The Digital Dozen – Geoff Smith, CMO, Rokt
The Digital Dozen is a series of profile interviews with thought leaders in the technology industry. Here we speak with Geoff Smith, CMO of Rokt, a global e-commerce martech company, about his career, and ask the question on everyone’s lips... what's your favourite doughnut?
Name your three best qualities
Results-oriented, purpose-driven, and honest
What's the biggest lesson you've learnt in your working life?
Separate marketing strategy and planning to ensure targets are met. An effective strategy becomes the input for the operational plan. Without the strategy, you’re not aligning yourself to business goals and if you’re not aligning yourself to business goals, you’re operating on an island.
What has been your best idea yet?
About 12 years ago, I developed a Customer Journey Map to show some clients what their customer experience would look like if they were to use our tech-enabled solutions. Being able to visualize the value and experience we could help deliver proved hugely effective and I’ve been using it ever since.
What advice have you been given that made a difference?
Two things:
- Don’t be a paper pusher: add value at every stage of the process.
- Be master of your tools: struggling to get even basic insights from an Excel data-set is not a position you want to be in
What’s the best thing about your work?
I’m a huge fan of teamwork so I tend to gravitate towards building great teams that are passionate about what they do. As they say, teamwork makes the dream work.
What do you think will be big in media in ten years’ time?
Big data will still be big, but AI will determine which data drives the best results – so big data won’t feel so big after all. But that pair of pants that you left in your cart and then bought off another site 20 minutes later? Yeah, you’ll still have them following you around the internet for the next two weeks.
What career path would you advise your children to follow?
First, I would tell them to find their passion and follow their dreams... and then if it was a field that meant they’d need to continue to mooch off us rent-free well into their thirties, I would tell them to change careers and do their passion on the side ;).
What career path would you be following if you weren't in your current job?
I’ve always wanted to pick 52 interesting or weird jobs, – I’m thinking sushi chef, kindergarten teacher, a writer for The Tonight Show, one of those people who temporarily sits in celebrity’s seats as they go to the bathroom during the Oscars, or be a zookeeper (or is it animal husbandry?) – do a different one for each week of the year, and then write a book about it.
Which TV programme would you like to star in?
If they ever made Guardians of the Galaxy into a TV programme, I’d want to star in that. I’d be Rocket. I totally appreciate his sarcasm.
Groot : I am Groot.
Peter Quill : Well that's just as fascinating as the first 89 times you told me that. What is wrong with Giving Tree here?
Rocket Raccoon : Well he don't know talkin' good like me and you, so his vocabulistics is limited to "I" and "am" and "Groot," exclusively in that order.
Peter Quill : Well I tell you what, that's gonna wear real thin, real fast, bud.
Who would be your four perfect dinner guests?
- Stan Lee – Honestly, I could dismiss the rest of the guest list and just listen to origin stories of all of his Marvel creations the whole evening.
- Derek Jeter – The consummate New York Yankee. Talented. Humble. Role Model.
- Tom Hanks – He’s created so many movies that I admire.
- JK Rowling – She’s shaped the minds of so many children (and adults!) that I can’t imagine a dull moment with her at the table.
What three items would you take to a desert island?
- A big old knife – like one that Crocodile Dundee would have.
- A big box of matches – why would I ever want to rub two sticks together to make a fire?
- 1,000 bottles of water – plus pen and paper to write ‘Help me!’ notes to put in the empties.
And finally, the question on everyone’s lips... what's your favourite doughnut?
My achilles heel is a warm honey glazed doughnut!