Behind the Screens: Meet Director of Product Marketing Jerry Arias

Welcome back to ‘Behind the Screens,’ a monthly blog series in which we introduce members of our Cox Media team and share their stories.

This month, I was joined by Jerry Arias, Director of Product Marketing. We discussed the streaming television landscape, and how he works to equip our Media Consultants and clients with knowledge to make the most out of Streaming TV advertising as part of a omnichannel marketing strategy.

Thank you so much for joining me today, Jerry. Can you tell me a little about yourself and how long you’ve been with Cox Media?

Sure. I have been in this role with Cox Media for a little over a year. Prior to coming to Cox Media, I had several years of experience in leadership roles in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing. What’s unique about my background is that business-to-consumer perspective. I like to think that I start solutioning, ideating and strategizing from the end consumer point-of-view, and what that means for our clients. When I look to solve clients’ problems or reach campaign objectives, I always think of their customers first, how they’re consuming content, and how they like to receive information. I start with the customer experience and work my way backwards.

That customer-first perspective is very valuable! It’s a great way to relate to our clients, thinking about how they will ultimately reach their goals.

Exactly. I have certainly been in our clients’ shoes. I’ve been the person buying media and smartly allocating a budget. So, in this role, I tend to look at those investments as my own; I want to make smart decisions based on data and ensure that we’re really making the most of our client’s investment – reaching the right audience with the right message.

Can you describe a little bit about your role, and if you interact with clients or potential clients, what does that look like?

My role is to ensure our Cox Media field teams understand how we can help our clients achieve their advertising goals. One unique thing that Cox Media brings to the table is the ability to leverage data to find clients’ audiences – wherever and whenever they’re connected.

While I don’t have a lot of direct interaction with clients, my day-to-day work involves equipping our teams with appropriate resources they need to make meaningful connections and share our message with clients and potential clients.

Narrowing the focus a bit, can you share a project or an initiative that you are passionate or excited about and how that might be exciting to our clients?

I’m excited about our streaming focus and where the media landscape is going. I’m working to help our teams, and ultimately our clients, upskill their knowledge and understanding of streaming.

In the fall of last year, streaming consumption surpassed traditional linear TV for the first time. That’s indicative of where we are from a consumer behavior perspective, and how we and our clients need to think about how we find and connect with these audiences.

Cox Media has over 30 years of experience in the video space, and streaming is an extension of that. We know that clients have many options when they’re trying to find the right advertising partners, so I am most excited about leveraging our decades of video experience, helping our teams craft solutions that best meet those clients’ objectives and using data to measure their return on investment.

Our unique streaming offering allows us to solve for several different client needs. As an example, clients may need a broad reach or a very narrow one, and we have tools that can accomplish both. Couple that with inventory clients cannot get anywhere else and a team of experts that are going to help our clients navigate that media landscape and figure it out – it’s a remarkable combination of resources.

Say a business typically advertises only on traditional linear television – what could streaming provide for them? Would it be important to do both?

Today, people are interacting with many more screens. So, while traditional television can help drive a base layer of awareness, we need to shift our perception of how we buy media and start to look at it from that lens of the consumer side of the fence.

Streaming has become a big driver of consumption, and it is only going to increase. We’re seeing more impressions go towards streaming. Consumers are spending more time connecting with sight, sound, motion and emotion via video. And, it is not just in the prime-time windows in which people watch traditional television; it is consumption on their time and on the screen of their choice. By incorporating streaming into your advertising strategy, you are reaching a sizeable group of potential customers that you may be missing otherwise.

I know that we’ve talked a lot about products and about streaming. When it comes to the team of Cox Media – the people that support them, what would you want our clients to know?

What I have loved and enjoyed about my first year at Cox Media is that we are very focused on our client success, and that is reflected in the resources that are allocated towards that success. While clients may interact on a day-to-day basis primarily with their media consultant, behind that media consultant is a team of experts that know their function backwards and forwards, and they are bringing forward those insights to every campaign.

The many years of experience our team brings to the table when talking about campaign objectives, industry insights, market dynamics and local awareness allows us to bring forward a cohesive campaign recommendation that will ultimately lead to our client success. It’s like each of our Media Consultants and clients have a mini agency behind them!

Thanks so much for talking with me, Jerry! We hope you enjoyed our conversation about how Cox Media is here to help clients navigate the ever-changing media landscape.