Read what our Managing Partner, Mike Adler  has to say!

During his 17 years working in ad sales at Meredith Corporation, Mark Josephson, 49, took on new business accounts as his role evolved. That meant less contact with other key clients over time.

After joining Reader’s Digest in November 2010 to fill a top sales position, he wanted to reconnect with some of the clients he had lost touch with, especially the ones who make the big media buying decisions at their companies. He knew he could use a number of digital networking platforms to reach out, but his experience told him to take a more human approach.

“How did I get back in touch with those clients?” said Josephson, chief sales officer of Reader’s Digest. “I focused on making personal contact with them over the phone or through emails. I would target the top decision makers on our accounts and I would immediately call and reconnect.”

It’s a question you hear a lot these days: Has LinkedIn wiped out the importance of developing and maintaining a Rolodex, that is, a list of people that you know on a personal basis?

Absolutely not, say recruiters and sales reps. People do become easier to track down as more of their information moves online, but an extensive contact list means little without genuine business relationships to back it up.

“It’s easy to go onto LinkedIn and start connecting with new people,” said Josephson. “But how many of those connections are quality connections? Probably less than 20%.”

In many ways, the insignificance of a fleeting business card exchange without a real connection has been heightened by the ease of clicking “connect” online, said Atlanta-based e-commerce recruiter Harry Joiner. It’s a common error that has been exacerbated by technology, he said.

“Just because I have someone’s name, rank and serial number doesn’t mean that when I call them they know or remember who I am,” said Joiner, 47, owner of ecommercrecruiter.com. “That’s the difference between a legitimate Rolodex and a list of names and job titles. Nothing can substitute for the real-life connections you have.”

If you work in sales in 2012 — at a time when the amount of turnover in nearly every industry can cause head spins — those connections need to be updated, filtered through and managed on a regular basis, said digital media recruiter Michael Adler. The only way to do that is by reaching out to people directly, he said.

“To consider someone a part of your Rolodex, you have to have corresponded with them in the last three to six months,” said Adler, 40, a managing partner at the recruiting firm AC Lion. “The problem with LinkedIn is that everyone wants to expand their professional networks, but they’re not doing much beyond that.”

LinkedIn’s user base is growing at a rate of more than two new members per second, according to the company. As of November 2011, the professional networking site had more than 135 million members around the world, up from 100 million members in March.

If used beyond cold connecting, the site’s features enhance the correspondences between sales reps and their clients and prospects, said Christian Sutherland-Wong, product lead and general manager of LinkedIn’s Premium Subscription business.

“LinkedIn is a very strategic tool for sales professionals, particularly as they think about how to get information on their current network and extended network of leads,” he said. “The more you know about a person’s background and the common connections between you and that person, the higher your response rate will be.”

In one recent case, a company’s sales team was able to secure a high-profile client through the organization’s shared network on LinkedIn, said Sutherland-Wong. That prospect was sitting right under their noses, linked to the company’s chief financial officer.

“The company’s sales team reached up to the CFO to make that connection and they ended up closing the deal,” he said.

LinkedIn does enable users to make their most successful business relationships visible to others, said Rachel Barash, 44, a national sales rep at Realtor.com who sells online advertising.

“I have asked some clients to endorse me on the site and I do believe recruiters and sales directors look at that,” she said.

For AC Lion and our clients, 2011 was a very exciting year. We have been privileged to work with a diversified client base across the digital media landscape and some of the most talented professionals in the field.  Whether mobile or media, exchanges or enterprise, agencies or analytics, AC Lion brings a track record of over 15 years and over $90 million in compensation negotiated. 

Thought I would share some of AC Lion’s successes—the Top Eleven of 2011!

1. VPs Business Dev and Client Services for the leaders in video interactive advertising technology.
2. VP Media, for top 3 travel media platform with 18,000 clients worldwide.(Retained)
3. SVP Sales for a video and content distributed network with over 1 billion impressions.
4. Director of Platform Operations for the world’s top social media company. (Retained)
5. Senior Sales across the country for Amazon.
6. Sales People for the world’s largest independent –and fastest growing–ad platform.
7. EVP Sales (and national team) for sports property with one of the largest aggregated sports audiences.
8. Senior Enterprise Sales Executives for the leading mobile technology platform.
9. Directors of Ad Ops and Audience Development, AT&T.
10. Senior Sales Executives (NY, Chicago, LA) for the world’s most widely used digital maps.
11. Director of Mobile Advertising Operations, iAds (Apple)

During 2011, we expanded our talent acquisition team with new executive recruiters and an expanded Research Department to meet the growing interest in our services.   We also opened a formal office in the Bay Area, to expand our West Coast reach beyond Los Angeles.

You can find and follow AC Lion on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn .  We will use all of these to regularly communicate about new searches and services and information about the trends, leadership and recruiting in the digital media sector.  

May 2012 be a happy and prosperous year!

Top 10 Reasons Santa Needs AC LION Recruiting

1. Santa gets laid off on Dec 26th every year so needs steady employment
2. Keebler keeps poaching all of his best elves.
3. AOL re-orged the toy workshop and all orders must now be approved by Arianna Huffington.
4. The government stimulus didn’t reach the North Pole.
5. Hostile takeover by Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy.
6. Was kicked off Dancing with the Stars. 10 million dollar marriage deal to Kim Kardashian fell through.
7. Free cookies and milk is a great perk-but it’s catching up with him.
8. Boss wants him to do an Extreme Makeover and lose the beard and the red suit.
9. Wants a day job – Mrs. Claus doesn’t like him working at night.
   
   And the #1 Reason Santa wants AC LION to get him a new job?
        If he hears Silent Night one more time . . .

Yes Virginia, there is a job for you! AC Lion currently has over 200 digital media sales and marketing positions open across the country.

We can help Santa, and we can help you, in 2012.

AC Lion’s Mike Adler shares his thoughts on working daily deal sales jobs in today’s market.

Read the full article here!

BREAKING NEWS!! Twitter goes bi-coastal.

THIS JUST IN! All Things Digital reports that Twitter will be opening an office in New York, and their timing couldn’t be any better. The news of their new office broke just hours before the social networking giant confirmed that it raised a whopping $800 million in its most recent round of funding.

It’s a very strategic play for twitter, since their new offices in Gotham city with place them close enough to the playgrounds of Madison Ave, which should help push their advertising business.

With all the excitement going on at Twitter, us at AC Lion would just like to say, Welcome to New York!

Go LinkedIn, Go LinkedIn, Go!

Here’s to your tremendous IPO!

The Internet world continues to grow.

Like Google you’ll be raking in the dough

Here is the top-10 list of U.S. Internet IPOs, according to Capital IQ:

1. Google/Aug. 2004 — raised $1.67 billion

2. Navteq Corp/Aug. 2004 — raised $880 million

3. Savvis/Feb. 2000– $408 million

4. Northpoint Communications/May 1999 — $360 million

5. LinkedIn/May 2011 — $352.8 million

6. Via Net.Works/Feb. 2000 — $315 million

7. Spark Networks/Feb. 2006 — $259 million

8. Limelight Networks/June 2007 — $240 million

9. Equinix/Aug. 2000 — $240 million

10. Akamai/Oct. 1999 — $234 million

How are they doing it?  Let me count the ways!

1. Cablevision matches the names and addresses of their subscribers with regular ad data from third parties, and, voila, different ads to different set top boxes, even if you are watching the same show.    Uses VisibleWorld  Say it’s a hotel ad:  the mom types get an ad promoting their family based activity.   The single guy’s ad highlights their clubs and nightlife. 
2. Dave Morgan, of Tacoda fame, uses your channel changing habits to target ads.   He uses algorithms to categorize the set top box (not the viewer) and targets ads according.  Simulmedia  tracks the data second-by-second.  You like satire news?   You’ll get the edgier version of that ad.
3. Rentrak, a TV-measurement and advertising-services firm, works through your live-TV and DVR  viewing. The company, in some cases, measures videos watched on mobile devices, too.
4. Even TiVo got into the game.  Partnered with TRA, which matches real time data for TiVo boxes, a cable operator and other data, like store frequent shopper cards.    Experian PLC matches the TiVo box to your address through the store card.  Now they know what you watch, what you buy and where you live.    My fave correlation?   TRA found that watchers of “Jersey Shore” are regular buyers of yogurt.  And here I thought it was tanning services and cheap booze.
5. And let’s not forget Google and the long discussed GoogleTV.   When they finally get it right, they’ll be a big player.   Imagine if they use your email content and TV viewing to target ads?

BTW, I’ve been talking mainly about consumer products here. Can you imagine when political candidates start targeting ads by voter?

Click below for more:

Wall Street Journal
Techland

Media Header
Digital Media Recruiter

Yes, there are still some of them left in the world.   In fact, lots of them.    I estimate that roughly 190 million Facebook users use regular cellphones to connect to Facebook.   How did I get there?

• Facebook has 500 million users worldwide.
• About 40% of Facebook users connect to Facebook thru mobile phones.    That works out to 200 million users.
• About 95% of mobile phone users don’t have a smart phone.   And that’s world- wide.  IDC says that 1 billion of them were sold in 2010. 

Now, that’s a market worth tapping.   And Facebook wants to encourage you to connect via mobile.  Not just to increase traffic.   If you connect through a mobile, they know your location—and can now better serve you up ads.  And, don’t forget, that’s a real revenue stream for them.

Today Facebook announced it was buying Snaptu, which develops apps for those cheaper mobile phones, for a reportedly $60-70 million.   And that should help them reach developing areas where users don’t have PCs or smartphones.    Africa, Antarctica, the Amazon—Facebook marches on.

ACLION  BUILDS RESEARCH DIVISION TO SERVE GROWING DIGITAL MARKET

AC Lion, NY’s leading Digital Media executive search firm, announces the appointment of Melina Garda as Senior Director of Research.  Ms. Garda will spearhead AC Lion’s increased fulfillment efforts, as the digital job market continues its strong rebound.

“The demand for top talent in the digital market continues to grow.  AC Lion focuses on top media sales and marketing people—and everyone from Fortune 100s to emerging businesses is ramping up their operation” said CEO Alan Cutter.  “With this appointment, we will have faster turnaround time, which provides better customer service.”

Ms. Garda, a native of Alaska, brings over 10 years senior search experience, focusing on the digital, tech and entertainment sectors on both coasts.  Previously with KornFerry and Katalyst Group, she has an MBA from Pepperdine.   Her clients have included Sony Digital, Fox Mobile, EA Mobile, Activision, and Disney.

Founded in 1996, AC LION is a leading executive search firm specializing in building sales, marketing and technology teams within the digital media (agencies, publishers, networks, search, 3rd party technology/software), emerging platforms (mobile, social, gaming, video and converging media), e-commerce/customer acquisition, and financial industries. Headquartered in New York, AC LION has West Coast operations as well.  Over the past fourteen years, we have developed a strong reputation in the marketplace by helping the industries’ best companies maintain their competitive edge by sourcing the best talent. Visit http://www.aclion.com for more information.

Join the fans of AC Lion on Facebook and LinkedIN and recommend our page to your friends in the digital media space! Click on the logos to like our pages and enter!

Eligibility This promotion is open to individuals ages 18 or older residing in the contiguous United States. Employees, officers, directors and immediate family members (spouse, parents, siblings, and children) of AC Lion are not eligible to participate. Drawing Follow us on both LinkedIn and Facebook to increase your chances of winning the IPAD. The drawing will take place on February 1, 2011 if we have reached 1000 new members on LinkedIn. However, if on February 1, 2011 we do not have 1000 new members, the drawing will take place as soon as we reach our goal of 1000 new members. On the drawing date all of our LinkedIn and Facebook followers will be entered into a raffle where one person will win the IPAD. The winner will be announced on the drawing date through the AC Lion LinkedIn Hot Jobs group and personally contacted via email. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.