Vovia Workaversaries: Stacey, Lauren, and Denise

As time seems to pass both slowly and quickly at the same time, we have a few milestone anniversaries to celebrate at Vovia! 

This week we are celebrating three ladies that have been with the Vovia family for 5 years this year: Stacey, Lauren, and Denise! We caught up with them (virtually) to get the scoop on their journey with Vovia so far. 

First, let’s have a quick refresher on who these team members are. Denise Williams is a Group Account Director at Vovia, and came from a wealth of previous agency experience. Stacey is our VP of Media, who also brings many years of media buying experience to our team. Lauren Leung is on Denise’s team, and is an Account Manager at Vovia.

We’ve heard you all have interesting stories about how you joined Vovia. Share the details!

Denise: Susan Murphy! We had worked together at a previous agency and when an opening became available at Vovia she reached out and asked if I would be interested. I jumped at the chance that I could work with Susan again and after meeting the team I knew it would be an amazing place to be employed. They offered me the job, I said YES, and it’s been a great adventure every day since.

Stacey: I too was drawn to Vovia by Susan. She lured me away from a full-service agency to join her at Vovia. At the time, Vovia was relatively unknown, but I had some exposure working with them while working on another client at my previous agency. The work was far beyond what I had seen at any of my prior agencies, even the Toronto media and full-service agencies I had worked at, which was impressive.

Lauren: I was recruited by a former Digital Manager at Vovia, who was looking for a new SEM specialist. I was really keen to learn about Digital Marketing, as it was such an evolving industry (and still is), and there was a mutual agreement to have me learn from the pros on his team! I was really excited to hear about an innovative agency that valued its employees just as much as it values its clients.

Looks like networking paid off for all of you! So what has been your top highlight in the past 5 years: 

Denise: Oh, a single highlight? Thats a tough one. I guess the day I realized I knew the majority of the acronyms we use on a regular basis around the office. I was finally speaking the right language. Coming from a creative agency background this was a big deal for me!

Stacey: The highlight was being part of the pitch team that won ATB Financial back in 2016. We won that pitch because we showed ATB that we know digital media better than any media agency in the province and we have the offline media expertise to help drive their marketing and business results. ATB was a huge win for Vovia and put us on the radar of potential clients, agencies in the province, and prospective team members. I’m proud of the work put into to win it, and the work we’ve done with them ever since!

Lauren: I have been in many roles since starting at Vovia – an SEM Specialist, a Marketing Intelligence Specialist, and an Account Manager! I have learned so much across all three areas that definitely help me help clients! And even though I’ve learned so much, there is still so much I can learn from other team members.

Sounds like both of you have learned a lot from your fellow Vovians! What’s the most interesting development you’ve witnessed in the past 5 years?

Denise: All the changes around how media is being consumed now, and so much of it is being done strictly online. Who would have thought that video would become such a key component when wanting to reach the younger audiences, or that they would consume so much video? Who would have guessed that unboxing videos would have been so popular?!

Stacey: There are so many things going on that make our world both interesting and challenging, such as how the pandemic has impacted media habits. The future of 3rd party pixels and how important contextual digital media will be, once again. The ongoing battle against fraud in the digital space. And of course, my personal ongoing mission to ensure that we understand and value the importance of offline media in a digital dominant media world.

Lauren: Totally agree with Stacey. The importance of data. Not that data wasn’t important before, but now how you obtain data with privacy becoming more prevalent in policy is more important and what you do with the data is also super important. An example is how you can use digital data for offline buys such as OOH to customize targeting offline too.

And what do you think will be the biggest thing in the next 5 years?

Denise: AI and its applications are going to continue to grow and be used in places I probably haven’t even considered yet. We may yet be able to live like the Jetsons. And even if that wont happen in my lifetime, how it changes how we market to consumers as well as manage customer service will be significant.

Stacey: The things I mentioned in the last question aren’t over yet – they’re just starting. We’re keeping a close eye on how all of these issues develop and impact how we build marketing and media strategies.

Lauren: The death of third party cookies – I don’t know much about it (that’s where the experts come in), but I know policy changes worldwide will have large impacts on the industry in the next 5 years.

Wow, sounds like we are on the brink of a whole new world of marketing – we’ll keep our eyes glued for developments in both those areas.

Now… onto the fun stuff. Anything new fun facts about you since your original Get To Know! Posts (see Denise’s , Stacey’s and Lauren’s here)

Denise: I’ve become a new aunt, and while I don’t live close enough to see her everyday I really look forward to the daily updates which include photos and videos. It’s hard to believe she’ll be a year in November! I’ve also managed to explore 7 new countries in the past 5 years and can’t wait until COVID19 settles down and I can get back to crossing locations off my bucket list again!

Stacey: I continue to remain sane and balanced in this crazy world by taking care of my creative side by doing pottery. 

Lauren: I bought a house, got a dog (check out Jazzi’s role at Vovia here), and got married! All of those things have kept me busy outside of work, but one thing that hasn’t changed is my love of Disney! 

Alright, final question – what is the most fun thing you’ve done/seen/watched during COVID19?

Denise: Virtual birthday parties and games nights, not quite as good as when you can attend in person but still so much fun to be able to get together with friends, catch up and celebrate your milestones together!

Stacey: Staying connected to my family and friends, just in new ways.

Lauren: Spent more time with friends – virtually!! We’ve virtually marathoned a lot of TV shows and movie series. Netflix Party has been a key part of COVID for me to stay social with friends!

It seems like all of you have had 5 years of awesome memories, both at Vovia and outside of work. Congratulations on reaching 5 years – we’ll catch up with you when you hit the decade mark!

Want to see who else has reached a milestone this year? Our CEO Cam celebrated 13 years, Carsen on the Client Service team celebrated 6, and one of our Senior Social Specialists, Dan celebrated 5 years too! 

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