April 17, 2025 • 38 mins
Meta's Head of Global Business Group shares how AI is reshaping marketing, human connection, and leadership — plus why innovation and authenticity are key to success. Nicola also shares her personal journey with cancer and how it shaped her approach to leadership. This is a must-listen for anyone navigating the future of business.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to another electrifying episode of Possible Now. Today, I
have the absolute pleasure of introducing a true trailblazer in
the world of digital innovation, Nicola Mendelssohn, Head of the
Global Business Group at Meta. Nikola is not just a leader,
She's a visionary who has spent decades redefining the future
of advertising, digital strategy, and brand engagement. From shaping the
(00:28):
way businesses connect with audiences to driving some of the
most transformative shifts in the industry, her impact is undeniable.
Under her leadership, MITA has not only evolved, but set
the standard for innovation, storytelling, and human centric marketing on
a global scale. Beyond her groundbreaking work at Meta, Nicola
(00:49):
is a fierce advocate for female entrepreneurship and leadership, empowering
thousands of women through initiatives like hashtag she means business.
Her influence extends beyond corporate boardrooms. She's shaping the very
future of digital connectivity. So buckle up for an insightful
and inspiring conversation as we explore Nicola's journey, her bold
(01:12):
vision for the future, and what's next in the ever
evolving world of digital marketing. Nicola a very warm welcome.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Oh thank you, Christian. I'm not sure I recognize myself there,
but thank you for the lovely words.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I'm sure the audience will so. Nikola, You've had obviously
such an incredible career and there's so much more to come.
So to kick off our conversation today, what experiences from
your early life shape the leader you are today? Is
there maybe any tiny little secret which I don't know
yet or the audience don't know yet, which you are
(01:46):
able to share with us.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I've actually been reflecting on this recently because my children
are growing up. They're in the twenties now, and I
was reflecting on the fact that actually I've only ever
had four jobs by doing kind of the waitressing jobs
as you go through university, I've only had four jobs,
whereas my eldest child has already had four jobs. So
you know, we're in such an even that that of
itself is so different to where I think younger people
(02:10):
in Korea are today. Each job, I think has had
pivotal moments woven through them from a personal perspective and
also a professional perspective, because I think the things that
happen in your life obviously define what happens in your
work and vice versa as well. So my earliest job
was about actually moving from where I had grown up
in the north of England to actually working for Battle
(02:31):
Bogel Hagate at a really exciting time in advertising and
also a really exciting time for that company and the
outputs they were creating. You know, I had my own business,
so you know, going from a very big business to
a very small business where the whole team could literally
sit round one table, you know, to the queuing up
at the table at the shops to buy the computers
(02:53):
and organizing the catering ecce doing everything right, and then
ultimately to winning Matter nearly twelve years ago, or Facebook
as it was then. Yeah, each one of those experiences
changed my outlook, changed who I am as a person.
And intersperse that with the fact that, as I said,
four children along the way as well, probably is the
(03:16):
thing that define me the most is the person, the
human and the leader that I am today.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
And well supportably obviously you felt that was always the
right decision for you to move from a smaller organization
to a bigger organization and what's the right time to
do it, and talking about this massive organization, not just
as meta as a as a whole corporate douct also
your responsibility, I mean your job TI ahead of global
business group. You run such a massive team and of
(03:43):
course business as well. By the way, how many markets
are you covering with your team?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
We're in a lot of markets. We're in We have
offices in over forty markets around the world.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, okay, So when we look into what you cover
in your job, I mean it looks even bigger, right,
client partnership and relationship management, it means revenue growth, it
means strategy and so much more. And as we all know,
MITA is at the forefront of innovation. So how do
you navigate leading such a big global team in such
a fast changing industry? What is your secret?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
So? I think probably the thing that attracts a lot
of people to the tech businesses is a curiosity and
a learning mindset and the fact that the product you
have today is not going to be the product that
you have tomorrow. And the extraordinary privilege actually it is
to work at a company like Matter that is really
pushing the boundaries of what human connection human communication is
(04:39):
and so alongside that, if you're the hype of person
that's comfortable in the here and now, likes the status, go,
this is not a job for you. But if you're
curious and you want to learn, and you want to
push and you want to do better, then I think
that these are very exciting places. So that's one part
of it. You know, do you have the mindset the
adaptability to want to do it? And then I think
(05:02):
there is certainly something that couples with that, which is
what is your bias to action? How well are you
able to prioritize, how well are you able to focus
from my side of the house on what's best for
our clients. How are we going to give the strongest
row us, How are we going to represent them with
the engineers, How are we going to get the best
return for the partners. Because if the partners and the
clients are seeing strong row US from you know, the
(05:25):
products we're creating, then I think that stands in good steads.
So being able to adapt, being able to execute, being
able to move fast as well. These are fast paced,
changing environments. I think a lot of companies say that,
but actually this is this is the live, day to
day reality here.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
And you know, when I Randy Mexico for years and
now possible. What I like in my job is working
with sill different cultures, you know, with international businesses and clients.
E said, I assume this is at the top of
your daily work as well within your team in various countries,
but or your client relationships. How challenging is this, you know,
to deal with these different cultures every day.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Well, I think that's about the amazing team that we have,
so that having people on the ground, having people to
be able to channel back the insights that we're hearing
from different parts of the world. I think that's a
really important part. Ultimately, there's so much of the role
is about education both ways, making sure that we're really
clear about what the needs of our partners are, our
advertisers are, but also making sure if there are differences,
(06:28):
that we can seek to understand those better and perhaps adapt.
But often, you know, so much of what we do
it matter is very much operating on a global basis.
Certainly on the advertising products as well, we might test
in different parts of the world, but ultimately we're really
excited about the fact that the products should and can
be able to work anywhere and help any partner to
(06:49):
be able to grow.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Right, So what I've mentioned in my intro to you
was already that you're dedicated, you know, significant time to
supporting entrepreneurs, especially female entrepreneur, particularly through initiatives like hashtag
she means Business. Can you share a specific story about
an entrepreneur who surprised or inspired you along the way
(07:10):
and what did you learn from these very personal relationships.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Look, it's been a privilege to be at the company
and to have enabled so many millions of businesses, actually
for men and women the world over to be able
to grow. One of the things I love and I'm
passionate about tech is that it is ultimately the ultimate leveler.
It really allows anybody who has a phone and a
handful of dollars to be able to start a business.
(07:37):
And when I've traveled the world, I've met those men
and women through programs like Yes, like the one you
mentioned that she Means Business program, we actually trained over
a million women in over thirty eight markets around the world,
which is a very humbling thought. And there are many
examples across so many different industries, whether it's the beauty
industry that you know everything, jewelry, clothing services. You've see
(08:00):
many things that come forward in terms of different challenges
I think, and particularly for women starting business. You know
how difficult it is to get the financing, and we
know that you know, less than two percent of the
VC money out there today actually goes to female founded startups.
One of the reasons I'm very bullish about where we
are in this new AI era, and I'm sure we'll
(08:21):
talk about AI as we get through it, but I
beat you to it is that I think it has
the opportunity to bring more equity for people tourenning up businesses.
So if you don't have that extra capital to be
able to spend on marketing, then in the future, actually
the things that we'll be able to do with them AI,
(08:41):
through the agents, through generative AI, actually will further enhance
the ability for different business owners to be able to
get their messages out there. But yeah, so some of
the biggest beauty brands today now that exists, I'm just thinking.
Good back to the specific question. I remember working with
the likes of Charlotte Tiri, Trinny Woodle when they were
embryonic ideas you know, and now they're well, you know,
(09:04):
unicorn business. It's fantastic to see the success that starts
with one product and a handful of ads and then
just grows and grows.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
So maybe let's combine. You know, you already mentioned AI
and of course no conversation without that topic or at
least touching the topic. And my next question following up
on the previous topic is in your experience, what are
the biggest barriers still in today's time, you know, women
face on entrepreneurship and how can they overcome them? And
is AI helpful to overcome them? So is AI helping
(09:34):
here in some way or is it completely independent from
these tech trends.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah, so the answer is it can, and it should
and it must. But there was some recent research that
I was just reading literally just this week that says
that women are using AI in business on average about
twenty percent less than men, and this is a real worry.
The research, I think it was from Harvard actually dug
further into understand why, and actually the qual side of
(10:00):
it is quite interesting here. The qual size said that
women actually feel like they're cheating if they're using it.
It feels like, you know, you're not doing the job
properly if AI is enabling you to do it, and
that's a terrible thing because it also means that AI
is then only training on men who are using it,
not just women. And at the same time, we know
(10:22):
that hiring managers and managers believe that people who use
AI as part of their work toolkit now actually will
do better in the workplace. So this is a real problem.
If there are any women out there listening right now
that are having this thought going through their head, my
answer to you all is cheat, cheat, because it's the
(10:43):
right thing to do. It's not really cheating. It's an enabler.
It will make you effective, it will make you more productive,
and it will allow you and free you up the
time to be able to spend on some of the
more strategic and more important questions that you need to address.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
That's a very interesting information. I didn't know that. I'm
not aware of this survey. And obviously, which would be
my next question, what would be your key advice for women?
Obviously you already said it, you know, cheat and use
all the advantages coming out of these tech friends. Obviously,
like men and like everybody else, which is obvious.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I would also say, adopt a tech learning mindset, which
is to embrace failure. You know, just start to utilize
it into your day every day. So I was talking
to Tiffany, the founder of tiff and Tech. She has
an online education business around tech, making it simple, making
it easier, and she said, just start with sixty seconds
a day. Just start with sixty seconds a day of
(11:37):
enriching yourself with new learnings, new ways of doing things,
new tools into your daily diet, both professionally and personally,
and ultimately that will build your muscle up in this
area better, so you'll feel more confident and more fluent
in using it.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
That's a great advice. Thanks for sharing this with the audience.
I don't know how you look into this, but the
lines between our work life and the rest of our
lives can feel really blurred these days. I'm not sure
if it's because of the pandemic or if it would
happen anyway. At the end, it is as it is
in today's time. I think you are generously public about
some of the personal challenges you've faced, like your cancer
(12:13):
diagnosis a couple of years ago. If you're open to
share your experiences here with the audience, I mean going public,
being so transparent, not just within your organization, to your team,
to your colleagues, but also to everybody including your clients.
Did you ever feel more vulnerable in these days? And
I assume you've got a lot of support. I assume
(12:36):
also that that was hopefully a lot of you know,
provide a lot of positive energy back to you. So
are you willing or able to share some of your
experiences with our listeners?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Yeah, I am actually Christin. You and I have known
each other a long time. Can you believe it was
actually twenty sixteen when I was diagnosed with a blood cancer,
a non Hodgkins bloo can so called follicular lymphoma. You
also know that I'm a pretty open person, and so
I've always thought that the idea of hiding things from
(13:09):
the people you work with or the people that you love,
actually can make things more stressful and harder. And that
is certainly true with when you face up to, you know,
a diagnosis of cancer, because you know it hits you
in the face a your own mortality, which, honestly, up
(13:29):
until the age of forty five, I had never thought
about my own mortality. It's that's not who I am.
I'm a pretty optimistic, positive person, and so getting a
diagnosis was Honestly, it was the worst. It was the
worst day weekend because you don't quite get the whole
diagnosis straight away of my life and the hardest thing
(13:50):
that yeah, that my family has ever had to deal with.
And that was also part of what was so difficult,
which is this is not something that happens just to
you in isolation. It happens to the people around you.
I also know how fortunate I was to work at
a company that was there for me unquestionably in terms
of taking the time off of the tests or whatever
(14:11):
it was I needed, and I know for a lot
of people that's not the case. So I'm very secure
in my foundations and very blessed to be secure in
the foundations of you know, the people I love in
my family, my community, and also my work friends, my
work community, and my employer. But I think ultimately I
didn't ever think I wouldn't share it or be open
about it. I think I could never have envisaged the
(14:35):
outpouring of love and support that I received totally was
overwhelming and kind of I think a helped me through
that period but also pushed me to think about what
else I could do. This cancer is currently incurable I
am well today, and so I'm glad. I'm grateful for
(14:57):
that I did have chemotherapy, I did have immunotherapy. The
pandemic was much worse for me in terms of having
to be super super careful because people suffering with blood
cancer were in the most vulnerable class, in the most
vulnerable groups because our immune systems are so compromised.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Being more isolated than everybody else at this time.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yeah, my isolation last about eighteen months.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, it was a very long time. But it also
my family's isolation as a result as well. So look,
I also know how lucky I am to have the
support that I do have, And now I channel my
energies here now today into a foundation to try and
find a cure for people that are living with follicular
lymphoma in parts burned on by the Facebook group that
(15:43):
was created that I'm the co admin of, where we
now have over eleven thousand people that live with follicular
and infirm which is the largest group of people that
have ever been kind of got together. So that's part
of what I strive for every day as well, that
we'll find a cure.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Thank you so much for sharing this with us. It's
so impressive your personal journey, but of course also the
work you do in terms of helping others with similar challenges.
But looking back, obviously you say that was the right
move right you would do it again.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Yeah, one hundred percent, definitely. And I see people that
because I've been so open, many people CEOs come up
to me and say they live with similar thing or
they have it, and so many are private. And when
I ask the question back about how much more stress
does that give, I often see people's shoulders go up
and that tightening and that stress that comes from it,
(16:34):
of that almost having to live a double life around
issues with your health. And so I just hope that
people out there can actually look to the support of
their friends and their employees to be able to say
it's okay to talk about it, because more people than
not will be there for you and if anything, can
lighten the journey as you're going through a significant health issue.
(16:54):
But actually I don't think it's just about health. You know,
there's so many disruptions in life that you often don't
expect back. I think the more we're that for people,
the more we can better understand who they are and
ultimately how they're performing in their role. If we can
help support them in different ways as well with their jobs.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
That's a strong message. Thank you for sharing this with
the audience. Of course, it's part of the overall balancing,
you know, such a high profile career and personal life
and the challenges in your personal life as well. So
how do you manage this today in general, the work
life balance? How do you manage this in your current situation?
And what advice would you have for people out there?
(17:32):
Do you have a routine? Is it more you know,
doing it day by day, which I assume it's not.
So is there anything you want to share with Yeah, forgive.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Me because I really like you, but I really hate
your question around balance. Okay, And I'll tell you the
reason I really hate the word balance, Please do serve.
It's because it implies that if you're getting it wrong
fifty percent at the time, that if things aren't perfectly aligned,
then you're either not good at your job or you're
not good in your life. And I just see the
whole thing has kind of smudged together. And so that's
(18:05):
the first thing that sometimes society can place unfair expectations
on people as to what they should be doing. There's
no such thing as normal. What works for some families
or people or you know, couples or individuals isn't the
same as the thing that will work for the next one.
For me, I've always started the I do like a
(18:26):
bit of vision writing, and I always start the year with,
you know, a conversation with my husband, with my kids,
because that's my anchor, that's my route in terms of
what everybody wants to do this year, what are the
most important things, and starting with that understanding and the
clarity about what we all care about, what we all
want to do, where we might like to go on holiday,
those kind of things. Work will tell you this is
(18:50):
not about you know, having to do this for work.
Work will be very clear, these are your KPIs, these
are the things that you need to do. But I
think if you're not intentional and you don't think about
the things that matter most to you, then you'll end
up just kind of going along for the ride. And
the ride is usually one that's created by somebody else
that happens to you, versus what you can take control
of that you can kind of manage and go forwards with.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Okay, So we're in agreement. We skip the term balance, right,
it doesn't exist anymore. All right, I get it. Everybody
else gets it as well. So that's that's good. That's good.
So let's talk about business a bit more about you know,
well that.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Question you did as you did ask me one other
bit of the question, which was about routines. Yeah, and
this is an area I do try and think about
a lot, and for me, the most important thing here
is sleep. I really believe that sleep is a weapon.
It is the foundation of everything mental health, physical health,
well being. And so I do walk around with my
(19:45):
ora ring. I do look at it religiously every day.
And the things that can impact my sleep are the
things that I treasure and try and preserve the most,
whether it's you know, what I eat, what I drink.
And I'm never as good on the exercise side of things.
But I'll tell you one thing I have started picking
up in the last year, which is actually making the
space and the time. And it will sound so strange,
(20:07):
but just to be able to breathe and spend the
time breathing in a in a more reflective manner actually
can massively improve your HLV scores, which ultimately helps your
you know, your restorative side of you better sleep, better
well being. So those are a couple of things that
are important.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I totally agree, especially with sleep. You know, this is
especially when you're like you're, you know, traveling so much
and be in different places all the time. I totally agree,
this is the best protection you know to stay fit
and healthy. So you already mentioned AI and obviously you
(20:52):
know there is no conversation without touching this before we
do this. Looking into the last twenty years of Matter
and how this company developed over the last more than
ten years, how would you define Matter's identity today? It
certainly feels like social media company is far too narrow
as a definition. I'm not sure if tech company is
(21:13):
a better one. And where do you see it evolving
into the next two, three, four or five years.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
So we've certainly evolved from being simply a social media company,
but we've always been a company that connects people and
that remains at the heart of everything we do. I mean,
we're a technology company now, that's what we are, and
Matter and the world everything is just doesn't it feel
like the world is just getting faster and faster, And
(21:41):
so I think it's really hard for any of us
to say where we're going to be in five years time.
But you know, Mark's set out some very clear expectations
about where he sees the shift is going to be
with AI, with the use of agents, and also all
the world of augmented and virtually. I mean, I think
there's some really exciting things on the horizon there as well.
(22:03):
So yes, it's shifted, Yes there's a change with some
of that core DNA around technology. Company that's connecting people
orbit in new and different ways remains a constant.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
So following up on this and before we go forward
into the future a bit more, at least for the
next couple of months and one two years, you run
a massive ad business for this company, and looking back
in the last maybe one two years, how has met
US ADS business evolved over the last few years and
what was the innovation which drove this transformation? Obviously I
(22:36):
could be part of this. I assume it is what
made the difference in the last one two years. And
of course, then looking forward into the next let's say
twelve months or so, what can clients expect for their
campaigns and improvements and additional services in the ads business,
maybe you're able to look back a second, you know,
and then of course touch what we can expect in
(22:57):
the future. In the future.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Dibly proud of the results that we are driving for
millions of businesses around the world that are using our platforms.
And you know, this is due to the brilliance of
you know, the likes of John Hegeman and Andrew Bocking,
who are leading on all the work that we're doing
on the monetization side for Meta. You know, the fact
that I can sit here today and say because of
(23:21):
the advancements that we made in AI, the rebuilding of
the creation of our Advantage plus Meta suite of products,
advertisers in the US today are seeing it a twenty
two percent increase on average in rowas that's because of
the AI driven targeting. The features goes up to actually
over twenty five percent if you're in Europe. So these
(23:43):
are fantastic numbers. But these are not things that we
are We don't sit on our laurels and think that's it.
We're constantly evolving what the products are that we're creating
in order to address the needs of advertisers. And so
to the point of where this is all going it's
bringing together the performance side of meta advantage with the
(24:04):
GENAI tools that we're creating and developing in order to
help advertisers create different variations across all of their different
ad content, whether it's text to static images and even
video with speed and quality and low cost. And we're
already seeing these products are not very old, but we've
already got four million advertisers that are using them. They're
(24:25):
already creating tens of millions of different ads with strong results,
and we're seeing already an estimated to seven percent increasing
conversions since people have started to adopt this and feature
it into their campaigns. So you're going to see us
continue to double down and invest more in AI, which
of course everything is built on top of LAMA, our
(24:46):
large language model, and ultimately benefiting advertisers with the performance
that they're seeing.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
So I mean, obviously MITA has implemented a lot using
I and you've mentioned a couple of things I would add,
you know, enhancing personalized content to optim ad delivery. It
also positively impacts the level of creativity you've mentioned clients, Ari,
is there one dedicated thing you would like users as
well as brands to know about metas Ai integration. So
(25:14):
for the next couple of months, really, you know, if
there would be you know, an announcement to be expected
in the near future in which director I mean not
that you do it right now here, obviously, but in
which direction? You know, is there anything we can expect.
Is it all based on AI these days, which is
massive obviously and provides a lot of opportunities, or is
(25:35):
there anything else?
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Yeah, So there's two parts that I would comment here on.
First starts on the user side with Meta AI. So
the fact that today metaai is being used by over
seven hundred million people for free, I think is really exciting. Yeah,
and I think this is the year that one of
the platforms will hit a billion users, and I very
much hope that that's going to be Meta is the
(25:58):
one that does that. And Then on the business side,
I think there's real huge excitement around the you know,
the business agent side of things. We're already seeing that
there's over six hundred million conversations every single day between
people and businesses. That's happening on places like Instagram, direct
(26:19):
a Messenger and also on WhatsApp as well. So this
opportunity here is enormous and We've already announced that we're
expanding our business AIS to thousands of business using things
like click to message ads on WhatsApp or messenger in English.
So this is something that businesses can really quickly set up.
They can get going with a business AI that can
(26:40):
already you talk to their customer, that can offer support,
that can facilitate commerce. And where I see it going
is that just in the same way that today every
business has a website or a social media presence or
an email, we absolutely expect that every business is going
to have an AI agent that will interact with the
customers for them twenty four hours a day, seven days
(27:03):
a week. And I think that's just really exciting and
it's a whole new area of communication and customers support
that we're just starting to scratch the surface of. And
for marketers, I think it's got really interesting implications of
what it means to actually have, you know, almost a
three dimensional agent that can speak on behalf of the brand,
(27:24):
be the brand, What does that mean? What does that
you know? What will that sound like, what will that
look like? What will that tone of voice be? So
I think that's a very exciting thing that advertisers marketers
are going to get behind over the weeks and months ahead.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Right, And obviously there's not just one agent, right we
are dealing with there or there are several, I know,
for all the different purposes. Maybe to look into the
broader environment and initiatives, which was and still it is
called midaverse. There's been significant investments and into the other
behind MID vision for the midaverse. How is mid evolving
(28:00):
its strategy to keep this momentum alive? And where do
you see the metaverse fitting into Meta's long term ecosystem?
Also coming from the AI perspective, is AI part of
the metaverse? Is metaverse part of the II development and trend?
Maybe you can give us a bit more clarity about
how this will fit with each other.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
So look, I think the buzz around the term metaverse
has kind of receded, but I don't think we should
mistake that for a lack of progress. Meta has invested
billions on metaverse related initiatives. We've got a multi year
headstart on shipping VR hardware. And you know, I think
Mark Zuckerberg believes in the metaverse more than any other
(28:42):
corporate executive. And to your question on AI, yes, there
is a great AI metaverse convergence because the metaverse is
powered by AI and AI is you know, it's one
of the two major technological waves that drives meta's roadmap.
We've got a huge AI wave today and are building
the metaverse wave for the future. And so we've been
(29:05):
investing in fundamental research into both areas ever since. And
you know, the breakthroughs in areas like things like computer vision,
that's what actually has enabled the VR side of things
to take off. And it's AI made with mixed reality
devices that have made things like the Quest three device possible,
which is built on a deep stack of AI power
(29:27):
technologies where they're blending the physical and the digital worlds
and you know, delivering augmented reality experiences. And then when
you come to our Rayba Meta smart glasses, they've got
there got AI meta AI embedded, so that then allows
people to gain access to things like well, if you
tried them, you can get things like helpful info, recommendations,
(29:49):
you can get suggestions. You know, you can have all
these things on the go just by being able to
use the person's voice and the AI. I think if
you think about the future, we think about the AI
powered assistance of being, if you like, one of the
superpowers of ar glasses. And so we're really investing significantly
(30:10):
in building out the AI systems that see and are
able to see the world like you do, so that
they'll be able to help you throughout your day. And
so those are kind of some of the areas which
I think are really exciting. But when you then bring
all that to, you know, closer to our worlds of
marketing and advertising, we live in such a creative space. Advertisers,
(30:32):
you know, just love to expand their thinking about, you know,
what is beyond the physical realm, and so you start
to see the gears turning with the big ideas as
a whole new creative canvas for storytelling and information sharing
as well. And so I think these have got really
exciting opportunities, not just from a creative standpoint, a financial
(30:52):
one as well, because businesses are going to be able
to do things that were not possible before. And from
our side from a metapuserspective, you know, we're not afraid
to make those bets, long term bets on emerging technologies.
We know they're not easy, but I think it's one
of the most valuable things that a tech company can do,
and it's ultimately one of the only ways to make
(31:13):
is relevant over the long term as well.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
That's super exciting and I'm sure there will be plenty
of discussions also at the upcoming possible conference show in
a couple of weeks time, across all the different sessions.
So I'm really looking forward to this and learn more
about what we really can expect for the daily business
and not just as a vision but feel for the
daily business in the next couple of weeks and months, Nikola,
(31:37):
As we look ahead to twenty twenty five, the rest
of twenty twenty five or the next twelve months, let's
say it is obviously global economy is navigating a complex landscape.
It's a eye driven innovations out there shifting consumer behaviors
all the time, of course ongoing geopolitical challenges. You wake
(31:57):
up every morning and think, Okay, what's happening today out
in the world from your vantage point of mata, what
key economic trends do you foresee shaping the digital and
business ecosystem, both globally and maybe specifically in the US.
And what trends or emerging technologies do you believe will
shape the future of metas ads business.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Yeah, so look, overall, from talking to business leaders the
world over, everybody is focused on growth. You're right, we
do live on in certain times. But I think businesses
have got better at planning into an uncertainty and really
focusing and doubling down on the areas of growth, recognizing
that the only constant really has changed. And so how
(32:42):
businesses can adapt to be more agile, to be more flexible,
to be more nimble, I think is a really really
important part. I think advertisers are being more even more
disciplined about looking at the row us when it comes
to whether deployee their dollars when it comes to marketing,
and so so much to the conversation at the beginning
was about the pride that I have in how we're
(33:03):
able to drive performance and results for businesses all over
the world and how the you know, the products that
we're creating actually are allowing. You know, we have a
stat that is now that for every dollar that is
put into our ads, it's driving back on average three
dollars thirty one in revenue for advertisers. That's in the US.
(33:24):
Similar stat in Europe is that for every three seventy
nine euros, you know, seem really strong increase as well
for ever every euro it invested there. So that's where
I start. People are looking for growth, people recognize uncertainty
from a meta perspective. I didn't even touch on one
of our newer apps, which is Threads. Threads is already
(33:46):
has three hundred and twenty million users on it, which
is a fantastic thing to see in such in a
short period of time, and we announced that we just
started to test very early on the monetization side of
actually bringing in some very early ad products into Threads,
which is really exciting. And so one of the things
that I'm often asked is well, what can I do
if I don't have that in my country, and most
(34:06):
countries don't yet. But as a brand, I would say,
just start to understand what's going on on the platform,
how people are interacting with the businesses on there already,
and how you show up there. It is different, it's
a different experience, So I think that's another exciting area.
And then the other big trend that I see really
coming through strong around the world. And you mentioned earlier
(34:29):
how much you and I both travel, and you'll have
seen this as well from certainly traveling around Asia and
Latin America in particular, as well as Europe. Also is
this trend between businesses and people through WhatsApp. And you know,
I mentioned earlier that you know, six hundred million messages
are going between people and businesses every single day. We're
(34:51):
investing more and more here in order that brands can
you know, have a more active experience and we can
help them actually leverage g orre tons in this area.
It is a different area, but we're also thinking here
around how we can help on the utility side for
businesses all the area around things like I don't know,
(35:12):
if you're an airline, how you have one thread, one
WhatsApp thread that has everything from you book your ticket,
you've got your confirmation number, you get told where your
boarding passes. It's all in one place, makes it very simple.
We've seen everything now being communicated here, from life insurance
to e commerce to audio McDonald's in Brazil, all happening
(35:35):
or on happening on WhatsApp. So I think that's another
very big area an opportunity for advertisers today.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
I think that was a great answer for this very
complex question as well, and also kind of a good outlook.
Maybe the very last one from my end would be
knowing what we covered in the last thirty minutes or so.
Is there any final advice for executives and leaders out there,
coming back to where we started, you know, your personal
experiences as a leader, is there, especially in these times?
(36:04):
Is there anything you would share with the audience more
from a leadership perspective which could help everybody out there
to do better and to perform better.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
I think it goes back to the beginning actually, which
makes sure that you're putting yourself as a leader in
a position to really embrace the new technology that's coming
thick and fast add us. And actually sometimes that means
that you've got to dedicate a little bit of time
to investing in yourself. And whilst I hadn't intended to
start this off as a plug for a recent conference
that will be happening very soon, I think having a
(36:36):
conference like Possible where you can come together with your
peers in a learning environment with some of the best
speakers on the planet coming together and some sidebar conversations.
I know we're dedicating a lot of time at the conference,
particularly on AI to make sure that the people that
are coming to the conference can leave there really being
(36:56):
the leaders in the field to be able to accelerate
and grow the businesses at a quicker pace than those
that haven't invested the time. And I think you can
get away with perhaps not learning every year, but I
don't think this is a year that you can't afford
not to be investing in yourself and learning. Such is
the pace of change of what is happening with AI.
I love it, I'm nergize by it, I'm excited about it.
(37:18):
But to be an environment where you can share and
discuss and debate with your peers, I think there's nothing
better than that. So that would probably be my final advice.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Thank you, Nicholas. Thank you so much. What a great
closing statement and what a great conversation we've had. Thank
you for your time. I'm sure your insides, your energy,
your passion made it a very interesting conversation for the
audience out there as well. And I'm really looking forward
to see you in Miami in a couple of weeks.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Thank you Christian, and yeah, looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Thanks for tuning in everyone. Once again, I'm your host,
Christian Moher. If you have a question or suggestion to
me reach out, send me the m on LinkedIn is
to learn more about Possible, sign up for our newsletter,
or if you want to join us at the Possible
Show in Miami, visit Possible event dot com. Possible Now
(38:09):
is a co production of iHeartMedia and Possible. Our executive
producers are Ryan Martz and Yasmin Melandez. Our supervising producer
is Meredith Barnes. Special thanks to Colleen Lawrence Mack from
our programming team. Our theme music is composed by Anthony Keatacoli.
For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeart app Apple podcast,
(38:31):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows
Welcome to another electrifying episode of Possible Now. Today, I
have the absolute pleasure of introducing a true trailblazer in
the world of digital innovation, Nicola Mendelssohn, Head of the
Global Business Group at Meta. Nikola is not just a leader,
She's a visionary who has spent decades redefining the future
of advertising, digital strategy, and brand engagement. From shaping the
(00:28):
way businesses connect with audiences to driving some of the
most transformative shifts in the industry, her impact is undeniable.
Under her leadership, MITA has not only evolved, but set
the standard for innovation, storytelling, and human centric marketing on
a global scale. Beyond her groundbreaking work at Meta, Nicola
(00:49):
is a fierce advocate for female entrepreneurship and leadership, empowering
thousands of women through initiatives like hashtag she means business.
Her influence extends beyond corporate boardrooms. She's shaping the very
future of digital connectivity. So buckle up for an insightful
and inspiring conversation as we explore Nicola's journey, her bold
(01:12):
vision for the future, and what's next in the ever
evolving world of digital marketing. Nicola a very warm welcome.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Oh thank you, Christian. I'm not sure I recognize myself there,
but thank you for the lovely words.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I'm sure the audience will so. Nikola, You've had obviously
such an incredible career and there's so much more to come.
So to kick off our conversation today, what experiences from
your early life shape the leader you are today? Is
there maybe any tiny little secret which I don't know
yet or the audience don't know yet, which you are
(01:46):
able to share with us.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I've actually been reflecting on this recently because my children
are growing up. They're in the twenties now, and I
was reflecting on the fact that actually I've only ever
had four jobs by doing kind of the waitressing jobs
as you go through university, I've only had four jobs,
whereas my eldest child has already had four jobs. So
you know, we're in such an even that that of
itself is so different to where I think younger people
(02:10):
in Korea are today. Each job, I think has had
pivotal moments woven through them from a personal perspective and
also a professional perspective, because I think the things that
happen in your life obviously define what happens in your
work and vice versa as well. So my earliest job
was about actually moving from where I had grown up
in the north of England to actually working for Battle
(02:31):
Bogel Hagate at a really exciting time in advertising and
also a really exciting time for that company and the
outputs they were creating. You know, I had my own business,
so you know, going from a very big business to
a very small business where the whole team could literally
sit round one table, you know, to the queuing up
at the table at the shops to buy the computers
(02:53):
and organizing the catering ecce doing everything right, and then
ultimately to winning Matter nearly twelve years ago, or Facebook
as it was then. Yeah, each one of those experiences
changed my outlook, changed who I am as a person.
And intersperse that with the fact that, as I said,
four children along the way as well, probably is the
(03:16):
thing that define me the most is the person, the
human and the leader that I am today.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
And well supportably obviously you felt that was always the
right decision for you to move from a smaller organization
to a bigger organization and what's the right time to
do it, and talking about this massive organization, not just
as meta as a as a whole corporate douct also
your responsibility, I mean your job TI ahead of global
business group. You run such a massive team and of
(03:43):
course business as well. By the way, how many markets
are you covering with your team?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
We're in a lot of markets. We're in We have
offices in over forty markets around the world.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, okay, So when we look into what you cover
in your job, I mean it looks even bigger, right,
client partnership and relationship management, it means revenue growth, it
means strategy and so much more. And as we all know,
MITA is at the forefront of innovation. So how do
you navigate leading such a big global team in such
a fast changing industry? What is your secret?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
So? I think probably the thing that attracts a lot
of people to the tech businesses is a curiosity and
a learning mindset and the fact that the product you
have today is not going to be the product that
you have tomorrow. And the extraordinary privilege actually it is
to work at a company like Matter that is really
pushing the boundaries of what human connection human communication is
(04:39):
and so alongside that, if you're the hype of person
that's comfortable in the here and now, likes the status, go,
this is not a job for you. But if you're
curious and you want to learn, and you want to
push and you want to do better, then I think
that these are very exciting places. So that's one part
of it. You know, do you have the mindset the
adaptability to want to do it? And then I think
(05:02):
there is certainly something that couples with that, which is
what is your bias to action? How well are you
able to prioritize, how well are you able to focus
from my side of the house on what's best for
our clients. How are we going to give the strongest
row us, How are we going to represent them with
the engineers, How are we going to get the best
return for the partners. Because if the partners and the
clients are seeing strong row US from you know, the
(05:25):
products we're creating, then I think that stands in good steads.
So being able to adapt, being able to execute, being
able to move fast as well. These are fast paced,
changing environments. I think a lot of companies say that,
but actually this is this is the live, day to
day reality here.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
And you know, when I Randy Mexico for years and
now possible. What I like in my job is working
with sill different cultures, you know, with international businesses and clients.
E said, I assume this is at the top of
your daily work as well within your team in various countries,
but or your client relationships. How challenging is this, you know,
to deal with these different cultures every day.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Well, I think that's about the amazing team that we have,
so that having people on the ground, having people to
be able to channel back the insights that we're hearing
from different parts of the world. I think that's a
really important part. Ultimately, there's so much of the role
is about education both ways, making sure that we're really
clear about what the needs of our partners are, our
advertisers are, but also making sure if there are differences,
(06:28):
that we can seek to understand those better and perhaps adapt.
But often, you know, so much of what we do
it matter is very much operating on a global basis.
Certainly on the advertising products as well, we might test
in different parts of the world, but ultimately we're really
excited about the fact that the products should and can
be able to work anywhere and help any partner to
(06:49):
be able to grow.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Right, So what I've mentioned in my intro to you
was already that you're dedicated, you know, significant time to
supporting entrepreneurs, especially female entrepreneur, particularly through initiatives like hashtag
she means Business. Can you share a specific story about
an entrepreneur who surprised or inspired you along the way
(07:10):
and what did you learn from these very personal relationships.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Look, it's been a privilege to be at the company
and to have enabled so many millions of businesses, actually
for men and women the world over to be able
to grow. One of the things I love and I'm
passionate about tech is that it is ultimately the ultimate leveler.
It really allows anybody who has a phone and a
handful of dollars to be able to start a business.
(07:37):
And when I've traveled the world, I've met those men
and women through programs like Yes, like the one you
mentioned that she Means Business program, we actually trained over
a million women in over thirty eight markets around the world,
which is a very humbling thought. And there are many
examples across so many different industries, whether it's the beauty
industry that you know everything, jewelry, clothing services. You've see
(08:00):
many things that come forward in terms of different challenges
I think, and particularly for women starting business. You know
how difficult it is to get the financing, and we
know that you know, less than two percent of the
VC money out there today actually goes to female founded startups.
One of the reasons I'm very bullish about where we
are in this new AI era, and I'm sure we'll
(08:21):
talk about AI as we get through it, but I
beat you to it is that I think it has
the opportunity to bring more equity for people tourenning up businesses.
So if you don't have that extra capital to be
able to spend on marketing, then in the future, actually
the things that we'll be able to do with them AI,
(08:41):
through the agents, through generative AI, actually will further enhance
the ability for different business owners to be able to
get their messages out there. But yeah, so some of
the biggest beauty brands today now that exists, I'm just thinking.
Good back to the specific question. I remember working with
the likes of Charlotte Tiri, Trinny Woodle when they were
embryonic ideas you know, and now they're well, you know,
(09:04):
unicorn business. It's fantastic to see the success that starts
with one product and a handful of ads and then
just grows and grows.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
So maybe let's combine. You know, you already mentioned AI
and of course no conversation without that topic or at
least touching the topic. And my next question following up
on the previous topic is in your experience, what are
the biggest barriers still in today's time, you know, women
face on entrepreneurship and how can they overcome them? And
is AI helpful to overcome them? So is AI helping
(09:34):
here in some way or is it completely independent from
these tech trends.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah, so the answer is it can, and it should
and it must. But there was some recent research that
I was just reading literally just this week that says
that women are using AI in business on average about
twenty percent less than men, and this is a real worry.
The research, I think it was from Harvard actually dug
further into understand why, and actually the qual side of
(10:00):
it is quite interesting here. The qual size said that
women actually feel like they're cheating if they're using it.
It feels like, you know, you're not doing the job
properly if AI is enabling you to do it, and
that's a terrible thing because it also means that AI
is then only training on men who are using it,
not just women. And at the same time, we know
(10:22):
that hiring managers and managers believe that people who use
AI as part of their work toolkit now actually will
do better in the workplace. So this is a real problem.
If there are any women out there listening right now
that are having this thought going through their head, my
answer to you all is cheat, cheat, because it's the
(10:43):
right thing to do. It's not really cheating. It's an enabler.
It will make you effective, it will make you more productive,
and it will allow you and free you up the
time to be able to spend on some of the
more strategic and more important questions that you need to address.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
That's a very interesting information. I didn't know that. I'm
not aware of this survey. And obviously, which would be
my next question, what would be your key advice for women?
Obviously you already said it, you know, cheat and use
all the advantages coming out of these tech friends. Obviously,
like men and like everybody else, which is obvious.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I would also say, adopt a tech learning mindset, which
is to embrace failure. You know, just start to utilize
it into your day every day. So I was talking
to Tiffany, the founder of tiff and Tech. She has
an online education business around tech, making it simple, making
it easier, and she said, just start with sixty seconds
a day. Just start with sixty seconds a day of
(11:37):
enriching yourself with new learnings, new ways of doing things,
new tools into your daily diet, both professionally and personally,
and ultimately that will build your muscle up in this
area better, so you'll feel more confident and more fluent
in using it.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
That's a great advice. Thanks for sharing this with the audience.
I don't know how you look into this, but the
lines between our work life and the rest of our
lives can feel really blurred these days. I'm not sure
if it's because of the pandemic or if it would
happen anyway. At the end, it is as it is
in today's time. I think you are generously public about
some of the personal challenges you've faced, like your cancer
(12:13):
diagnosis a couple of years ago. If you're open to
share your experiences here with the audience, I mean going public,
being so transparent, not just within your organization, to your team,
to your colleagues, but also to everybody including your clients.
Did you ever feel more vulnerable in these days? And
I assume you've got a lot of support. I assume
(12:36):
also that that was hopefully a lot of you know,
provide a lot of positive energy back to you. So
are you willing or able to share some of your
experiences with our listeners?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Yeah, I am actually Christin. You and I have known
each other a long time. Can you believe it was
actually twenty sixteen when I was diagnosed with a blood cancer,
a non Hodgkins bloo can so called follicular lymphoma. You
also know that I'm a pretty open person, and so
I've always thought that the idea of hiding things from
(13:09):
the people you work with or the people that you love,
actually can make things more stressful and harder. And that
is certainly true with when you face up to, you know,
a diagnosis of cancer, because you know it hits you
in the face a your own mortality, which, honestly, up
(13:29):
until the age of forty five, I had never thought
about my own mortality. It's that's not who I am.
I'm a pretty optimistic, positive person, and so getting a
diagnosis was Honestly, it was the worst. It was the
worst day weekend because you don't quite get the whole
diagnosis straight away of my life and the hardest thing
(13:50):
that yeah, that my family has ever had to deal with.
And that was also part of what was so difficult,
which is this is not something that happens just to
you in isolation. It happens to the people around you.
I also know how fortunate I was to work at
a company that was there for me unquestionably in terms
of taking the time off of the tests or whatever
(14:11):
it was I needed, and I know for a lot
of people that's not the case. So I'm very secure
in my foundations and very blessed to be secure in
the foundations of you know, the people I love in
my family, my community, and also my work friends, my
work community, and my employer. But I think ultimately I
didn't ever think I wouldn't share it or be open
about it. I think I could never have envisaged the
(14:35):
outpouring of love and support that I received totally was
overwhelming and kind of I think a helped me through
that period but also pushed me to think about what
else I could do. This cancer is currently incurable I
am well today, and so I'm glad. I'm grateful for
(14:57):
that I did have chemotherapy, I did have immunotherapy. The
pandemic was much worse for me in terms of having
to be super super careful because people suffering with blood
cancer were in the most vulnerable class, in the most
vulnerable groups because our immune systems are so compromised.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Being more isolated than everybody else at this time.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yeah, my isolation last about eighteen months.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, it was a very long time. But it also
my family's isolation as a result as well. So look,
I also know how lucky I am to have the
support that I do have, And now I channel my
energies here now today into a foundation to try and
find a cure for people that are living with follicular
lymphoma in parts burned on by the Facebook group that
(15:43):
was created that I'm the co admin of, where we
now have over eleven thousand people that live with follicular
and infirm which is the largest group of people that
have ever been kind of got together. So that's part
of what I strive for every day as well, that
we'll find a cure.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Thank you so much for sharing this with us. It's
so impressive your personal journey, but of course also the
work you do in terms of helping others with similar challenges.
But looking back, obviously you say that was the right
move right you would do it again.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Yeah, one hundred percent, definitely. And I see people that
because I've been so open, many people CEOs come up
to me and say they live with similar thing or
they have it, and so many are private. And when
I ask the question back about how much more stress
does that give, I often see people's shoulders go up
and that tightening and that stress that comes from it,
(16:34):
of that almost having to live a double life around
issues with your health. And so I just hope that
people out there can actually look to the support of
their friends and their employees to be able to say
it's okay to talk about it, because more people than
not will be there for you and if anything, can
lighten the journey as you're going through a significant health issue.
(16:54):
But actually I don't think it's just about health. You know,
there's so many disruptions in life that you often don't
expect back. I think the more we're that for people,
the more we can better understand who they are and
ultimately how they're performing in their role. If we can
help support them in different ways as well with their jobs.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
That's a strong message. Thank you for sharing this with
the audience. Of course, it's part of the overall balancing,
you know, such a high profile career and personal life
and the challenges in your personal life as well. So
how do you manage this today in general, the work
life balance? How do you manage this in your current situation?
And what advice would you have for people out there?
(17:32):
Do you have a routine? Is it more you know,
doing it day by day, which I assume it's not.
So is there anything you want to share with Yeah, forgive.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Me because I really like you, but I really hate
your question around balance. Okay, And I'll tell you the
reason I really hate the word balance, Please do serve.
It's because it implies that if you're getting it wrong
fifty percent at the time, that if things aren't perfectly aligned,
then you're either not good at your job or you're
not good in your life. And I just see the
whole thing has kind of smudged together. And so that's
(18:05):
the first thing that sometimes society can place unfair expectations
on people as to what they should be doing. There's
no such thing as normal. What works for some families
or people or you know, couples or individuals isn't the
same as the thing that will work for the next one.
For me, I've always started the I do like a
(18:26):
bit of vision writing, and I always start the year with,
you know, a conversation with my husband, with my kids,
because that's my anchor, that's my route in terms of
what everybody wants to do this year, what are the
most important things, and starting with that understanding and the
clarity about what we all care about, what we all
want to do, where we might like to go on holiday,
those kind of things. Work will tell you this is
(18:50):
not about you know, having to do this for work.
Work will be very clear, these are your KPIs, these
are the things that you need to do. But I
think if you're not intentional and you don't think about
the things that matter most to you, then you'll end
up just kind of going along for the ride. And
the ride is usually one that's created by somebody else
that happens to you, versus what you can take control
of that you can kind of manage and go forwards with.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Okay, So we're in agreement. We skip the term balance, right,
it doesn't exist anymore. All right, I get it. Everybody
else gets it as well. So that's that's good. That's good.
So let's talk about business a bit more about you know,
well that.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Question you did as you did ask me one other
bit of the question, which was about routines. Yeah, and
this is an area I do try and think about
a lot, and for me, the most important thing here
is sleep. I really believe that sleep is a weapon.
It is the foundation of everything mental health, physical health,
well being. And so I do walk around with my
(19:45):
ora ring. I do look at it religiously every day.
And the things that can impact my sleep are the
things that I treasure and try and preserve the most,
whether it's you know, what I eat, what I drink.
And I'm never as good on the exercise side of things.
But I'll tell you one thing I have started picking
up in the last year, which is actually making the
space and the time. And it will sound so strange,
(20:07):
but just to be able to breathe and spend the
time breathing in a in a more reflective manner actually
can massively improve your HLV scores, which ultimately helps your
you know, your restorative side of you better sleep, better
well being. So those are a couple of things that
are important.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I totally agree, especially with sleep. You know, this is
especially when you're like you're, you know, traveling so much
and be in different places all the time. I totally agree,
this is the best protection you know to stay fit
and healthy. So you already mentioned AI and obviously you
(20:52):
know there is no conversation without touching this before we
do this. Looking into the last twenty years of Matter
and how this company developed over the last more than
ten years, how would you define Matter's identity today? It
certainly feels like social media company is far too narrow
as a definition. I'm not sure if tech company is
(21:13):
a better one. And where do you see it evolving
into the next two, three, four or five years.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
So we've certainly evolved from being simply a social media company,
but we've always been a company that connects people and
that remains at the heart of everything we do. I mean,
we're a technology company now, that's what we are, and
Matter and the world everything is just doesn't it feel
like the world is just getting faster and faster, And
(21:41):
so I think it's really hard for any of us
to say where we're going to be in five years time.
But you know, Mark's set out some very clear expectations
about where he sees the shift is going to be
with AI, with the use of agents, and also all
the world of augmented and virtually. I mean, I think
there's some really exciting things on the horizon there as well.
(22:03):
So yes, it's shifted, Yes there's a change with some
of that core DNA around technology. Company that's connecting people
orbit in new and different ways remains a constant.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
So following up on this and before we go forward
into the future a bit more, at least for the
next couple of months and one two years, you run
a massive ad business for this company, and looking back
in the last maybe one two years, how has met
US ADS business evolved over the last few years and
what was the innovation which drove this transformation? Obviously I
(22:36):
could be part of this. I assume it is what
made the difference in the last one two years. And
of course, then looking forward into the next let's say
twelve months or so, what can clients expect for their
campaigns and improvements and additional services in the ads business,
maybe you're able to look back a second, you know,
and then of course touch what we can expect in
(22:57):
the future. In the future.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Dibly proud of the results that we are driving for
millions of businesses around the world that are using our platforms.
And you know, this is due to the brilliance of
you know, the likes of John Hegeman and Andrew Bocking,
who are leading on all the work that we're doing
on the monetization side for Meta. You know, the fact
that I can sit here today and say because of
(23:21):
the advancements that we made in AI, the rebuilding of
the creation of our Advantage plus Meta suite of products,
advertisers in the US today are seeing it a twenty
two percent increase on average in rowas that's because of
the AI driven targeting. The features goes up to actually
over twenty five percent if you're in Europe. So these
(23:43):
are fantastic numbers. But these are not things that we
are We don't sit on our laurels and think that's it.
We're constantly evolving what the products are that we're creating
in order to address the needs of advertisers. And so
to the point of where this is all going it's
bringing together the performance side of meta advantage with the
(24:04):
GENAI tools that we're creating and developing in order to
help advertisers create different variations across all of their different
ad content, whether it's text to static images and even
video with speed and quality and low cost. And we're
already seeing these products are not very old, but we've
already got four million advertisers that are using them. They're
(24:25):
already creating tens of millions of different ads with strong results,
and we're seeing already an estimated to seven percent increasing
conversions since people have started to adopt this and feature
it into their campaigns. So you're going to see us
continue to double down and invest more in AI, which
of course everything is built on top of LAMA, our
(24:46):
large language model, and ultimately benefiting advertisers with the performance
that they're seeing.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
So I mean, obviously MITA has implemented a lot using
I and you've mentioned a couple of things I would add,
you know, enhancing personalized content to optim ad delivery. It
also positively impacts the level of creativity you've mentioned clients, Ari,
is there one dedicated thing you would like users as
well as brands to know about metas Ai integration. So
(25:14):
for the next couple of months, really, you know, if
there would be you know, an announcement to be expected
in the near future in which director I mean not
that you do it right now here, obviously, but in
which direction? You know, is there anything we can expect.
Is it all based on AI these days, which is
massive obviously and provides a lot of opportunities, or is
(25:35):
there anything else?
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Yeah, So there's two parts that I would comment here on.
First starts on the user side with Meta AI. So
the fact that today metaai is being used by over
seven hundred million people for free, I think is really exciting. Yeah,
and I think this is the year that one of
the platforms will hit a billion users, and I very
much hope that that's going to be Meta is the
(25:58):
one that does that. And Then on the business side,
I think there's real huge excitement around the you know,
the business agent side of things. We're already seeing that
there's over six hundred million conversations every single day between
people and businesses. That's happening on places like Instagram, direct
(26:19):
a Messenger and also on WhatsApp as well. So this
opportunity here is enormous and We've already announced that we're
expanding our business AIS to thousands of business using things
like click to message ads on WhatsApp or messenger in English.
So this is something that businesses can really quickly set up.
They can get going with a business AI that can
(26:40):
already you talk to their customer, that can offer support,
that can facilitate commerce. And where I see it going
is that just in the same way that today every
business has a website or a social media presence or
an email, we absolutely expect that every business is going
to have an AI agent that will interact with the
customers for them twenty four hours a day, seven days
(27:03):
a week. And I think that's just really exciting and
it's a whole new area of communication and customers support
that we're just starting to scratch the surface of. And
for marketers, I think it's got really interesting implications of
what it means to actually have, you know, almost a
three dimensional agent that can speak on behalf of the brand,
(27:24):
be the brand, What does that mean? What does that
you know? What will that sound like, what will that
look like? What will that tone of voice be? So
I think that's a very exciting thing that advertisers marketers
are going to get behind over the weeks and months ahead.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Right, And obviously there's not just one agent, right we
are dealing with there or there are several, I know,
for all the different purposes. Maybe to look into the
broader environment and initiatives, which was and still it is
called midaverse. There's been significant investments and into the other
behind MID vision for the midaverse. How is mid evolving
(28:00):
its strategy to keep this momentum alive? And where do
you see the metaverse fitting into Meta's long term ecosystem?
Also coming from the AI perspective, is AI part of
the metaverse? Is metaverse part of the II development and trend?
Maybe you can give us a bit more clarity about
how this will fit with each other.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
So look, I think the buzz around the term metaverse
has kind of receded, but I don't think we should
mistake that for a lack of progress. Meta has invested
billions on metaverse related initiatives. We've got a multi year
headstart on shipping VR hardware. And you know, I think
Mark Zuckerberg believes in the metaverse more than any other
(28:42):
corporate executive. And to your question on AI, yes, there
is a great AI metaverse convergence because the metaverse is
powered by AI and AI is you know, it's one
of the two major technological waves that drives meta's roadmap.
We've got a huge AI wave today and are building
the metaverse wave for the future. And so we've been
(29:05):
investing in fundamental research into both areas ever since. And
you know, the breakthroughs in areas like things like computer vision,
that's what actually has enabled the VR side of things
to take off. And it's AI made with mixed reality
devices that have made things like the Quest three device possible,
which is built on a deep stack of AI power
(29:27):
technologies where they're blending the physical and the digital worlds
and you know, delivering augmented reality experiences. And then when
you come to our Rayba Meta smart glasses, they've got
there got AI meta AI embedded, so that then allows
people to gain access to things like well, if you
tried them, you can get things like helpful info, recommendations,
(29:49):
you can get suggestions. You know, you can have all
these things on the go just by being able to
use the person's voice and the AI. I think if
you think about the future, we think about the AI
powered assistance of being, if you like, one of the
superpowers of ar glasses. And so we're really investing significantly
(30:10):
in building out the AI systems that see and are
able to see the world like you do, so that
they'll be able to help you throughout your day. And
so those are kind of some of the areas which
I think are really exciting. But when you then bring
all that to, you know, closer to our worlds of
marketing and advertising, we live in such a creative space. Advertisers,
(30:32):
you know, just love to expand their thinking about, you know,
what is beyond the physical realm, and so you start
to see the gears turning with the big ideas as
a whole new creative canvas for storytelling and information sharing
as well. And so I think these have got really
exciting opportunities, not just from a creative standpoint, a financial
(30:52):
one as well, because businesses are going to be able
to do things that were not possible before. And from
our side from a metapuserspective, you know, we're not afraid
to make those bets, long term bets on emerging technologies.
We know they're not easy, but I think it's one
of the most valuable things that a tech company can do,
and it's ultimately one of the only ways to make
(31:13):
is relevant over the long term as well.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
That's super exciting and I'm sure there will be plenty
of discussions also at the upcoming possible conference show in
a couple of weeks time, across all the different sessions.
So I'm really looking forward to this and learn more
about what we really can expect for the daily business
and not just as a vision but feel for the
daily business in the next couple of weeks and months, Nikola,
(31:37):
As we look ahead to twenty twenty five, the rest
of twenty twenty five or the next twelve months, let's
say it is obviously global economy is navigating a complex landscape.
It's a eye driven innovations out there shifting consumer behaviors
all the time, of course ongoing geopolitical challenges. You wake
(31:57):
up every morning and think, Okay, what's happening today out
in the world from your vantage point of mata, what
key economic trends do you foresee shaping the digital and
business ecosystem, both globally and maybe specifically in the US.
And what trends or emerging technologies do you believe will
shape the future of metas ads business.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Yeah, so look, overall, from talking to business leaders the
world over, everybody is focused on growth. You're right, we
do live on in certain times. But I think businesses
have got better at planning into an uncertainty and really
focusing and doubling down on the areas of growth, recognizing
that the only constant really has changed. And so how
(32:42):
businesses can adapt to be more agile, to be more flexible,
to be more nimble, I think is a really really
important part. I think advertisers are being more even more
disciplined about looking at the row us when it comes
to whether deployee their dollars when it comes to marketing,
and so so much to the conversation at the beginning
was about the pride that I have in how we're
(33:03):
able to drive performance and results for businesses all over
the world and how the you know, the products that
we're creating actually are allowing. You know, we have a
stat that is now that for every dollar that is
put into our ads, it's driving back on average three
dollars thirty one in revenue for advertisers. That's in the US.
(33:24):
Similar stat in Europe is that for every three seventy
nine euros, you know, seem really strong increase as well
for ever every euro it invested there. So that's where
I start. People are looking for growth, people recognize uncertainty
from a meta perspective. I didn't even touch on one
of our newer apps, which is Threads. Threads is already
(33:46):
has three hundred and twenty million users on it, which
is a fantastic thing to see in such in a
short period of time, and we announced that we just
started to test very early on the monetization side of
actually bringing in some very early ad products into Threads,
which is really exciting. And so one of the things
that I'm often asked is well, what can I do
if I don't have that in my country, and most
(34:06):
countries don't yet. But as a brand, I would say,
just start to understand what's going on on the platform,
how people are interacting with the businesses on there already,
and how you show up there. It is different, it's
a different experience, So I think that's another exciting area.
And then the other big trend that I see really
coming through strong around the world. And you mentioned earlier
(34:29):
how much you and I both travel, and you'll have
seen this as well from certainly traveling around Asia and
Latin America in particular, as well as Europe. Also is
this trend between businesses and people through WhatsApp. And you know,
I mentioned earlier that you know, six hundred million messages
are going between people and businesses every single day. We're
(34:51):
investing more and more here in order that brands can
you know, have a more active experience and we can
help them actually leverage g orre tons in this area.
It is a different area, but we're also thinking here
around how we can help on the utility side for
businesses all the area around things like I don't know,
(35:12):
if you're an airline, how you have one thread, one
WhatsApp thread that has everything from you book your ticket,
you've got your confirmation number, you get told where your
boarding passes. It's all in one place, makes it very simple.
We've seen everything now being communicated here, from life insurance
to e commerce to audio McDonald's in Brazil, all happening
(35:35):
or on happening on WhatsApp. So I think that's another
very big area an opportunity for advertisers today.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
I think that was a great answer for this very
complex question as well, and also kind of a good outlook.
Maybe the very last one from my end would be
knowing what we covered in the last thirty minutes or so.
Is there any final advice for executives and leaders out there,
coming back to where we started, you know, your personal
experiences as a leader, is there, especially in these times?
(36:04):
Is there anything you would share with the audience more
from a leadership perspective which could help everybody out there
to do better and to perform better.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
I think it goes back to the beginning actually, which
makes sure that you're putting yourself as a leader in
a position to really embrace the new technology that's coming
thick and fast add us. And actually sometimes that means
that you've got to dedicate a little bit of time
to investing in yourself. And whilst I hadn't intended to
start this off as a plug for a recent conference
that will be happening very soon, I think having a
(36:36):
conference like Possible where you can come together with your
peers in a learning environment with some of the best
speakers on the planet coming together and some sidebar conversations.
I know we're dedicating a lot of time at the conference,
particularly on AI to make sure that the people that
are coming to the conference can leave there really being
(36:56):
the leaders in the field to be able to accelerate
and grow the businesses at a quicker pace than those
that haven't invested the time. And I think you can
get away with perhaps not learning every year, but I
don't think this is a year that you can't afford
not to be investing in yourself and learning. Such is
the pace of change of what is happening with AI.
I love it, I'm nergize by it, I'm excited about it.
(37:18):
But to be an environment where you can share and
discuss and debate with your peers, I think there's nothing
better than that. So that would probably be my final advice.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Thank you, Nicholas. Thank you so much. What a great
closing statement and what a great conversation we've had. Thank
you for your time. I'm sure your insides, your energy,
your passion made it a very interesting conversation for the
audience out there as well. And I'm really looking forward
to see you in Miami in a couple of weeks.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Thank you Christian, and yeah, looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Thanks for tuning in everyone. Once again, I'm your host,
Christian Moher. If you have a question or suggestion to
me reach out, send me the m on LinkedIn is
to learn more about Possible, sign up for our newsletter,
or if you want to join us at the Possible
Show in Miami, visit Possible event dot com. Possible Now
(38:09):
is a co production of iHeartMedia and Possible. Our executive
producers are Ryan Martz and Yasmin Melandez. Our supervising producer
is Meredith Barnes. Special thanks to Colleen Lawrence Mack from
our programming team. Our theme music is composed by Anthony Keatacoli.
For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeart app Apple podcast,
(38:31):
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