Spotlight On: Gwynne Rowe

Name: Gwynne Rowe

Title: Associate Director, Digital

Joined MBuy: January 2015

College: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Graduate School: Northwestern University

Tell us about your journey. Why advertising and technology?

I majored in advertising during college and my first job out of college was at a local Chicago newspaper (Pioneer Press) selling classified print ads. During the recession in 2008, the newspaper industry tanked and I realized quickly that my passion was digital advertising and that is where I wanted to be in my career. I worked for a few years in ad operations at a small company in Evanston, doing temp work copyediting at a textbook company, and doing freelance social media. I’ve always been passionate about consumer behavior and how that fits into brand strategy, so in 2010 I went back to grad school full time to get my master’s in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern.  I specialized in digital marketing during graduate school and after I graduated I landed a job with Vivaki as an Account Planner. I stayed with Vivaki for 3 years, transitioning to a Client Services role, honing my programmatic expertise, and working on accounts such as Sprint, Bank of America and Whirlpool.

What are a few of your strengths and passions? How has working at MBuy enabled you to flex some of these muscles?

I am passionate about providing excellent client service and strategy. One of MBuy’s greatest strengths is our strategic thinking when it comes to brands, and working here allows me to flex those muscles by developing well thought out plans supported with strong rationale. Another one of my passions and what I believe to be one of my greatest strengths is writing. The technology that we use here at MBuy and in the programmatic marketplace overall can be extremely difficult to translate into terms that clients understand. Working at MBuy allows me to use my writing skills to communicate complicated and technical concepts into digestible, client facing insights.

In what ways has working at MBuy challenged you and enabled you to grow?

MBuy is a smaller company than my previous agency which means we’re a lot more nimble and a lot more transparent. This also means there is a lot more accountability and responsibility in day to day operations. MBuy is growing tremendously right now so it has been a challenge to learn how to manage a larger team as well as my own workload. However, I am working with an extremely bright and supportive group of people that constantly support my personal growth.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years and what role does MBuy play in helping you get there?

In 10 years I see myself either working on the client side or in consulting. I feel extremely lucky that I got into programmatic media pretty early on, as advertiser spend in programmatic has continued to grow at a rapid pace each year.  I believe that my past experiences and my time at MBuy will put me in an excellent position to educate and advise clients and agencies about how technology can advance their overall digital brand strategy in the future.

Coffee or tea?

Coffee! The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is make a cup.

Cats or dogs?

Cats. I have 1 cat named Tuxedo.

Give 3 tips for someone looking to land a job like yours.

Get in the door, whether it’s an internship or even an informational interview.

Speak up and advocate for yourself, ask and you shall receive (most of the time)!

Don’t burn bridges and treat people how you want to be treated! You never know who may be your future boss or client.

What are your favorite websites that you can be found browsing during lunch?

Does Snapchat count? Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Refinery29. Yes, I am addicted to social media and I save my serious reading for the morning commute.