The Media Agency Mindset: Exverus' secrets of success

Exverus cofounder Talia Arnold tells Matt Hofherr on the Optimism Always podcast what qualities make a successful media planner and organization.

I'm grateful to have Talia Arnold, managing partner of the award winning media company Exverus Media. With Talia's innovative approach to media strategy and a proven track record of delivering impactful campaigns, she truly is a driving force in the industry. So join us as we discuss her journey, the evolving media landscape and the creative strategies that set Exverus apart. Let's get started.

Watch the full conversation here:

How we win advertising industry awards

MH: You seem to be on this row of winning Media Strategist of the Year, Media Plan of the Year. What do you attribute that business momentum that you guys have right now? What's leading to all this success?

TA: The first thing is, winning an award has two components to it. One is, is there a compelling narrative around the brand and what they were trying to do? And was the agency able to do something different and breakthrough and creative outside the normal expectations? That's one part of it.

The other part of it is are you able to demonstrably prove a business outcome for the client? And so we are just extremely disciplined on both of those two elements when we create our campaigns. I would say, we've always been very (and I know everyone says this but) results-focused. We start with: what does the client want to do? Okay, great. How are we going to measure that? What are specific actions that we're going to take to measure that specific outcome? What tech do we need to bring into place? We bring all the people together, not just the media planners and the buyers and the strategists, but, the analytics and the ad ops team to figure out exactly what we're going to put into place to make sure that we're measuring those outcomes.

Do we need to, you know, bring on a third party to do good custom research? Do we need to field post consumer surveys to make sure that we achieve certain objectives? So the results part almost comes first, and then we go to, how are we going to get there? And oftentimes the clients that we're working with, we call them culture-creating, growth-stage brands. So when we say they're culture-creating, that they're either creating a new category or they're operating differently in a category that exists, and they're at a phase in their growth where they're really relying on paid advertising to get them to the next level.

So that presents a huge challenge for us as the media agency to be responsible for such a big portion of the business they want to drive. But that also allows us to be just very aggressive with the things we want to do and what we recommend. And so we look for again, to go to the drawing board and say what is, what is unique about this business challenge? How are we going to meet the consumer's needs and deliver this brand experience to them in a way that's going to be more impactful than what our competitors are doing?

The ideal brand client

MH: That's fascinating to me. What is the perfect client for Exverus Media? Is it a CPG, West Coast?

TA: Even though we have a lot of experience in consumer goods and CPG, and that's been foundational, to me it is much more about mindset. And the types of clients that we absolutely love working with are the ones that want to, um, look at things holistically. So one of the biggest challenges that we see with any client that's trying to grow their business, as they'll tell us is, "I have so many different departments. I've got my email, I've got my home over here, I've got brand marketing handled by this person, I've got sales over here. I've got all these elements, but they're disjointed. They're kind of working well, but we don't know what's working the best, and we don't know how to bring it all together. And that is perfect for us because we have developed systems and processes to help those types of clients look at everything together.

And it goes back to, what I was saying about the truth. One of the first service offerings we provided to clients was we said, whether Exverus is running the media or someone else is running it, we don't care. We'll help you report on everything, and we'll tell you what's working and what's not and where you should put your money. We don't care if it's within our budget or someone else's budget. We're going to tell you what's the best way to spend dollars moving forward.

So, clients who are ready to bring things together, look at everything holistically, and be willing to test some new things.

Qualities of a successful media planner

MH: If you're a media strategist today, what are the qualities you have to have? It seems like you need a math brain, but there is an art to it. If you're hiring someone, what does a young media strategist nowadays need to have, what skill set?

TA: I think the biggest thing that someone needs to have is a progressive, forward-thinking mindset. Basically what I'm saying is if you're a person who likes routines and regularity and things to be constant and organized, forget it. Forget it. This is what I love about this industry. I love that you can be math, science, creative psychology, sociology, politics, entertainment. It is all of those things. So you kind of have to be a Jack or Jane of all trades.

And you have to be interested in technology 100%. You have to be interested in popular culture, you have to be interested in people and how people's minds work, you have to be interested in new products and new services. And that's another reason why I like this business. I love going to the grocery store, I love shopping, I love looking at different products and packaging and thinking about why they might have been created and who they appeal to.

Incentivizing passion & creativity in a media agency

MH: I just gotta pay you a compliment, and I felt it when I met Bill, too. Part of the secret sauce you guys have is your company, and I've met a bunch of people at your company, you're all wicked smart, but you pass the airplane test. Like if I'm gonna sit next to you on a plane or Bill, we're gonna have a great conversation. So you're just good, caring human beings, but you're really curious and you love it. And one of the reasons the show is called Optimism Always is that I love what I do.

It's constantly learning. It's constantly evolving. How do you keep your company innovative and on top of it? Do you guys do off-sites?

TA: Yeah, it's crucial, especially now. It used to be very much about talking to publications and big media companies; I would meet with ESPN and The New York Times and CBS like, those are my media partners and they're going to come up with all the ideas. That's not what it is anymore. Now it's also, oh, we'll just put the money into Facebook and Google and we can reach 90% of our audience. But the research and the data all shows that creativity and emotional experiences are what get you to that next level. And so, so that's why we do focus so much on the creative and innovation and new ideas.

It's part of our process. We hold an all-agency brainstorm for every project that we do. Everyone gets a brief ahead of time. You have a couple days to read the brief. You jot down your notes in a collaborative document. You come to the one-hour meeting, and everyone talks and shares their ideas, and no idea is a bad idea.

We incentivize people financially for coming up with creative ideas. Like if you present something to a client that's never been done before, you get a bonus. If the client approves that idea, you get more. Anytime we're working on a project and we're looking at something, we should be asking ourselves, Okay, what's new and different and exciting here? The team is just very active on Slack, everyone's reading the trades. Everyone's really hungry to go to conferences.

Exverus employee retention & culture

MH: What do you think your tenure is with your company? Do you think people are staying longer than the average?

TA: I think so. Our stats are really strong. I think we have over 90% retention. Maybe 10% of people swap out. We've learned that it can be harder for people to feel part of the culture remotely, so if we hire someone remotely now, we're being much more conscious about, Are you sure that you want to be in a remote role? What's the plan going to be for you to come out here?

We make it an incredibly dynamic environment. We will make it so that you're constantly learning new things. You're probably working on different accounts. I just hired a new VP and a new SVP just last year and they're coming in after 10 years of experience or nine years or whatever, and they're building new capabilities and stuff for the agency that didn't exist before.

How we're using AI at work

MH: Are you optimistic about AI being able to take some of the repetitive, time consuming tasks off your plate? How would you describe its role today within a media business and where it might be tomorrow?

TA: We're used to it being part of the backend of a lot of the technology that we use already. So, for example, finding target audiences, being predictive about who we should reach, generating headlines for search ads or social media ads.

I think the area where there's still development is the work that is boring and manual, like billing. We haven't figured that out yet, that's one area that I look forward to. And I just think the speed at which like information can be summarized is super helpful. You know, we use it for creating briefings, creating quick summaries and recaps and meeting notes and making email writing better, things like that.

Management & leadership styles

MH: How would you describe your own leadership style?

TA: I am a very action-oriented person. So I am very solution-driven, get to the point, solve the problem, remove obstacles, and move things forward. That is my style of leadership. I'm super direct. Very low levels of bureaucracy or process, I'm just kind of like, What's the best way to get from here to there? Okay, let's do it. I'm also kind of creative and free flowing and let's share ideas.

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