAS solutions is exciting. What I didn’t anticipate was how much I would fall in love with the people. It is my team that get me up every morning. They are some of the kindest, funniest, most intelligent and hard working people I have ever met.
What would you like to “perfect” in 2023?
I have a particular interest in the accurate classification of video content. Using tech to analyse not just the text but image and audio on both the open web and on walled gardens (where we all know that UGC poses significant client reputational challenges), is of particular importance to me. I would love to see this fixed so that advertisers can continue to invest in platforms that drive reach and engagement but in doing so, have the confidence to do it safely.
How do you feel the digital advertising industry can improve its diversity efforts?
There is a widespread issue with over-reliance on keyword exclusions at URL level over page-level content analysis. This is a huge concern specifically when viewed through a DEI lens. The very nature of DEI means that blocking hate speech and negative sentiment content is imperative. The issue however is that, through reliance on keyword exclusions, agencies are blocking and defunding important, informed and positive sentiment content/diverse Publishers championing DEI issues. Utilising natural language processing to read the entire article and categorise it accordingly is essential to solve for this.
Who inspires you? And have you been inspired by different people at different points in your life and career?
Where do I start! Bette Midler, Mr Wood (my primary school music teacher), my dance principle Miss Jill….In all honesty, I am constantly inspired by family, friends and work colleagues that I surround myself with. People are interesting, complex and messy and I am here for all of it.
