Our profile feature takes a look at some of the global professionals working across performance marketing, shedding light on the varying roles and companies across the flourishing industry. This time we’re turning our focus to CJ Affiliate by Conversant, and its key account manager and PMI speaker, Tomas Saulsbury-Hunter.
Name:
Tomas Saulsbury-Hunter.
Job title and company:
Key account manager, CJ Affiliate by Conversant.
In one sentence, how would you describe what the company does?
We help our merchants to acquire new customers and get the best value from existing ones, and help our publishers establish fantastic partnerships – and revenue.
What are the company’s unique selling points?
Our enormous international presence and hands-on strategy and account management give market-leading service and reach – and the scope and technology we have as part of Conversant gives us an unrivalled ability to deliver true campaign personalisation.
Within the last six months/year, what stands out as the company’s major milestones?
We were acquired by Alliance Data, which was an absolutely astounding milestone in terms of recognition of the work we’ve done and value we’ve driven as a company.
CJ have led the market by releasing our Affiliate Customer Insights products, which leverages our relationship with the wider company to deliver performance data that merges customer IDs with a host of other data, allowing us to get a really granular view on the performance and value of affiliate campaigns.
We’ve also been working behind the scenes on a raft of absolutely enormous innovations which are just coming to fruition – I can’t tell you too much now, but watch this space..!
Duration in current role:
2 years.
Where are you based?
CJ’s UK office in London.
Previous performance marketing-related companies you have worked at:
I come from a background in sales and marketing in finance and law, so came to CJ from a partnerships role at a foreign exchange. It’s really satisfying to have a role which lets me draw from a varied background but apply it to very specific problems – the variety and dynamism of the role was a huge lure to me.
What are your main job responsibilities?
I look after the Argos and TUI accounts, so my day-to-day role changes depending on what we’re working on with the client – primarily I look after strategy and direction for the accounts, as well as developing new and existing partnerships.
Take us through what you get up to on a typical working Monday:
It varies wildly depending on the Monday! We generally “set up” for the week’s work; we’ll speak with relevant client teams to get an overview of the past week’s performance and any actions from that, as well as going through the projects we’re currently working on and anything we need from each other to drive them forward.
What top three websites can you be found browsing during your lunch hour?
- AdWeek, Reddit and news sites.
- What are your top three tips for someone looking to get their hands on a job like yours?
- Be friendly and open to ideas, put together a CV, and speak to us – it’s absolutely great to talk to budding talent.
Career-wise, where do you see yourself in three years’ time?
In three years exactly, I’d hope I’ll be preparing for another PMI speech! The entire marketing industry is going through a digital-led renaissance at the moment, and affiliate is a model which allows for so much innovation that it’s constantly at the bleeding edge – I can’t see that I won’t be sticking around for that.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
There really isn’t a lot – I’m an open book! It’s just a matter of asking the right questions…
Tomas joins vouchercloud’s Mark Andres for the session ‘Hitting Moving Targets: Smart Geolocation and Consumer Intent’ at Performance Marketing Insights next week.
Tomas Saulsbury-Hunter, Key Account Manager, CJ Affiliate by Conversant - Shares Insights
