The Future Is Now: Paul Coggins Of Adludio On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Be flexible in your approach to dealing with people — everyone is slightly different and you need to adapt to lead and connect.
As a part of our series about cutting edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dmitry Semenov, CTO.
Paul Coggins is the CEO of global technology company Adludio which has grown exponentially since its launch on the market in 2015. Its mobile advertising platform puts creativity first, and this approach has led to its expansion to several countries around the globe at a rapid pace. Paul has over 20 years as a commercial leader developing mobile startups into multi-million dollar companies. Previous to his current role, Paul was part of the management team that launched Getmein (later acquired by Ticketmaster) and led the post acquisition integration project. Subsequently, Paul launched global media platform Teads into the UK market, where he grew the business into a multi-million dollar offering, and then launched the company’s global mobile offering.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I’ve been working in digital media since the mid-1990s, I started when the entire digital media economy would meet up once a month in a pub in London. I was in advertising, and I felt that advertising should be targeted where consumers’ eyeballs were, which was increasingly a computer screen. Logically, that’s where their messages need to sit, as simple as following the eyeballs.
That same basic intuition could be applied to the metaverse and web 3.0 — if the eyeballs happen to be in a virtual simulated world then that’s where advertisers need to go. So for me, it was about looking at the behavior of consumers and assessing where people will be providing most of their attention.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
One of my most enjoyable roles was launching ‘Get me In’, a ticket reseller website. It was acquired by Ticketmaster and has subsequently been shut down. The biggest issue within the ticketing world was locating the source of secondary ticket markets — everyone was convinced it was entirely down to a mass of bots. But in reality, most of these secondary tickets came from promoters looking to maximize return.
In 2007 there was a British governmental inquiry into this process, and I readied our company for the incoming wave of PR that was to come as the press looked to us for expert opinions. I was right, and we gained a swathe of opportunities, including TV appearances on the BBC covering the story.
Can you tell us about the cutting-edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?
Cracking the data measurement behind creative. The most valuable commodity is data, but we need AI and analysis tools that make this data useful for brands. Adludio’s niche is creative — how do you accurately measure the effectiveness of design in advertising?
Privacy is very important, you can’t just take people’s data and monetize it without any consent, so we’re anonymously measuring how users interact with advertising instead. This might be whether they swipe left or right on an ad, or how long they stay fixed interacting with it — in this way, historical engagement data can help advertisers optimize campaigns without personal information from consumers.
How do you think this might change the world?
This is going to help build a responsible and privacy-first open web in the future. We need to remember that advertising is still good and beneficial — the average person would have to pay hundreds of dollars a year to access the same content without an open web funded by advertisers. So many ecosystems and businesses have been created by this business model and if we can maintain these benefits while providing consumers with rights over privacy, we are building a positive vision for everyone.
Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
AI is a frequently miss-used and broad term that generally refers to automated digital processes. This is distinct from the literal translation of Artificial Intelligence which many people rightfully view as comparable to human thinking. The type of ‘AI’ which is most prominent now cannot do anything more than efficiently automate niche tasks at scale — it’s about fixing smaller problems such as, how do we improve the creativity in advertising? How do we make cars safer? How do we increase food supplies? These are very different from the dystopian AI that can think and solve problems that are wide-ranging. If such technology will ever exist, we’re a long way off.
Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?
For me, there wasn’t a specific tipping point. Our business has been an evolution in technology and strategy. We didn’t wake up one morning and develop our technology, instead, we have adapted to changing markets and hardware, developing a technology that continually improves. It’s about understanding the market dynamics and ensuring your product survives.
What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?
In my mind, this is a natural progression and links back to my point about our technology being a result of evolution. We shouldn’t overstate the importance of our technology beyond its specific functionality, but within its industry and niche, it’s helping provide advertisers, brands, and consumers with the means to operate in the next iteration of the open web.
What have you been doing to publicize this idea? Have you been using any innovative marketing strategies?
We are developing innovative marketing strategies…as a business! We believe that with optimized creative and engagement built into advertising, consumers respond at a greatly improved rate. Our business is focused on providing brands with the most innovative marketing solutions.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I used to work for Viz Comic, John Brown from John Brown publishing led that publication. I learned there how valuable a good working culture was in business — people understood and got along with each other, developing lifelong friendships. It wasn’t my first job, but it was the first that I took such a heightened level of enjoyment. I realized then that work didn’t have to be boring and I have tried to maintain this ethos in my own business today.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
One of the biggest shifts in the last 15 years is ESG — environment, social governance. While we still have a lot to do in that area, every company, from the smallest startup to the largest scale-up, needs to take this seriously. You need a diverse workforce, you need a workforce focused on being environmentally conscious and ethical, and a business that instills these values at every level of the company. I have made sure these values are core to my business.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why.
- Don’t be afraid to evolve the business model.
- You will most likely fail more than you’ll succeed.
- It’s pivotal to hire better than you and build a great team.
- Be flexible in your approach to dealing with people — everyone is slightly different and you need to adapt to lead and connect.
- Learn how to raise money — I had to learn that on the job and I wasted a long time trying to get my head around it.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
I really like the idea of a universal basic income — if I were elected, I would push this policy forward. This would be used as a means of leveling up the lower-income communities and close the gap with the wealthiest.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Treat others as you want to be treated yourself”
Some very well known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say?
Ad tech is cyclical, it has its ups and downs. Currently, the biggest concern is that Google and Facebook have won but I don’t believe this is the case. Advertising is always evolving and always will — there will be new platforms emerging and old platforms dying. As a VC, you should be looking 5 or 10 years into the future, ad tech will continue to adapt and provide huge returns to investors.
Thank you so much for these amazing insights. This was so inspiring, and we wish you continued success!
The Future Is Now: Paul Coggins Of Adludio On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
