Marketing Through Evolution: Insights from Natalie Bastian, Global CMO of Teads

Summary

Marketing Vanguard: Marketing Through Evolution with Natalie Bastian, Global CMO of Teads

Hosted by Jenny Rooney on Adweek's Marketing Vanguard Podcast

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Introduction

In the February 14, 2025 episode of Marketing Vanguard, Jenny Rooney welcomes Natalie Bastian, the Global Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Teads. This episode delves into Natalie's extensive journey through the evolving landscape of television and advertising technology, her strategic insights on omnichannel marketing, and the transformative merger between Teads and Outbrain. Listeners gain valuable perspectives on leadership, industry trends, and the future of CTV (Connected TV) advertising.

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Guest Introduction and Personal Background

Natalie Bastian opens the conversation by sharing her passion for marketing and television. Reflecting on her early career, Natalie emphasizes the importance of enthusiasm and pride in one's work:

“Is a balance of essentially having a passion and being excited about what you're doing on a daily basis. So that could mean learning the tactics behind marketing and gaining that experience and then doing it for a company that you're proud of.”
— Natalie Bastian [00:35]

Natalie's affinity for stand-up comedy traces back to her childhood, influencing her career trajectory. She recounts her first internship at Comedy Central, highlighting the serendipitous path that led her into the media and entertainment sector.

“My first internship when I was in college was in Comedy Central.”
— Natalie Bastian [02:29]

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Teads at CES 2025: Objectives and ROI

Discussing Teads' presence at CES 2025, Natalie outlines the company's focus on B2B connections, client engagements, and strategic partnerships. She articulates how ROI is measured through meeting volumes and the quality of conversations around industry themes and future predictions.

“Our clients are major brands and agencies and then we also have partnerships. Whether you're another ad tech vendor, a content distributor, we essentially build our pipelines in meetings that happen.”
— Natalie Bastian [04:39]

Natalie teases one of Teads' five main themes for 2025, emphasizing the pivotal role of omnichannel marketing and the anticipated surge in CTV adoption.

“Everyone's saying this is the year of CTV... streaming TV, ad-supported, streaming TV is going to come to a head, which creates an amazing opportunity from an ads perspective.”
— Natalie Bastian [05:18]

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Teads and Outbrain Merger: Strategic Implications

A significant highlight of the episode is the announcement of Teads' planned merger with Outbrain, aimed at establishing a leading platform in open internet advertising. Natalie discusses how this consolidation will enhance Teads' ability to deliver full-funnel advertising solutions at scale, differentiating them from competitors.

“This partnership and this merger with Outbrain is going to allow us to deliver at a much higher level and deliver for brands in a way that other companies that we're currently competitive with won't be able to.”
— Natalie Bastian [06:38]

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Natalie's Career Journey: From TV to Ad Tech

Natalie's career trajectory is a testament to adapting alongside industry transformations. She narrates her progression from traditional TV roles at Lifetime Networks and Howard Stern, to pivotal positions at Dish Network, Roku, and Tubi. Each phase underscores her growing expertise in marketing, advertising, and technology.

“When I joined Roku at a very exciting time, sensing themes quite a fear. Understanding the importance of advertising within streaming and also within premium content became more and more important.”
— Natalie Bastian [16:34]

Her tenure at Tubi, leading consumer and trade marketing, culminated in preparing her for her current role at Teads, where she continues to drive innovation in CTV advertising.

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Advice for Aspiring CMOs

When asked about career advice, Natalie underscores the significance of passion, versatility, and continuous learning. She encourages professionals to gain diverse marketing experiences and remain hungry for knowledge, which can open doors to varied opportunities.

“The different facets of marketing, the more you learn, the more experience you gain, the more opportunities that will come and then that's where you can lean into your passion points.”
— Natalie Bastian [17:09]

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Industry Involvement and Leadership

Natalie highlights her active participation in industry organizations such as She Runs It, the CMO Growth Council, and the Ad Council. She emphasizes that involvement in these communities fosters networking, career development, and provides a support system beyond one's immediate corporate environment.

“Having a peer set to talk with, to brainstorm with beyond just your own company's bubble is really important too. And that's what helped keep perspective as well.”
— Natalie Bastian [19:24]

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Strategic Decisions: Launching CTV Home Screen Advertising

One of the pivotal decisions Natalie discusses is Teads' foray into CTV home screen advertising. Recognizing the saturation of traditional CTV advertising in the U.S., Teads opted to differentiate by offering unique ad placements on CTV home screens across multiple OEMs globally. This strategic move not only set Teads apart but also provided brands with prime advertising real estate, enhancing consumer engagement from the moment the screen is turned on.

“For us, that's launching the ability to have advertising across CTV home screens... you turn on your screen, the first thing you see is that beautiful ad.”
— Natalie Bastian [21:48]

This decision leveraged her background with Roku and her understanding of consumer behavior, positioning Teads as a leader in innovative CTV advertising solutions.

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Guest Recommendation: Jess Padula

Natalie recommends Jess Padula, VP of Marketing at Nespresso, praising her multifaceted role and leadership in sustainability and cross-functional marketing efforts. Natalie believes Jess would be a valuable guest for future episodes, offering insights into sustainable marketing practices and brand performance.

“She oversees sustainability for Nespresso... she has a lot of different wears a lot of different hats which is something that I admire and fascinated by and her story is really interesting so I think people could learn from it too.”
— Natalie Bastian [22:28]

Jenny Rooney echoes this sentiment, acknowledging Jess Padula's contributions and leadership within the marketing sphere.

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Conclusion

Jenny Rooney wraps up the episode by expressing her appreciation for Natalie's insightful contributions and looks forward to her continued impact in the marketing and advertising industry. Natalie’s journey from traditional media to leading an innovative ad tech company exemplifies the dynamic nature of modern marketing leadership.

“Natalie, thank you so much for joining me. It's been a pleasure that invite. I really appreciate it and I hope to see you very soon.”
— Jenny Rooney [23:40]

The episode concludes with a reminder to listeners to subscribe to Adweek's podcast network for more engaging conversations with industry vanguards.

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Key Takeaways

• Passion and Versatility: Natalie emphasizes the importance of being passionate and versatile in one’s marketing career, advocating for diverse experiences across different sectors.

• Innovation in CTV: Teads' strategic move into CTV home screen advertising showcases the potential for innovation within saturated markets by offering unique value propositions.

• Strategic Mergers: The merger with Outbrain positions Teads as a formidable player in open internet advertising, enhancing their ability to deliver comprehensive marketing solutions.

• Industry Engagement: Active participation in industry organizations is crucial for networking, career growth, and maintaining a broad perspective beyond one's immediate corporate environment.

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Notable Quotes

1. On Passion in Marketing:

   “Is a balance of essentially having a passion and being excited about what you're doing on a daily basis.”
   — Natalie Bastian [00:35]

2. On CTV Adoption:

   “Everyone's saying this is the year of CTV... streaming TV, ad-supported, streaming TV is going to come to a head.”
   — Natalie Bastian [05:18]

3. On the Teads and Outbrain Merger:

   “This partnership and this merger with Outbrain is going to allow us to deliver at a much higher level...”
   — Natalie Bastian [06:38]

4. On Career Development:

   “The more you learn, the more experience you gain, the more opportunities that will come and then that's where you can lean into your passion points.”
   — Natalie Bastian [17:09]

5. On Strategic Advertising Decisions:

   “For us, that's launching the ability to have advertising across CTV home screens... you turn on your screen, the first thing you see is that beautiful ad.”
   — Natalie Bastian [21:48]

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This episode of Marketing Vanguard offers a comprehensive look into the strategic mind of Natalie Bastian, highlighting her role in steering Teads through an era of significant industry shifts. Her insights provide invaluable lessons for current and aspiring marketing leaders aiming to navigate and innovate within the complex landscape of modern marketing.

Transcript

[Ken Jeong]

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[Natalie Bastian]

Is a balance of essentially having a passion and being excited about what you're doing on a daily basis. So that could mean learning the tactics behind marketing and gaining that experience and then doing it for a company that you're proud of.

[Jenny Rooney]

Hi everyone and welcome to the Marketing Vanguard Podcast. I'm Jenny Rooney coming to you from Las Vegas. We are here during CES Week at Adweek House and I'm thrilled to be joined by Natalie Bastian. She's the CMO of teads. Natalie, welcome.

[Natalie Bastian]

Thank you for having me. Jenny.

[Jenny Rooney]

Thrilled to see you and to have you here and I'm excited to dive into our conversation. I think your story as a CMO is unique and I think you have some fun backstories about yourself and your journey to get to where you are today. But before we dive into that, I'd love for you to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you, what you're doing right now in your work and also share something about you that might not be readily apparent on your LinkedIn profile.

[Natalie Bastian]

Yeah, absolutely. So as you said, I'm the Global CMO @Teeds and Teeds is a global company founded well over a decade ago in France and so we have a huge presence in Europe, apac, Latam and the us and I've been with them for almost three years now. And really what TEADS is an end to end tech platform. We invented the ability to serve a video ad and an in read article. So if you're reading something on AdWeek.com and you're mid article and you see a video ad we invented more than a decade ago and so since then we've expanded into CTV and that's when I came into the fold. Given that my background is mainly in traditional TV and then streaming TV as well. And the journey at Tease has been really an exciting one. As I mentioned as we evolved into becoming Omnichannel through the launch of ctv, we're now across every major market and everywhere that we operate and so it's really phenomenal to see the growth that we can have and obviously to understand the journey and the evolution of CTV outside of the US Too, is really fascinating. So it's been a fun journey so far.

[Jenny Rooney]

And the thing about you that people may not know.

[Natalie Bastian]

Oh, man. Well, as I mentioned, the beginning of my career started off in tv, more traditional entertainment. My first job was at Lifetime, but one of my favorite things growing up was watching TV that was like our dessert tv and specifically around stand up comedy and late night, specifically on the weekends. And so I am definitely passionate about standup comedy. And in fact, my first internship when I was in college was in Comedy Central. Oh, no way. Yeah.

[Jenny Rooney]

How do you think think Nikki Glaser did?

[Natalie Bastian]

Oh, she did phenomenal. So good. Like her timing, her punchlines, and like, if you watched her closing, she's such an amazing professional. But her last joke was actually ad libbed. It wasn't even in the teleprompter. She threw it in last minute. So just shows like when given the platform, what she can do.

[Jenny Rooney]

So I went back and ended up watching the Tom Brady roast again. I had seen it in real time, but then after the Golden Globes, I watched that again because I wanted to see how she had done that, because that's really what I mean. She's been around for quite a while and her fan followers are very loyal to her. But obviously the roast is what.

[Natalie Bastian]

Yeah. What propelled her. And then obviously that's what got her to the Golden Globes. And then she just did a post interview with Howard Stern, who I listened to as well. And it's just so fascinating to hear about her journey. And just like, it's not the most traditional route, but it's also, I love seeing like, female comics, like, come up and rise. It's about time.

[Jenny Rooney]

And she was quoted as saying she's 40 or in her 40s and she's like, arguably, I'm a little bit, I suppose, like age wise, late in the game. But she's like, but I couldn't have done this had I been younger. So it's an interesting way of thinking about success. And it can come at any time, at any point in any journeys.

[Natalie Bastian]

Yeah. And sometimes the industry needs to catch up.

[Ken Jeong]

Right.

[Natalie Bastian]

And I think that's a perfect example of this is undoubtedly her time and the experience that led her to this. And now, you know, for lack of a better word, she's in her prime. She's just getting started in the spotlight.

[Jenny Rooney]

Just getting started. So we'll come back to those kinds of themes because there's a lot in your story too that I think we're gonna reference that speaks to tv, comedy, talent, et cetera. Because we're at ces, I'd love for you to just share with me a little bit about why CES, why now 2025. What is TEEDS doing here? How do you measure ROI from coming to this massive event? What are you hoping to get out of it this year?

[Natalie Bastian]

Yeah, so tees, because we are more B2B, we come here to connect with our clients. Our clients are major brands and agencies and then we also have partnerships. Whether you're another ad tech vendor, a content distributor, we essentially build our 25 plans in meetings that happen. So that's how we measure our ROI is meeting volume from a sales perspective. And really from a marketing perspective, it's having conversations like this to talk about what we're hearing from our clients and our partners on themes and predictions for the next year ahead. And so that's what I've been spending a lot of time talking to our partners around. And we released recently the five main themes for 2025. We did that right ahead of the holidays.

[Jenny Rooney]

Want to tease one for us?

[Natalie Bastian]

The biggest one, I would say for us is just the adoption of Omnichannel. Obviously we're seeing this ourselves, but I. Everyone's saying this is the year of ctv. I think ctv, we're at a tipping point where we are going to see not only the viewership, we're already seeing the viewership tip. We're still happening on Linear, but I think CTV is going to take the turn and streaming tv, ad supported, streaming TV is going to come to a head, which creates an amazing opportunity from an ads perspective. And there's a lot of consolidation and also tech infrastructure that's finally to a point to scale and adoption. So I think we're going to see innovation in CTV advertising specifically really take off. So that's what we're really excited about as well.

[Jenny Rooney]

And news coming from you and from Tease, what's been the latest headline coming out of your company and what should everybody be aware of?

[Natalie Bastian]

Yeah, so we announced last in August that we're planning to merge with Outbrain, which is a global company that's primarily focused in performance advertising. So that will be projected to close in Q1, and once that happens, we will be one of the leading platforms in the open Internet that can truly deliver full funnel. And there's not really another platform that can do it with the scale that we have. And so that's what we're most excited about once that finally happens. And so it's really going to paint a really strong bright picture for us in 2025 once we get that off the ground.

[Jenny Rooney]

It's such a competitive space.

[Natalie Bastian]

It truly is. And I think consolidation though in one way it's the responsible thing to do in the sense of it's a way that you can differentiate. This is my first B2B marketing company role and I've historically been in more consumer brands in advertising space. And so for me I learned a lot around a lot of people are saying the same thing, but they're not all delivering on what they're promising. And I for us, what I love about Teeds and when I was buying media in my prior role, like they do what they say and they do it really well and they take a lot of pride in the tech that we create. In my opinion, there's a lot of ad tech companies saying similar things but they're unable to deliver on it. And so this partnership and this merger with Outbrain is going to allow us to deliver at a much more higher level and deliver for brands in a way that other companies that we're currently competitive with won't be able to. So it's exciting for us.

[Jenny Rooney]

So let's now talk a little bit more about your career journey because with the Marketing Vanguard podcast, a lot of the conversation is around who you are as a leader and how you are a vital business leader within your organization. Not just necessarily as a marketing leader, but like a true sort of hand in glove partner to CEO, your CFO and everybody in that room. Being a CMO these days, it means so many different things. And by the way, one size doesn't fit all and I think we experience that across the board. Certainly being one at a B2B company is very different than being one at a B2C in some respects. In others is quite similar. And also you're somebody who uniquely came up through the TV space. Back to what we were saying before. Tell me a little bit about that. Walk me through that journey briefly. And frankly the fact that it, it is all grounded and rooted in your love and passion for the product that is or the experience that is tv, which is a fun childhood memory for you. And when you reference that not everybody gets to have that career journey that stems from their real true passion. So talk a little bit about that.

[Natalie Bastian]

It's interesting. So as I mentioned, my first internship was at Comedy Central. So I grew up in the Midwest and middle of the nowhere. I didn't have cable till the towards the end of high school and so as I mentioned, it was such a treat to be able to watch tv and we didn't really have many options, but, like, comedy Seinfeld, like, that was what we centered our evenings around. And for me, that just created this, like, level of connection that I. It's just something I always look forward to. And so when I went to school, I went to school in Madison, Wisconsin, and I majored in communications with an emphasis on media. And so when I was looking to potentially go abroad, my advisor advised me of, like, you know what you want to do. You need experience in order to make that come to life. He shared the New York Media Experience Program, which is an exchange program through a college in upstate New York, and essentially allowed me. I was accepted in, and it was allowed me to intern for a media company and I gave him my top five. And I got my first choice, which was Comedy Central. And so being able to work in media in New York for Comedy Central, it was one of those insane, like, dream moments that I didn't even know that was possible. And so that experience there was incredible. And really I fell in love with media and the entertainment. I understood, obviously, more around comms, and during my time there, I got to experience different departments within the business around marketing. And that's when I really knew I wanted to get more into the business side. Communications is an important part of it, but marketing as a whole, really being able to tie the impact of what marketing can do to a business, I wanted to be there and I felt like I wanted to get more experience with that. So I graduated. I moved back boldly, naively thinking, oh, I'll get a job. And so I moved back after I graduated, and I was fortunate enough to land at Lifetime Networks pre merger with A and E. And I actually worked in the distribution marketing department. So back then, affiliate marketing makes more money for a company than advertising back then. And so obviously those are distribution deals with back then, the major cable and satellite providers. And so learning about that side of the business was really interesting and the impact that marketing can have on the partnerships across with those distributors. And then I did a stint at Howard Stern through In Demand. So In Demand was. Is a consortium and you're still listen to him.

[Jenny Rooney]

Exactly.

[Natalie Bastian]

Yeah. Talk about diversity.

[Jenny Rooney]

During the 90s when I lived in Chicago. Fabulous.

[Natalie Bastian]

I did by accident too, because my dad used to listen to it. I was like, what do you listen to? You go from lifetime to. To Howard Stern. It's definitely a unique way to diversify the brand that you market for sure. So that was an amazing experience and I was right at the beginning of when Facebook was becoming a channel for businesses. And so like I launched the Facebook for Howard Stern on Demand and did all the content, did a lot of Photoshop editing, all of that great stuff. So I was there for almost two years and then I had an opportunity to actually go back with my lifetime team with AE post merger. And so that's really where I fell in love. And it was during the heyday of cable. So think like Duck Dynasty Swamp People and the viewership was climbing, it was through the roof. And I was on the distribution marketing team there and I learned that was my first inlet into advertising. Cause by the end of my tenure there I was overseeing local ad sales marketing. So I was on the Comcast account, I supported dish and DirecTV and I would be on the road having like a hybrid of selling local marketing campaigns for Duck Dynasty Swamp People to like the Comcast Miami. And so that was just an amazing experience. And we did some unique testing with Comcast actually around like being able to go beyond just like a 30 second spot and measuring media value. And it was really fascinating to me to learn that side of the business of marketing when it comes to advertising. And so that knowledge propelled me into my next opportunity which was that Dish Network through Dish Media Sales. So that was my first sole leadership role where I oversaw the ad sales marketing team which was a very small but mighty team that helped support a nearly billion dollar ad business. Because during my time there we launched Sling tv. And so Sling TV was the first live streaming service there. And when I first started I was.

[Ken Jeong]

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[Natalie Bastian]

Free dual reporting to the advanced TV team. And so I got to understand the ins and outs of what it's like to build a Live dynamically served app and all of the work that goes into it on the technical side and it's just so fascinating to be a part of being a first mover. So they launched to the consumer base actually here at CES in January and then I joined them in March right ahead of like Upfront, a new front season. So I was tasked of getting that narrative right and building what that co selling opportunity would look like across Dish and Sling tv. So during my journey there is when I really understood the power of the OEMs and streaming providers and Roku was by and large ahead of the game. They're a very leaned in partner to the Sling TV team and where I started to pique my interest around them from a personal perspective. I was a Roku user and I understood the interface and I loved it. It was so easy to use and it was fascinating to see them on the business side and what they were building. And so that actually led to an opportunity for me to join them at a very exciting time. I joined them about six months before we went public as part of that team and that journey over the three years that I was there to make those forecasts and plans come to life. It was during the tech KN technology era of going from cable to on demand to streaming. And then obviously Roku has been an absolute major power player in the space and an innovator as it relates to how they can continue to monetize and also grow viewership through the launch of Roku channel. Which is what I was there for that. And so sensing, yeah sensing themes, quite a fear. Understanding the importance of advertising within streaming and also within premium content became more and more important and then that's how I discovered the power of Tubi. So Tubi free ad supported streaming service. I learned about them through our partnerships at Roku because we obviously had a strong partnership. They were one of the fastest growing ad supported channels that we partnered with and there was an amazing opportunity to join them as their head of consumer and trade marketing there, which was my first inlet into consumer marketing. But a natural, a natural step because they are ad supported and their main vehicle to create this virtuous cycle is advertising. And they needed to evolve in that space as well. So I joined as their head of consumer marketing there in March 2020 and about a month before we were acquired by Fox. And so I was part of that journey and consolidation and really amplification of the Tubi brand overall. And I'm really proud of what the team did during my time there and a big Part of it was the power of Fox and really proving the value, the promotional value of what traditional media can do and our brand from the awareness that was amplified to the consideration, the actual usage and where it landed. By the time of my departure, obviously the pandemic had a piece to. But then you look at what TUBI is today, even after the pandemic, and how they're continuing to thrive and be a number one player in the space. It's truly incredible because they're very unique compared to some of the other streaming services. And then the opportunities came to a head. It was, this is my first global role where we've. We're very large and well known in the rest of world. And I was tasked with continuing to build awareness and understanding of TEEDS in the US market as it relates to us going into the next chapter of launching ctv. So obviously that was more of my background and so that's what leads me to where I'm at today, almost three years later.

[Jenny Rooney]

Well, it's interesting because your career has really progressed through even as the TV industry, if you will, has transformed, your career has matched that transformation. It also speaks to the concept of, as I said before, finding a passion and just following that through. What would you say to folks who are perhaps early in their careers or exploring what it would take to get to a CMO role, who, by the way, are only thinking about, I need to go sell sneakers or I need to go sell coffee or I need to go sell the B2B component. Is you unique? So best advice for thinking more broadly around different categories and not being so focused on consumer goods.

[Natalie Bastian]

Yeah, well, there is a balance of essentially having a passion and being excited about what you're doing on a daily basis. So that could mean learning the tactics behind marketing and gaining that experience and then doing it for a company that you're proud of. And so, yes, maybe that could be a Nike, it could be Chanel, it could be, you know, an ad tech company. But honestly, I do think that part's important. But I do think I'm fortunate enough because I worked for companies that they became mighty over time. But I got in at a time where you needed to be a triple threat, you needed to wear multiple hats and be leaned in. And that's something I learned very early on in my career and even just before my professional career. I worked since the age of 15 of that was just how I grew up of just like, you have to work in order to live, you have to make money. And so I worked all throughout College too. And so I always had this kind of multitasker mode and that really paid off especially in marketing where to me, especially early on, the different facets of marketing, the more you you learn, the more experience you gain, the more opportunities that will come and then that's where you can lean into your passion points. And and for me it was entertainment and TV and then be hungry. I was very interested in technology, not only from a consumer standpoint, from being a consumer of tv, but also understanding the business and where people are spending their time from a consumer perspective and then obviously advertising how they're getting it from a distribution standpoint and just being leaned in and asked questions and raise your hand for those one off projects that could come into a very substantial way that businesses could make money too. I think those were definitely things that I didn't think, oh, this is going to help me in my career. It's going to help me understand and learn and always remaining keeping that hunger has been an underlying kind of theme throughout my career.

[Jenny Rooney]

Well, and I think you've done what a lot of CMOs strive to do in this industry which is give back and be part of broader conversations. And I know you're part of she runs IT and Ana CMO Growth Council and and most recently Ad Council. So congratulations on that. Those are really great opportunities for you to take all this knowledge and this perspective and share it back with your peers, be part of those conversations. I know we as adweek are trying to also foster environments for those kinds of conversations as well. Certainly with marketing vanguard in our other areas where we show up and convene folks, why is that so important to you? But why do you think it's so.

[Natalie Bastian]

Important to the industry from a personal interest standpoint? It keeps perspective for me and what I've experienced is within your own ecosystem, within your own company. Company can only go so far. And like I'm fortunate because TEEDS believes in giving back. For example, our CEO Jeremy Ardidi is on the board for she runs it. And so when I joined Teeds and understanding how leaned in our company was, it was amazing experience to now be a part of that I've been part of. She runs IT and throughout my career as well. But that's just one example of choosing a company that is also a part of that because then it helps open up what those opportunities can be for the individuals and you don't have to be a CMO to be involved in that. If anything, these organizations help build careers, help build your network and also makes you Realize you're not alone in certain situations. I have now a really strong peer network, whether it's across other CMOs on the B2C side or B2B side that are experiencing the same challenges in different companies. And so being able to have a peer set to talk with, to brainstorm with beyond just your own company's bubble is really important too. And that's what helped keep perspective as well. Yeah.

[Jenny Rooney]

Two last quick questions we talk about in Marketing Vanguard. Everything you do in a day to day basis is making decisions. You face forks in the road at every hour of every day. Share with me one decision you've made recently, one action step you've made, one risk you've taken that you think has changed the trajectory for your company and or for the industry.

[Natalie Bastian]

For TEED specifically, the launch into CTV was not one that necessarily didn't have a clear path of success, given the timing that we launched in the U.S. for example, because CTV in the U.S. has already exploded. So we were coming into it with a unique angle of we wanted to be a power player, but we also wanted to provide value. And so we really focused on not showing the breadth and depth of all the media that we could have. But what is that unique value that we can pull in? And honestly, that's what has helped differentiate us. And for us, that's launching the ability to have advertising across CTV home screens. So that's a unique placement that historically is only sold by OEMs, but now we have a inlet across multiple OEMs, exclusive partnerships with Vida, who's through Hyacinth, who has major, who we just actually struck a deal with. We're now in almost 27 countries globally representing them. And that provides unique value because obviously you turn on your screen, the first thing you see is that beautiful ad.

[Jenny Rooney]

And that was your decision. You felt it was something that I.

[Natalie Bastian]

Helped influence early on given my background and the value that we saw both at Roku and also to be the IN app. For me, that was something that I was excited to be part of and then I was seeing how much we've exploded in the scale that we have. And then we're continuing to grow that offering too. Then fueling innovation in that unit is one of our major differentiators at Teeds 2. So that's what's making us special and providing that value back to brands and ultimately the consumer experience as well.

[Jenny Rooney]

That's a good question. Who's next? Who's somebody we should invite onto the Marketing Vanguard podcast? A peer, somebody you admire from afar. It can be somebody you know really well or somebody you've never met but you feel like is doing pretty extraordinary things as a marketing leader.

[Natalie Bastian]

The first person that comes to mind, her name is Jess Padula. So I don't know if she's been on here yet. She's phenomenal. She's on our client counsel at Teens and yeah, she's the VP of Marketing at Nespresso and she's doing amazing work and I've gotten the chance to get to know her over the last year or so. I admire her not only for the work that we see obviously out out in the wild for Nespresso, but the work that she's doing internally to help advocate for the cross functional work across brand and performance. And she's a super fascinating individual and she also oversees sustainability for Nespresso which is how can the brand and the practices within Nespresso be done with this responsible, sustainable way from the physical product perspective. So she's not a one trick phony. She has a lot of different wears a lot of different hats which is something that I admire and fascinated by and her story is really interesting so I think people could learn from it too.

[Jenny Rooney]

Yeah, shout out to Jess Padula. We have spoken with her, I've interviewed her. She came to the Marketing Vanguard Summit and Brand Week. I think she is absolutely somebody that we are paying attention to. She's come up in a lot of conversation and so it's great to see new marketing leaders really start to set the agenda in their own way in this industry as you have as well. Natalie, thank you so much for joining me. It's been a pleasure that invite. I really appreciate it and I hope to see you very soon.

[Natalie Bastian]

Yes, sounds great.

[Adweek Podcast Team]

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