March 18, 2023 • 30 mins
Many of us strive to work at the intersection of really smart people, really strong technology advancement and differentiated thinking. That combination of elements ultimately leads to better results. Sean Downey, President, Americas & Global Partners at Google lives at that intersection.
As Sean explains, you have to have a really innovative culture that has tremendous amounts of psychological safety, where people feel like they can come in and contribute ideas and that they belong. Only then will they feel really comfortable pushing the envelope on how to innovate and make things better. Oh, and he never punishes failure. As Sean states, "I love a healthy dose of failure and it's something that as long as we learn something, we can fall forward on it."
Sean believes that innovative organizations strike a healthy balance between innovation and doing the common things commonly. He states that "we're here to invent status quo." What does this mean? Well, Sean likes to innovate on the edge, and he has a cycle that starts with incubation as an idea in the form of a test, which then he proves works. Then and only then does Sean think about growing it, along with a handful of other things that were also successful. And then, he thinks about scaling it. Once scaled, it become the new common and the new starting point for the cycle to start over.
As President of Americas & Global Partners at Google, Sean leads the company’s advertising business in North and South America. Before this role he served as the Vice President of the Google Marketing Platform for the Americas, helping Marketers, Agencies and Partners leverage data and technology to advance their Digital Marketing Maturity and buy and measure media more efficiently. Prior to joining Google in 2008, Sean was the Vice President of Buy Side Sales at DoubleClick, where he led their agency and advertiser business. Sean has also worked in various ad technology and software startups, and over the course of his career has brought various evolving advertising technologies to market such as rich media and programmatic buying and analytics.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Corby Fine (00:14):
So when you think of digital advertising, one name is
just synonymous with it, andit's Google.
And today I have the pleasure,the luxury, the honor of having,
I guess a, a legacy in his ownright in terms of being a part
of the digital, advertisinglandscape.
Sean Downey, who is thepresident of America's and
Global Partners at Google.
(00:35):
I think that's a new role forSean.
He can explain his progressionand a recent promotion, which I
will say congrats on, but Sean'sultimately responsible for
leading Google's overalladvertising business in North
and South America.
Before that, he was the vicepresident of the Google
Marketing platform.
Some of the.
Technologies that enableadvertisers and brands to really
take advantage of, of data andintelligent advertising and
(00:56):
targeting through the Googleplatform, as well as other
platforms working withmarketers, agencies, brands,
partners, really the entireecosystem to take advantage of
the capabilities that Google hasto offer and market.
I know personally he's helped meunderstand, learn and mature my
own skills, my team skills, andthe companies I've worked with.
Everything from measurement andanalytics to.
(01:17):
Conversion and tactics ongrowing our business.
before that, Sean was the VP ofthe buy side sales at
DoubleClick.
Obviously a a long tenureDoubleClick into Google and has
worked at some startups andother technology vendors.
I'm sure you're on a lot ofboards and do a lot of other
things, but, Sean, welcome tothe podcast today.
Sean Downey (01:34):
Thank you, cor.
I'm super happy to be here andexcited to be invited.
It's my first Canadian basedpodcast.
I always get invited in theUnited States, so really happy
to come up, uh, and do this withyou.
as you know, I love coming toToronto.
I love the market.
I love.
Of the people, uh, and I have a,a New York history and I went to
school in Buffalo, so I feellike I'm an honorary Canadian
sometimes and really appreciatethe invitation.
Corby Fine (01:56):
I appreciate it.
And selfishly, it's kind of likeCanadians consume, you know, 60
to 80% of their content fromAmerican sources.
So the reach is there.
And so for me, this is actuallya bit, you know, self-serving
cuz I get the American reach ofpeople that like to follow and
listen to you.
So it works both ways, so I, Iappreciate it.
Sean Downey (02:11):
Outstanding.
Corby Fine (02:12):
So, why don't you maybe explain, and, and again,
congratulations on, the recentrole change.
you know, what does actuallyfall under your purview?
I think everyone who listens tomy podcast understands Google at
a macro level, but maybe talk alittle bit about what teams and
accountabilities fall withinyour.
Sean Downey (02:29):
Yeah, I'd be happy to.
Uh, and I noticed you were very,you were very kind to me and you
said I had a nice legacy.
I, that's kind of code for, beenaround a long time, I think.
and you said long-term doubleclicker.
I started that business in 2003,but I actually started my
digital journey in 99.
In a schoolhouse in NorthCarolina, which is really weird
place to start a digital career,but that's how people were doing
(02:51):
it then.
Uh, and I had the honor of likeseeing all the curves of how the
digital industry grew, howtechnology was built, how
advertised and evolved, andultimately ended up here at
Google, which is a great companyin this, in this new role.
And it's a fun role.
so the un under the, you know,the, the, the work that I have,
My work is leading theadvertising business for Google
(03:12):
and the Americas.
So all the way from Toronto tobuis s in my team's, work with
customers to make sure they getthe best of Google and hit their
revenue goals.
So think about, you know, Googlesearch falls under that purview.
YouTube sales, all of ourprogrammatic businesses, and
that technology businesses, anytool or property, that we can
put in front.
(03:33):
Of a partner and a brand and anagency to help them with their
business results follows in ourpurview.
ultimately I handle the largestadvertisers, so we handle the
largest advertisers in the worldand the largest agencies and
partners in the world.
And, you know, we're there tomake y'all better.
Um, and that's our focus everyday and we're hoping that we can
help maximize your, yourbusiness through the tools and
(03:55):
services that Google offers,which we think are pretty great.
but we have to help yousometimes make sure you know how
to use'em.
Corby Fine (04:00):
So you, you work in an industry, in an organization
that I think, you know, peoplego, wow, I mean, Google search,
it's, I guess to some degree asclose to perfect of an
advertising platform as you can,especially when you're thinking
about.
The last touch, the conversion,the measurability, the ability
to look at the data and be verygranular.
(04:20):
But as a leader of that group,you know, I can also see that
people running thatorganization, running those,
those teams and optimizing on,on a daily basis can get very
stuck in, well, it's working.
Like, don't, you know, don'tkind of wake the sleeping giant
because God forbid you trysomething.
Deflect from success.
How do you motivate and thinkabout keeping a team always
(04:43):
focused on consistentimprovement in a world where it
kind of works?
Search is pretty darn good.
Sean Downey (04:51):
Yeah, search has been great for a long time.
I think it starts with just myphilosophy, in business and life
is really the same Corby.
I'm an unapologetic growthmindset person.
I, I believe personally, Imyself, am a work in progress,
as a human, as a businessleader, as a partner.
and I wanna make sure that I getbetter every day.
(05:11):
Um, and that's the mentality Ialways try and bring to our
partners, and more importantly,our team, so that they strive to
be better.
and I give them this reallysimple framework that we're not
here to be status quo.
we're here to invent status quo.
and that means you have toconstantly evolve, constantly
find better ways to do things.
(05:33):
And I think the benefit of my,my history, and the roles that
I've been in is I've, I've beenable to see curves in
technology.
I've been able to see curves inhow advertising's evolved, uh,
and we're able to always do somethings incrementally better all
the time.
with some testing and someexperimenting, and we can in
fact find ways to improve onthings that we think work really
(05:55):
well, whether it's search orwhether it's digital advertising
or whether it's, you know, howwe, you know, build something in
our backyard.
Like there's always massiveimprovements.
And I'm a big believer that theintersection of really smart
people, really strong technologyadvancement and different
thinking.
Leads to better results.
in particular when you startthinking about search.
You know, search behaviors aredramatically different than they
(06:19):
were, 20 years ago, when Googlewas getting its start.
Uh, and Google, it's always beenimportant to you as a brand and
all your customers because youknow, intent.
Matters most.
In many cases in advertising,we've always been able to
capture really true intent orwhat's on the zeitgeist to what
people are searching for.
They're looking for information,they're looking to be connected,
(06:40):
and we can always make sure thathappens.
But what we find is.
people search differently.
people interact with informationdifferently, and people are
sometimes in different mindsetsabout how they're searching for
things or what they'readvertising for, and getting
that ethos or that thinking infront of customers to know that
modern search or moderninformation seeking from
(07:01):
customers is different reallystarts to change the way you
might go about.
Approaching the the marketplaceor the tool.
And then what I love the most iswhen you start thinking about
technology advancements, thereare different ways to approach
it that might be able tomaximize your investments that
are dramatically different thanhow you worked 12 months ago,
(07:23):
especially five years ago.
Corby Fine (07:24):
So in, in the notion of instilling that, inventing
the status quo kind of amentality, is it, is it hiring
the right people that comeinnately with that?
Same philosophy.
Is it incentivization andstructuring the way in which you
give people objectives andtargets?
what's the balance and how doyou keep that consistently
growing?
Sean Downey (07:44):
Yeah, I, I chase it in a couple of ways, so I, I
think, you know, people, I thinkpeople go to work every day and
they, they especially come towork here at Google to make a
difference.
right?
People don't sign up for bigcompany jobs if, if they don't
wanna make a difference.
So I think you have to find theright mentality in people that
want to grow, want to haveimpact, uh, want to take some
(08:08):
level of risk and have someinnovation.
So I think there is a profileand a skillset set of that type
of.
attitude, the agility associatedto it, that you have to have.
so that means you have to paintreally strong visions.
Like I'm a big believer that yougotta win the hearts and minds
of people about what they'retrying to do and why.
(08:28):
And that it does in fact make adifference, and that they play a
critical role in making surethat happens.
Like we're not handing anyone asales.
We're a business plan saying doX, Y, Z, and it works like we're
asking people to think, to workwith partners, to think with
them jointly and then apply,right?
And then we try and do things ina common way.
(08:49):
I think a lot of that also comeswith how you structure your
culture.
I'm a big culture person, and Ithink if you want to do that
type of thing, you have to havea really innovative.
Culture that has tremendousamounts of psychological safety,
uh, feels like they can come inand contribute ideas and
belongs.
and then they feel reallycomfortable pushing the
(09:09):
envelope.
So we, I do a lot around makingsure people feel seen here,
heard, feel like they can bethemselves, and share, and then
find commonalities and then theyfeel like they can innovate.
And then I never.
Punish failure, right?
So I, I love a healthy dose offailure and it's something that
(09:30):
as long as we learn something,we can fall forward on it.
Corby Fine (09:33):
One of the things that you said to me not that
long ago, which has stuck, andit kind of ties to this whole
theme, and maybe the lastquestion on sort of the people
culture side was this notion ofsimplification and to what you
just said around.
You know, creating psychologicalsafety, uh, never punishing
failure.
The the flip side is, you know,The motivation and the focus in
an incredibly simple way so thatpeople don't have to distract
(09:56):
themselves.
And, and you talked about yourannual review.
One post-it note stuck to thecomputer with one word.
And we won't go into the exampleyou gave me, but, um, I, I've
actually taken that back myselfand I told you I was gonna steal
it and give you credit.
So it right here publicly, I'mgiving you credit.
Um, That's a great example of,helping your team really focus
and understand that you can'tsolve all the world's problems.
(10:17):
Are there any other things youthink about, in the guise of
simplification, both from aculture but also as we
transition more into maybe thechat about, you know,
advertising and digitalmarketing, like simplification
is a great theme.
Anything come to mind now intoday's market and world that
really stands out as, as goodexamples of, of taking that.
Sean Downey (10:34):
Yeah.
Well this is something that wework on a lot and is, you know,
as I, you know, ascend to thisrole within Google is a big
agenda item for me, is to geteven more simple.
So there's this healthy balance,I think, between innovation.
and doing the common thingscommonly that work.
Right.
And I wanna have teams, reallydrive towards innovation.
(10:56):
But I try, I try to give them aframework that, you know, as we
sit here today, what are thethings that we believe are the
most impactful things for thebusiness and for our partners?
Uh, and how can we do them in apretty common way and execute
right?
And I think the lion share ofwhat we try and bring to the
market has that mentalitybecause, Incubated it.
(11:19):
We've tested it.
We've proven it, and there arenow things that we want to put
in front of customers to helpthem solve problems.
And we can do a lot of thingsmore simple and common if we
align around the most.
Effective things that solveproblems.
So we do a lot of that.
And that means simpler goals,fewer simple equals fewer in
there, and more common ways tosolve it.
(11:41):
Right?
And then I ask them to innovateon the edge, look at the problem
that a customer might give you.
Think about how you might stringsomething else together.
Test it, bring it back.
And if you could bring it backto the center for me, I can then
give it to everyone else.
Right?
So I have this cycle and Ialways think about it in terms
of like, incubation is a, anidea in a test, prove it works.
(12:04):
Then I think about growing itand a handful of more things.
And then I think about scalingit.
And if you're just innovatingand experimenting, you have
innovation items orexperimentation items, if you
can understand.
Innovate on the edge, prove itworks, and scale it, then it
becomes common.
Then I can get everyone to doit, and that's a simpler
approach.
And then we go to the nextfrontier.
(12:26):
So we're trying to really getthat muscle built not only for
ourselves, but for our partnersand customers, because I think
it's a really effective way toexecute efficiently in at scale
really well.
But keep your toe into the new
Corby Fine (12:42):
so I mean, you, you've obviously had the
exposure of, you know, reallystrong, high performing teams
inside of an organization likeGoogle.
You've had experience with,massive global agencies who
support all kinds of differentorganizations.
You've also had directrelationships and support of, of
large brands, you know,national, international, global,
whatever.
So, on that innovation front,where are you seeing bigger
(13:03):
potential impact on the, theproduct innovation?
The.
offer or build as anorganization or maybe the
process, you know, the how youoperate.
Obviously you can innovate onboth.
Any insights into sort of thewhat versus the, the how?
Sean Downey (13:18):
Yeah.
I mean, I could, we could bringit back to some of the, the
search conversation becausepeople sometimes miss this.
Um, the way that people search.
Is different than it was.
Uh, and therefore how you haveto go after that, uh, audience,
uh, and be effective.
Has to be a bit different aswell.
(13:39):
Um, and there's a lot oftechnology around that helps you
do it right, which we'reprobably not used to.
And you know, we, we used to beguilty of probably some inhuman
language.
We'd say, please go automatethings, uh, or please use our
machine learning and we'll findanswers for you.
Sounds super scary and superweird.
To people, uh, in a reality, wewant you to take advantage of
(13:59):
really strong modern technologycuz the fact is like how people
search views different.
So you should find ways to findthat in real time and keep up
with the pace of customers.
So we've introduced a lot ofmachine learning models to help
identify people.
that look like what you want andwhat they're searching for and
helping you expand your reach ofmarketing campaigns into it.
It's a really easy, simple,effective way that a lot of
(14:22):
customers have changed.
Uh, but more importantly, Ithink I'm trying to get the
market and our customers andeven our teams to understand the
powerful shift that we're kindof sitting in front of right
now.
Now, a lot of people have lovedplaying with the chatbot, G P T
Chatbot.
I'm sure you've played with itbecause you love
Corby Fine (14:40):
I literally have that as a question on how that's
going to change the way in whichwe actually think
Sean Downey (14:44):
love it.
Um, but you know what it is,it's a really awesome thing and
I, I love, that it's therebecause it's giving.
artificial intelligence, like amoment, right?
It's kind of like it's comingout.
People see that there's a reallyeffective use case for it that
helps people do things or helpspeople solve problems, right?
(15:05):
And I think that's fantastic,right?
Because we've invested so muchas a company.
Uh, you hear our Sundar Pcha,our CEO talk all the time, that
AI is the future of Google.
And we've been buildingartificial intelligence into our
consumer products and into ouradvertising products for a long.
Um, and they solve really simpleproblems.
So if you think about be justbeing a consumer, like I'm on
(15:27):
the Android stack cuz I'm aGoogle guy.
So my phone in my car, Androidcar, uh, it's really seamless.
Like it's helping me, it'santicipating my needs, it's
giving me information when Ineed it.
and a lot of that is likeartificial intelligence learning
models that have been built inthe same, applies a lot to the
advertising model.
It's like as we're starting todo things like maximizing
(15:49):
performance, we're using a lotof artificial intelligence in
machine learning.
To help you do it.
Uh, and I think having peoplesee chatbot in the open brings
use case and, you know, probablya more human approach to it than
they've ever seen before.
And I wanna make sure peopleunderstand that, you know, we've
using, we're using thosepowerful mechanisms to drive not
(16:11):
only our consumer products, butour advertising products to be.
Really effective and it's anevolution.
Um, and you can start to seelike you're, you're getting more
than you thought you could, andyou're using the assistance of
technology to do it.
And I think that transition isreally important.
And that does mean then youautomate some more things or you
do some more expansive learningmodels that you're not
controlling, uh, in your office,but you learn as you go and it's
(16:35):
becomes a little bit more of ainnovative, modern thing.
That has high value for you, uh,in providing, providing
information or provides theresults that you're looking for
as a marketer.
So that's a huge shift.
Um, as I think about growing andgetting people to think
differently, that is a reallyimportant one for our teams to
be talking about.
Corby Fine (16:53):
Yeah, chat.
Chat.
Uh, GPT is interesting from myperspective cuz it's taking a
lot of the things that you justdescribed that may be quite
under the covers.
Right?
Like, why does my map recommendthat I.
Leave now because it knows mycalendar events, it knows the
traffic, it knows the weather,it knows my driving patterns at
me personal, and it puts allthose things together.
(17:16):
Um, that's kind of hidden andsubdued within the platforms and
tools and apps that I use.
this is in your face and, uh, somuch so that, uh, my son who,
who had a paper due right beforethe holidays, Finally let me
read something as a proofread.
And uh, and I said to him, thisis the best thing you've ever
written.
And I literally had asked him,did you write it?
(17:36):
and I think that's the otherelement of this is it's now
questioning, you know, where isthe line between what a human is
creating versus what a human isadapting and editing?
Uh, and so there's, there's noquestion.
It, it's interesting.
the thing that you justmentioned though, in that
example of, Uh, personalizing anexperience of me making sure I
leave my office at a certaintime to get to where I need to
(17:57):
go, and all of that automationobviously requires.
A fair amount of trust from meas a consumer with the platforms
and the tools and thetechnologies that are underlying
that.
Cuz I'm, I'm giving access.
I'm, I'm sort of bequeathing myprivacy and my, my personal
information, and, and maybethat's the, the sort of next
topic for a quick minutediscussion is this world of
privacy and control to theconsumer.
(18:18):
We've seen sort of gdpr, we'veseen California, we see more
stuff coming in Canada.
There's legislation on the tablenow.
What's your take on, let's saythe next 24 months in terms of
the, the privacy landscape and,and, and what is, you know, what
do you see the consumer versusthe organization having to do
to, to make sure everybody'scomfortable as we move forward?
Sean Downey (18:38):
Yeah, it's a great question.
I've probably spent the majorityof my adult life on this topic.
It seems like I.
You know, I used to be a fan ofcoming into these conversations
and saying, here's the privacylandscape and here's what you
should be doing.
Uh, I feel like peopleunderstand privacy.
I think privacy, to me, I'm aconsumer too.
(18:59):
I'm just like you we're bothconsumers as well as business
people.
There, there's like, it's abasic human right to have
privacy, right?
And control about what you have.
Uh, and I think all the thingsthat have happened over the last
handful of years, whether it's,you know, As early as the rise
of ad blockers to, you know,regulation in Europe and all
(19:20):
across the world to, you know,consumer tech stacks like your
Android platform and Appleplatform or CONT consumer
technology stacks, right?
Uh, wanna protect.
Privacy because that's, that'stheir consumer, that's their
lifeblood.
Um, and I think you have torespect a consumer from that
area.
And people respond to make surethey are, because consumers A
(19:41):
want choice, B want control.
And they want to give peopleinformation as long as it's
people they choose, right?
They want who people they wannahave a relationship with.
And I think that is what youhave to get your head around
when you start thinking aboutprivacy.
So if you're a brand or anagency partner, you have to
build trust-based relationshipswith your consumers, right?
(20:02):
Because they also wantpersonalization.
They also want value returnedfor the information that they
give you, and you have to makesure that you're transparent
about that, that you understandthe value that you can return
and that you do, right?
Because if you don't, or you sayyou sell the information or you
append things that they didn'thave any intention of you
(20:22):
having.
Becomes a tougher valueproposition and a tougher trust
factor, right?
So you have to really thinkabout what does that trust-based
relationship actually mean as abrand?
And then build your strategyoutwards, right?
So cookies are always a goodexample, or fingerprinting or
IDs.
People love to talk about those,but if they're not transparent,
(20:46):
purposeful consent based, theydon't meet that.
right?
And you have to have a reallystrong view as a brand to do
that.
Now, what I like in themarketplace is you can have that
point of view and not have to doanything really crazy, right?
Because the technology'sevolving with you.
And if you just want to betransparent and safe, you could
(21:08):
do a handful of things you like.
Make sure that you are reallytransparent about what data I'm
collecting.
And what value I'm giving backto you.
Like your example is Google hasto be transparent with a
consumer about what did you signup for and what are we doing
with it?
Right?
And you'll find those in all ofour consent centers, like we're
really clear about all of thesethings.
That's a really important thing.
(21:29):
And that means you're collectingmore first party data as a cu as
a customer, and you're thinkingabout how to apply that
intelligently, and then there'sa bunch of technology.
innately, privacy safe, right?
So I spent two years worrying orhearing about cookie deprecation
from people like you, big, bigcustomers who I who I love.
Corby Fine (21:51):
I plead the
Sean Downey (21:51):
you're, and you're really worried about it, as was
everyone.
Uh, and I say, uh, prove theydon't, you don't need them.
before they go away.
Right?
And then I'm getting into someother tactics, whether it's like
first party data usage orcontextual usage, which is
highly effective, or some ofthis machine learning
capabilities that learns withprivacy, save signals, uh, those
(22:15):
are all paths that are builtinto technology that.
actually deliver incrementalperformance versus the old way
of doing things, and are greatto adapt.
but that means you have to havethat change mindset.
You have to have that innovativeexperimentation mindset, and
then you have to layer your workagainst it and see what's
(22:35):
working better for you.
And then I think you'll leavethe room after a year and you'll
say, do I have betterrelationships with my customers
because I've been transparentwith them and brought value.
Yes.
Am I living those values, uh, inmy advertising campaigns by
using transparent, privacy, safetech and data?
(22:55):
Yes.
And did I get great results frommy business?
And I think most times you'llfind that answer is yes, and
that's always the end story is,did I grow my business and my
customer relationships, yes orno?
And the inputs to me matter lessthan did I achieve.
As a, as a brand, or did Iachieve that as a partner for
you?
(23:15):
Um, and get you there in a placethat protects your brand,
protects your customer, andevolves our industry properly
and protects it.
Corby Fine (23:23):
And I, I think Google's been, been great at it.
And, uh, and for years I've,I've taken the opportunity to do
that value exchange.
Uh, you know, it's worth it forme to allow.
Information about my day, mylife to be exposed in exchange
for the fact that my kid's nevergonna be sitting there on the
bench waiting for, for dad toshow up at the hockey or soccer
game because I know I'm gonnaget there on time.
Sean Downey (23:43):
A lot of people will say that, and I think the
research shows that, and it'simportant as like as
professional marketers, we don'ttwist that, right?
Because people are alwayswilling to give information for
things they value and.
Right.
And if you don't, you don't wantanyone to have it.
Right.
And that's, that's the criticalpoint in all these conversations
(24:07):
is, you know, let's we'll use,like, I like fun examples.
You and I are friends.
Uh, if I'm having a conversationwith you, a one-on-one
conversation with you, and youtell me you love music and
you're a big music guy and youtell me some of the bands that
you.
So I send you something aboutthe band, or maybe I'd say, Hey,
let's go to this concerttogether cuz we're both into
(24:27):
like alternative rock, right?
And we'll go do that.
That's a one-to-one exchange.
You've, you trust me, you'vetold that to me.
I'm using the information andtrust to say let's improve our
relationship and experiencetogether.
That doesn't mean the fourthperson at the table or the third
person at the table should useit
Corby Fine (24:46):
Although if they wanna send me an audio slave
concert ticket, I mean, I'm
Sean Downey (24:49):
send you audio slate, but there're dropping.
You might, you know, you don'twant them to have all that
information about you.
And that's, that is third party,right?
So like there's something innateto this one-to-one connection
and consent where you'rebuilding a relationship that
then enhances it.
Versus someone random listeningin, or maybe I told them that
you liked Audioslave and theysent you an Audioslave book, um,
(25:13):
or Dave girl's book, somethinglike that, right?
And then you'd be like, why doesthis person know that?
Right.
And I think that's how consumersfeel a lot of the times.
If it's not a consentedrelationship,
Corby Fine (25:23):
If I choose to put it in my headline of my LinkedIn
profile, feel free to send me apair of socks.
Sean Downey (25:27):
you, you've advertised God
Corby Fine (25:29):
exactly.So, no, I appreciate that.
And, and maybe then, you know,the, the last question then is
taking all those themes we'vediscussed and, you know, we're,
we're into 2023, and you, like Ihave had, uh, you know, a few
years of experience.
What's your forecast?
What do you, what do you see asany fundamental themes or
changes both for the overallindustry and maybe for Google
(25:49):
specifically over the next yearthat, uh, you can share?
Sean Downey (25:53):
You know, I, I think people are entering 2023
in different places, um, aroundthe world.
Like, so, you know, we've had awonky three years, um, whether
you're starting with Covid andthen recovery from Covid.
And then, you know, the, themacroeconomic activities have,
you know, haven't been the bestfor some people and they've been
good for others.
Um, if, depending on whereyou're at.
(26:13):
Uh, so I think you, you have alot, you have a mixed bag of how
people feel coming in the 2023,I think.
Um, One, you should have a lotof optimism.
I'm, I'm always a glass halffull person that I think more
companies are getting focused onwhat really matters to them.
in this drive towardsprofitability or efficiency or
(26:35):
responsible growth is actually apretty good thing cuz people are
gonna start to understand themetrics that really matter to
their business and they'll startto apply that to advertising.
So I, I see a lot of brands.
Kind of going back to basics asthey should around, how do I
really value.
My investments and what'sworking and what's not working,
(26:56):
and that's for a partner, that'smusic to my ears because I, I
get to really lean in and havea, a really productive, deep
relationship with you about howdo I help you versus how do I
hit some KPIs.
So I think that's productive.
Um, so I think people will spendthe next six months to 12 months
really getting those modelsrefined.
Uh, probably come up with somegreat measurements, some great
(27:17):
ideas, and they'll come out ofit when consumer and spending
maybe where they want it to be.
in really good shape.
Um, I think the second thingthat I'm excited about is we're
at the precipice of some reallyimportant shifts and they're
moments for me, and I thinkthey're moments for advertisers
that we have to get right.
(27:38):
Like so we always love, like thedigital transition, we always
love the mobile transition.
I think this shift to.
Machine learning basedadvertising that drives growth
is a really big moment that wehave to get people to understand
and there's a lot of foundationbuilding to do it.
and I think that's a really fun,exciting time because we can
(28:00):
really lean in with you and say,how do we improve the way the
operating.
Works to drive value for you,and now's a good time to do it
because you're, you're kind ofgoing through a growth, a growth
phase or, or you know, a morecautious phase.
And then there's this awesome,awesome continuous shift of
video to be streaming, to be,uh, Connected.
(28:22):
Uh, and we have fantasticproperties at YouTube and I just
think it's the mainstreammoment.
You think of all the thingsgoing on.
We just did the N F L deal forticket, for example.
Uh, you know, Amazon does a lotwith the N F L and I think
there's, it's really exciting tosee a lot of the behaviors of
consumers shift online video.
And there's so much more that wecan help people take advantage
(28:44):
of, um, and really win thatmoment.
And then we're reinventingmeasurement.
in real time.
Um, and I'm hoping it's aroundlike incremental growth.
It's around bottom lineprofitability.
It's around bottom line salesactivity.
Cause I really think this is theyear that a smart marketer makes
marketing a revenue center andthat a cost center.
(29:07):
Uh, and that's an exciting thingbecause, because we have to
think differently because wedon't have the same proxies, we
can actually make it, impositionit a lot better.
Corby Fine (29:17):
Make marketing a profit center.
I like it.
Um, full p and l we'll figurethat one out.
That's a, that's a whole otherconversation and I guess
vertical dependent and what kindof business you're in.
But, um, I, I really appreciatethose insights.
Sean Downey, president of theAmericas and Global Partners for
Google.
honestly, really appreciate youspending the time, just speaking
honestly, truthfully andtransparently, uh, about what's
(29:40):
going on in the industry.
thank you and I look forward tocontinuing our conversations.
Sean Downey (29:44):
My, pleasure.
Thank you for the invitation,and I'm so glad that we could
have the conversation.
They're, they're reallyimportant and, and fun and
enjoyable.
so I'll come back
Corby Fine (29:51):
Perfect.
Thanks a lot.
So when you think of digital advertising, one name is
just synonymous with it, andit's Google.
And today I have the pleasure,the luxury, the honor of having,
I guess a, a legacy in his ownright in terms of being a part
of the digital, advertisinglandscape.
Sean Downey, who is thepresident of America's and
Global Partners at Google.
(00:35):
I think that's a new role forSean.
He can explain his progressionand a recent promotion, which I
will say congrats on, but Sean'sultimately responsible for
leading Google's overalladvertising business in North
and South America.
Before that, he was the vicepresident of the Google
Marketing platform.
Some of the.
Technologies that enableadvertisers and brands to really
take advantage of, of data andintelligent advertising and
(00:56):
targeting through the Googleplatform, as well as other
platforms working withmarketers, agencies, brands,
partners, really the entireecosystem to take advantage of
the capabilities that Google hasto offer and market.
I know personally he's helped meunderstand, learn and mature my
own skills, my team skills, andthe companies I've worked with.
Everything from measurement andanalytics to.
(01:17):
Conversion and tactics ongrowing our business.
before that, Sean was the VP ofthe buy side sales at
DoubleClick.
Obviously a a long tenureDoubleClick into Google and has
worked at some startups andother technology vendors.
I'm sure you're on a lot ofboards and do a lot of other
things, but, Sean, welcome tothe podcast today.
Sean Downey (01:34):
Thank you, cor.
I'm super happy to be here andexcited to be invited.
It's my first Canadian basedpodcast.
I always get invited in theUnited States, so really happy
to come up, uh, and do this withyou.
as you know, I love coming toToronto.
I love the market.
I love.
Of the people, uh, and I have a,a New York history and I went to
school in Buffalo, so I feellike I'm an honorary Canadian
sometimes and really appreciatethe invitation.
Corby Fine (01:56):
I appreciate it.
And selfishly, it's kind of likeCanadians consume, you know, 60
to 80% of their content fromAmerican sources.
So the reach is there.
And so for me, this is actuallya bit, you know, self-serving
cuz I get the American reach ofpeople that like to follow and
listen to you.
So it works both ways, so I, Iappreciate it.
Sean Downey (02:11):
Outstanding.
Corby Fine (02:12):
So, why don't you maybe explain, and, and again,
congratulations on, the recentrole change.
you know, what does actuallyfall under your purview?
I think everyone who listens tomy podcast understands Google at
a macro level, but maybe talk alittle bit about what teams and
accountabilities fall withinyour.
Sean Downey (02:29):
Yeah, I'd be happy to.
Uh, and I noticed you were very,you were very kind to me and you
said I had a nice legacy.
I, that's kind of code for, beenaround a long time, I think.
and you said long-term doubleclicker.
I started that business in 2003,but I actually started my
digital journey in 99.
In a schoolhouse in NorthCarolina, which is really weird
place to start a digital career,but that's how people were doing
(02:51):
it then.
Uh, and I had the honor of likeseeing all the curves of how the
digital industry grew, howtechnology was built, how
advertised and evolved, andultimately ended up here at
Google, which is a great companyin this, in this new role.
And it's a fun role.
so the un under the, you know,the, the, the work that I have,
My work is leading theadvertising business for Google
(03:12):
and the Americas.
So all the way from Toronto tobuis s in my team's, work with
customers to make sure they getthe best of Google and hit their
revenue goals.
So think about, you know, Googlesearch falls under that purview.
YouTube sales, all of ourprogrammatic businesses, and
that technology businesses, anytool or property, that we can
put in front.
(03:33):
Of a partner and a brand and anagency to help them with their
business results follows in ourpurview.
ultimately I handle the largestadvertisers, so we handle the
largest advertisers in the worldand the largest agencies and
partners in the world.
And, you know, we're there tomake y'all better.
Um, and that's our focus everyday and we're hoping that we can
help maximize your, yourbusiness through the tools and
(03:55):
services that Google offers,which we think are pretty great.
but we have to help yousometimes make sure you know how
to use'em.
Corby Fine (04:00):
So you, you work in an industry, in an organization
that I think, you know, peoplego, wow, I mean, Google search,
it's, I guess to some degree asclose to perfect of an
advertising platform as you can,especially when you're thinking
about.
The last touch, the conversion,the measurability, the ability
to look at the data and be verygranular.
(04:20):
But as a leader of that group,you know, I can also see that
people running thatorganization, running those,
those teams and optimizing on,on a daily basis can get very
stuck in, well, it's working.
Like, don't, you know, don'tkind of wake the sleeping giant
because God forbid you trysomething.
Deflect from success.
How do you motivate and thinkabout keeping a team always
(04:43):
focused on consistentimprovement in a world where it
kind of works?
Search is pretty darn good.
Sean Downey (04:51):
Yeah, search has been great for a long time.
I think it starts with just myphilosophy, in business and life
is really the same Corby.
I'm an unapologetic growthmindset person.
I, I believe personally, Imyself, am a work in progress,
as a human, as a businessleader, as a partner.
and I wanna make sure that I getbetter every day.
(05:11):
Um, and that's the mentality Ialways try and bring to our
partners, and more importantly,our team, so that they strive to
be better.
and I give them this reallysimple framework that we're not
here to be status quo.
we're here to invent status quo.
and that means you have toconstantly evolve, constantly
find better ways to do things.
(05:33):
And I think the benefit of my,my history, and the roles that
I've been in is I've, I've beenable to see curves in
technology.
I've been able to see curves inhow advertising's evolved, uh,
and we're able to always do somethings incrementally better all
the time.
with some testing and someexperimenting, and we can in
fact find ways to improve onthings that we think work really
(05:55):
well, whether it's search orwhether it's digital advertising
or whether it's, you know, howwe, you know, build something in
our backyard.
Like there's always massiveimprovements.
And I'm a big believer that theintersection of really smart
people, really strong technologyadvancement and different
thinking.
Leads to better results.
in particular when you startthinking about search.
You know, search behaviors aredramatically different than they
(06:19):
were, 20 years ago, when Googlewas getting its start.
Uh, and Google, it's always beenimportant to you as a brand and
all your customers because youknow, intent.
Matters most.
In many cases in advertising,we've always been able to
capture really true intent orwhat's on the zeitgeist to what
people are searching for.
They're looking for information,they're looking to be connected,
(06:40):
and we can always make sure thathappens.
But what we find is.
people search differently.
people interact with informationdifferently, and people are
sometimes in different mindsetsabout how they're searching for
things or what they'readvertising for, and getting
that ethos or that thinking infront of customers to know that
modern search or moderninformation seeking from
(07:01):
customers is different reallystarts to change the way you
might go about.
Approaching the the marketplaceor the tool.
And then what I love the most iswhen you start thinking about
technology advancements, thereare different ways to approach
it that might be able tomaximize your investments that
are dramatically different thanhow you worked 12 months ago,
(07:23):
especially five years ago.
Corby Fine (07:24):
So in, in the notion of instilling that, inventing
the status quo kind of amentality, is it, is it hiring
the right people that comeinnately with that?
Same philosophy.
Is it incentivization andstructuring the way in which you
give people objectives andtargets?
what's the balance and how doyou keep that consistently
growing?
Sean Downey (07:44):
Yeah, I, I chase it in a couple of ways, so I, I
think, you know, people, I thinkpeople go to work every day and
they, they especially come towork here at Google to make a
difference.
right?
People don't sign up for bigcompany jobs if, if they don't
wanna make a difference.
So I think you have to find theright mentality in people that
want to grow, want to haveimpact, uh, want to take some
(08:08):
level of risk and have someinnovation.
So I think there is a profileand a skillset set of that type
of.
attitude, the agility associatedto it, that you have to have.
so that means you have to paintreally strong visions.
Like I'm a big believer that yougotta win the hearts and minds
of people about what they'retrying to do and why.
(08:28):
And that it does in fact make adifference, and that they play a
critical role in making surethat happens.
Like we're not handing anyone asales.
We're a business plan saying doX, Y, Z, and it works like we're
asking people to think, to workwith partners, to think with
them jointly and then apply,right?
And then we try and do things ina common way.
(08:49):
I think a lot of that also comeswith how you structure your
culture.
I'm a big culture person, and Ithink if you want to do that
type of thing, you have to havea really innovative.
Culture that has tremendousamounts of psychological safety,
uh, feels like they can come inand contribute ideas and
belongs.
and then they feel reallycomfortable pushing the
(09:09):
envelope.
So we, I do a lot around makingsure people feel seen here,
heard, feel like they can bethemselves, and share, and then
find commonalities and then theyfeel like they can innovate.
And then I never.
Punish failure, right?
So I, I love a healthy dose offailure and it's something that
(09:30):
as long as we learn something,we can fall forward on it.
Corby Fine (09:33):
One of the things that you said to me not that
long ago, which has stuck, andit kind of ties to this whole
theme, and maybe the lastquestion on sort of the people
culture side was this notion ofsimplification and to what you
just said around.
You know, creating psychologicalsafety, uh, never punishing
failure.
The the flip side is, you know,The motivation and the focus in
an incredibly simple way so thatpeople don't have to distract
(09:56):
themselves.
And, and you talked about yourannual review.
One post-it note stuck to thecomputer with one word.
And we won't go into the exampleyou gave me, but, um, I, I've
actually taken that back myselfand I told you I was gonna steal
it and give you credit.
So it right here publicly, I'mgiving you credit.
Um, That's a great example of,helping your team really focus
and understand that you can'tsolve all the world's problems.
(10:17):
Are there any other things youthink about, in the guise of
simplification, both from aculture but also as we
transition more into maybe thechat about, you know,
advertising and digitalmarketing, like simplification
is a great theme.
Anything come to mind now intoday's market and world that
really stands out as, as goodexamples of, of taking that.
Sean Downey (10:34):
Yeah.
Well this is something that wework on a lot and is, you know,
as I, you know, ascend to thisrole within Google is a big
agenda item for me, is to geteven more simple.
So there's this healthy balance,I think, between innovation.
and doing the common thingscommonly that work.
Right.
And I wanna have teams, reallydrive towards innovation.
(10:56):
But I try, I try to give them aframework that, you know, as we
sit here today, what are thethings that we believe are the
most impactful things for thebusiness and for our partners?
Uh, and how can we do them in apretty common way and execute
right?
And I think the lion share ofwhat we try and bring to the
market has that mentalitybecause, Incubated it.
(11:19):
We've tested it.
We've proven it, and there arenow things that we want to put
in front of customers to helpthem solve problems.
And we can do a lot of thingsmore simple and common if we
align around the most.
Effective things that solveproblems.
So we do a lot of that.
And that means simpler goals,fewer simple equals fewer in
there, and more common ways tosolve it.
(11:41):
Right?
And then I ask them to innovateon the edge, look at the problem
that a customer might give you.
Think about how you might stringsomething else together.
Test it, bring it back.
And if you could bring it backto the center for me, I can then
give it to everyone else.
Right?
So I have this cycle and Ialways think about it in terms
of like, incubation is a, anidea in a test, prove it works.
(12:04):
Then I think about growing itand a handful of more things.
And then I think about scalingit.
And if you're just innovatingand experimenting, you have
innovation items orexperimentation items, if you
can understand.
Innovate on the edge, prove itworks, and scale it, then it
becomes common.
Then I can get everyone to doit, and that's a simpler
approach.
And then we go to the nextfrontier.
(12:26):
So we're trying to really getthat muscle built not only for
ourselves, but for our partnersand customers, because I think
it's a really effective way toexecute efficiently in at scale
really well.
But keep your toe into the new
Corby Fine (12:42):
so I mean, you, you've obviously had the
exposure of, you know, reallystrong, high performing teams
inside of an organization likeGoogle.
You've had experience with,massive global agencies who
support all kinds of differentorganizations.
You've also had directrelationships and support of, of
large brands, you know,national, international, global,
whatever.
So, on that innovation front,where are you seeing bigger
(13:03):
potential impact on the, theproduct innovation?
The.
offer or build as anorganization or maybe the
process, you know, the how youoperate.
Obviously you can innovate onboth.
Any insights into sort of thewhat versus the, the how?
Sean Downey (13:18):
Yeah.
I mean, I could, we could bringit back to some of the, the
search conversation becausepeople sometimes miss this.
Um, the way that people search.
Is different than it was.
Uh, and therefore how you haveto go after that, uh, audience,
uh, and be effective.
Has to be a bit different aswell.
(13:39):
Um, and there's a lot oftechnology around that helps you
do it right, which we'reprobably not used to.
And you know, we, we used to beguilty of probably some inhuman
language.
We'd say, please go automatethings, uh, or please use our
machine learning and we'll findanswers for you.
Sounds super scary and superweird.
To people, uh, in a reality, wewant you to take advantage of
(13:59):
really strong modern technologycuz the fact is like how people
search views different.
So you should find ways to findthat in real time and keep up
with the pace of customers.
So we've introduced a lot ofmachine learning models to help
identify people.
that look like what you want andwhat they're searching for and
helping you expand your reach ofmarketing campaigns into it.
It's a really easy, simple,effective way that a lot of
(14:22):
customers have changed.
Uh, but more importantly, Ithink I'm trying to get the
market and our customers andeven our teams to understand the
powerful shift that we're kindof sitting in front of right
now.
Now, a lot of people have lovedplaying with the chatbot, G P T
Chatbot.
I'm sure you've played with itbecause you love
Corby Fine (14:40):
I literally have that as a question on how that's
going to change the way in whichwe actually think
Sean Downey (14:44):
love it.
Um, but you know what it is,it's a really awesome thing and
I, I love, that it's therebecause it's giving.
artificial intelligence, like amoment, right?
It's kind of like it's comingout.
People see that there's a reallyeffective use case for it that
helps people do things or helpspeople solve problems, right?
(15:05):
And I think that's fantastic,right?
Because we've invested so muchas a company.
Uh, you hear our Sundar Pcha,our CEO talk all the time, that
AI is the future of Google.
And we've been buildingartificial intelligence into our
consumer products and into ouradvertising products for a long.
Um, and they solve really simpleproblems.
So if you think about be justbeing a consumer, like I'm on
(15:27):
the Android stack cuz I'm aGoogle guy.
So my phone in my car, Androidcar, uh, it's really seamless.
Like it's helping me, it'santicipating my needs, it's
giving me information when Ineed it.
and a lot of that is likeartificial intelligence learning
models that have been built inthe same, applies a lot to the
advertising model.
It's like as we're starting todo things like maximizing
(15:49):
performance, we're using a lotof artificial intelligence in
machine learning.
To help you do it.
Uh, and I think having peoplesee chatbot in the open brings
use case and, you know, probablya more human approach to it than
they've ever seen before.
And I wanna make sure peopleunderstand that, you know, we've
using, we're using thosepowerful mechanisms to drive not
(16:11):
only our consumer products, butour advertising products to be.
Really effective and it's anevolution.
Um, and you can start to seelike you're, you're getting more
than you thought you could, andyou're using the assistance of
technology to do it.
And I think that transition isreally important.
And that does mean then youautomate some more things or you
do some more expansive learningmodels that you're not
controlling, uh, in your office,but you learn as you go and it's
(16:35):
becomes a little bit more of ainnovative, modern thing.
That has high value for you, uh,in providing, providing
information or provides theresults that you're looking for
as a marketer.
So that's a huge shift.
Um, as I think about growing andgetting people to think
differently, that is a reallyimportant one for our teams to
be talking about.
Corby Fine (16:53):
Yeah, chat.
Chat.
Uh, GPT is interesting from myperspective cuz it's taking a
lot of the things that you justdescribed that may be quite
under the covers.
Right?
Like, why does my map recommendthat I.
Leave now because it knows mycalendar events, it knows the
traffic, it knows the weather,it knows my driving patterns at
me personal, and it puts allthose things together.
(17:16):
Um, that's kind of hidden andsubdued within the platforms and
tools and apps that I use.
this is in your face and, uh, somuch so that, uh, my son who,
who had a paper due right beforethe holidays, Finally let me
read something as a proofread.
And uh, and I said to him, thisis the best thing you've ever
written.
And I literally had asked him,did you write it?
(17:36):
and I think that's the otherelement of this is it's now
questioning, you know, where isthe line between what a human is
creating versus what a human isadapting and editing?
Uh, and so there's, there's noquestion.
It, it's interesting.
the thing that you justmentioned though, in that
example of, Uh, personalizing anexperience of me making sure I
leave my office at a certaintime to get to where I need to
(17:57):
go, and all of that automationobviously requires.
A fair amount of trust from meas a consumer with the platforms
and the tools and thetechnologies that are underlying
that.
Cuz I'm, I'm giving access.
I'm, I'm sort of bequeathing myprivacy and my, my personal
information, and, and maybethat's the, the sort of next
topic for a quick minutediscussion is this world of
privacy and control to theconsumer.
(18:18):
We've seen sort of gdpr, we'veseen California, we see more
stuff coming in Canada.
There's legislation on the tablenow.
What's your take on, let's saythe next 24 months in terms of
the, the privacy landscape and,and, and what is, you know, what
do you see the consumer versusthe organization having to do
to, to make sure everybody'scomfortable as we move forward?
Sean Downey (18:38):
Yeah, it's a great question.
I've probably spent the majorityof my adult life on this topic.
It seems like I.
You know, I used to be a fan ofcoming into these conversations
and saying, here's the privacylandscape and here's what you
should be doing.
Uh, I feel like peopleunderstand privacy.
I think privacy, to me, I'm aconsumer too.
(18:59):
I'm just like you we're bothconsumers as well as business
people.
There, there's like, it's abasic human right to have
privacy, right?
And control about what you have.
Uh, and I think all the thingsthat have happened over the last
handful of years, whether it's,you know, As early as the rise
of ad blockers to, you know,regulation in Europe and all
(19:20):
across the world to, you know,consumer tech stacks like your
Android platform and Appleplatform or CONT consumer
technology stacks, right?
Uh, wanna protect.
Privacy because that's, that'stheir consumer, that's their
lifeblood.
Um, and I think you have torespect a consumer from that
area.
And people respond to make surethey are, because consumers A
(19:41):
want choice, B want control.
And they want to give peopleinformation as long as it's
people they choose, right?
They want who people they wannahave a relationship with.
And I think that is what youhave to get your head around
when you start thinking aboutprivacy.
So if you're a brand or anagency partner, you have to
build trust-based relationshipswith your consumers, right?
(20:02):
Because they also wantpersonalization.
They also want value returnedfor the information that they
give you, and you have to makesure that you're transparent
about that, that you understandthe value that you can return
and that you do, right?
Because if you don't, or you sayyou sell the information or you
append things that they didn'thave any intention of you
(20:22):
having.
Becomes a tougher valueproposition and a tougher trust
factor, right?
So you have to really thinkabout what does that trust-based
relationship actually mean as abrand?
And then build your strategyoutwards, right?
So cookies are always a goodexample, or fingerprinting or
IDs.
People love to talk about those,but if they're not transparent,
(20:46):
purposeful consent based, theydon't meet that.
right?
And you have to have a reallystrong view as a brand to do
that.
Now, what I like in themarketplace is you can have that
point of view and not have to doanything really crazy, right?
Because the technology'sevolving with you.
And if you just want to betransparent and safe, you could
(21:08):
do a handful of things you like.
Make sure that you are reallytransparent about what data I'm
collecting.
And what value I'm giving backto you.
Like your example is Google hasto be transparent with a
consumer about what did you signup for and what are we doing
with it?
Right?
And you'll find those in all ofour consent centers, like we're
really clear about all of thesethings.
That's a really important thing.
(21:29):
And that means you're collectingmore first party data as a cu as
a customer, and you're thinkingabout how to apply that
intelligently, and then there'sa bunch of technology.
innately, privacy safe, right?
So I spent two years worrying orhearing about cookie deprecation
from people like you, big, bigcustomers who I who I love.
Corby Fine (21:51):
I plead the
Sean Downey (21:51):
you're, and you're really worried about it, as was
everyone.
Uh, and I say, uh, prove theydon't, you don't need them.
before they go away.
Right?
And then I'm getting into someother tactics, whether it's like
first party data usage orcontextual usage, which is
highly effective, or some ofthis machine learning
capabilities that learns withprivacy, save signals, uh, those
(22:15):
are all paths that are builtinto technology that.
actually deliver incrementalperformance versus the old way
of doing things, and are greatto adapt.
but that means you have to havethat change mindset.
You have to have that innovativeexperimentation mindset, and
then you have to layer your workagainst it and see what's
(22:35):
working better for you.
And then I think you'll leavethe room after a year and you'll
say, do I have betterrelationships with my customers
because I've been transparentwith them and brought value.
Yes.
Am I living those values, uh, inmy advertising campaigns by
using transparent, privacy, safetech and data?
(22:55):
Yes.
And did I get great results frommy business?
And I think most times you'llfind that answer is yes, and
that's always the end story is,did I grow my business and my
customer relationships, yes orno?
And the inputs to me matter lessthan did I achieve.
As a, as a brand, or did Iachieve that as a partner for
you?
(23:15):
Um, and get you there in a placethat protects your brand,
protects your customer, andevolves our industry properly
and protects it.
Corby Fine (23:23):
And I, I think Google's been, been great at it.
And, uh, and for years I've,I've taken the opportunity to do
that value exchange.
Uh, you know, it's worth it forme to allow.
Information about my day, mylife to be exposed in exchange
for the fact that my kid's nevergonna be sitting there on the
bench waiting for, for dad toshow up at the hockey or soccer
game because I know I'm gonnaget there on time.
Sean Downey (23:43):
A lot of people will say that, and I think the
research shows that, and it'simportant as like as
professional marketers, we don'ttwist that, right?
Because people are alwayswilling to give information for
things they value and.
Right.
And if you don't, you don't wantanyone to have it.
Right.
And that's, that's the criticalpoint in all these conversations
(24:07):
is, you know, let's we'll use,like, I like fun examples.
You and I are friends.
Uh, if I'm having a conversationwith you, a one-on-one
conversation with you, and youtell me you love music and
you're a big music guy and youtell me some of the bands that
you.
So I send you something aboutthe band, or maybe I'd say, Hey,
let's go to this concerttogether cuz we're both into
(24:27):
like alternative rock, right?
And we'll go do that.
That's a one-to-one exchange.
You've, you trust me, you'vetold that to me.
I'm using the information andtrust to say let's improve our
relationship and experiencetogether.
That doesn't mean the fourthperson at the table or the third
person at the table should useit
Corby Fine (24:46):
Although if they wanna send me an audio slave
concert ticket, I mean, I'm
Sean Downey (24:49):
send you audio slate, but there're dropping.
You might, you know, you don'twant them to have all that
information about you.
And that's, that is third party,right?
So like there's something innateto this one-to-one connection
and consent where you'rebuilding a relationship that
then enhances it.
Versus someone random listeningin, or maybe I told them that
you liked Audioslave and theysent you an Audioslave book, um,
(25:13):
or Dave girl's book, somethinglike that, right?
And then you'd be like, why doesthis person know that?
Right.
And I think that's how consumersfeel a lot of the times.
If it's not a consentedrelationship,
Corby Fine (25:23):
If I choose to put it in my headline of my LinkedIn
profile, feel free to send me apair of socks.
Sean Downey (25:27):
you, you've advertised God
Corby Fine (25:29):
exactly.So, no, I appreciate that.
And, and maybe then, you know,the, the last question then is
taking all those themes we'vediscussed and, you know, we're,
we're into 2023, and you, like Ihave had, uh, you know, a few
years of experience.
What's your forecast?
What do you, what do you see asany fundamental themes or
changes both for the overallindustry and maybe for Google
(25:49):
specifically over the next yearthat, uh, you can share?
Sean Downey (25:53):
You know, I, I think people are entering 2023
in different places, um, aroundthe world.
Like, so, you know, we've had awonky three years, um, whether
you're starting with Covid andthen recovery from Covid.
And then, you know, the, themacroeconomic activities have,
you know, haven't been the bestfor some people and they've been
good for others.
Um, if, depending on whereyou're at.
(26:13):
Uh, so I think you, you have alot, you have a mixed bag of how
people feel coming in the 2023,I think.
Um, One, you should have a lotof optimism.
I'm, I'm always a glass halffull person that I think more
companies are getting focused onwhat really matters to them.
in this drive towardsprofitability or efficiency or
(26:35):
responsible growth is actually apretty good thing cuz people are
gonna start to understand themetrics that really matter to
their business and they'll startto apply that to advertising.
So I, I see a lot of brands.
Kind of going back to basics asthey should around, how do I
really value.
My investments and what'sworking and what's not working,
(26:56):
and that's for a partner, that'smusic to my ears because I, I
get to really lean in and havea, a really productive, deep
relationship with you about howdo I help you versus how do I
hit some KPIs.
So I think that's productive.
Um, so I think people will spendthe next six months to 12 months
really getting those modelsrefined.
Uh, probably come up with somegreat measurements, some great
(27:17):
ideas, and they'll come out ofit when consumer and spending
maybe where they want it to be.
in really good shape.
Um, I think the second thingthat I'm excited about is we're
at the precipice of some reallyimportant shifts and they're
moments for me, and I thinkthey're moments for advertisers
that we have to get right.
(27:38):
Like so we always love, like thedigital transition, we always
love the mobile transition.
I think this shift to.
Machine learning basedadvertising that drives growth
is a really big moment that wehave to get people to understand
and there's a lot of foundationbuilding to do it.
and I think that's a really fun,exciting time because we can
(28:00):
really lean in with you and say,how do we improve the way the
operating.
Works to drive value for you,and now's a good time to do it
because you're, you're kind ofgoing through a growth, a growth
phase or, or you know, a morecautious phase.
And then there's this awesome,awesome continuous shift of
video to be streaming, to be,uh, Connected.
(28:22):
Uh, and we have fantasticproperties at YouTube and I just
think it's the mainstreammoment.
You think of all the thingsgoing on.
We just did the N F L deal forticket, for example.
Uh, you know, Amazon does a lotwith the N F L and I think
there's, it's really exciting tosee a lot of the behaviors of
consumers shift online video.
And there's so much more that wecan help people take advantage
(28:44):
of, um, and really win thatmoment.
And then we're reinventingmeasurement.
in real time.
Um, and I'm hoping it's aroundlike incremental growth.
It's around bottom lineprofitability.
It's around bottom line salesactivity.
Cause I really think this is theyear that a smart marketer makes
marketing a revenue center andthat a cost center.
(29:07):
Uh, and that's an exciting thingbecause, because we have to
think differently because wedon't have the same proxies, we
can actually make it, impositionit a lot better.
Corby Fine (29:17):
Make marketing a profit center.
I like it.
Um, full p and l we'll figurethat one out.
That's a, that's a whole otherconversation and I guess
vertical dependent and what kindof business you're in.
But, um, I, I really appreciatethose insights.
Sean Downey, president of theAmericas and Global Partners for
Google.
honestly, really appreciate youspending the time, just speaking
honestly, truthfully andtransparently, uh, about what's
(29:40):
going on in the industry.
thank you and I look forward tocontinuing our conversations.
Sean Downey (29:44):
My, pleasure.
Thank you for the invitation,and I'm so glad that we could
have the conversation.
They're, they're reallyimportant and, and fun and
enjoyable.
so I'll come back
Corby Fine (29:51):
Perfect.
Thanks a lot.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com