Get to know Alma’s programmatic advertising team!
Alma’s programmatic advertising team makes sure that the advertising systems work as they should, solve possible problem situations and help our customers do the best possible programmatic advertising in Finland’s largest digital network.
During the spring of 2023, a total of four digital advertising professionals will work in the team. What types of people can be found in the team and what interesting phenomena of programmatic advertising or more broadly digital marketing do they think are worth keeping an eye on right now? We found out about it and asked a few questions.
Maarit Toivonen
Programmatic Manager, Team Lead
Who are you and what do you do at Alma?
My name is Maarit Toivonen and I am the Team Lead of Alma’s programming team. My responsibility includes, for example, Alma’s programmatic advertising strategy, but above all the well-being of the team members.
What is the best thing about your job?
The best thing is that there is no textbook for programmatic advertising, we often get to create something new. Sometimes a customer event is organized, other times we think about the prebid set-up and some days we immerse ourselves in running Excel. There is always something new to learn.
What is your superpower in programmatic advertising?
I guess I’m good at talking about complex things in a simple way. I also like to meditate on bigger programmatic changes and think about the consequences and reasons behind them.
If you weren’t a digital advertising professional, what would you do for a living?
Difficult question! A writer or a journalist would certainly not be a very bad bet.
What is the most interesting phenomenon right now in digital marketing or programmatic advertising?
SPO or supply path optimization. This has been talked about for years, but the topic seems to constantly take on new forms. Now the SSPs have started offering a different curation model again. It’s interesting to see where the change will eventually end. Of course, we in the team think about which models are interesting for Alma.
Tell us a surprising fact about yourself!
I’m from Pori, and I’ve spent countless evenings at Isomäki ice rink shouting obscenities at the judges (as is customary). One of the most memorable moments of my life was the Porin Ässät championship party in 2013. Someday again!
Tanja Jaatinen
Programmatic Manager
Who are you and what do you do at Alma?
My name is Tanja Jaatinen and I work as a programmatic advertising expert at Alma Media. I work at the Alma level towards both advertiser clients and internal stakeholders. In practice, this means that I get to take forward the good news of programmatic advertising and solve related challenges from many different perspectives.
What is the best thing about your job?
I’ll answer this the same way my 8-year-old son does when I ask what the best part of his day was. All!
What is your superpower in programmatic advertising?
Curiosity about things and people.
If you weren’t a digital advertising professional, what would you do for a living?
I would probably be a journalist (at the beginning of my career, I almost ended up as an editorial trainee at Länsi-Uusimaa magazine).
What is the most interesting phenomenon right now in digital marketing or programmatic advertising?
It has been interesting to see how the automation of advertising has not reduced the need for manual labor, but on the contrary, the enhanced processes and the ever-increasing possibilities of technology have increased the need to understand, apply, combine, process and then still understandably communicate the legalities of the digital advertising ecosystem to an enormous extent. This has not been an easy task and it seems that the going is accelerating even more. To succeed in this, we will continue to need more open cooperation, sharing of know-how and also the courage to say that I don’t know, yet.
Tell us a surprising fact about yourself!
There are always at least six different gourmet cheeses in my fridge.
Elias Hokkanen
Programmatic Specialist
Who are you and what do you do at Alma?
My name is Elias Hokkanen and I work at Alma as a programmatic specialist. My duties include e.g., administration and optimization of programmatic systems, stakeholder work both internally and externally, and planning and implementation of marketing measures.
What is the best thing about your job?
The best thing about my job is the versatile tasks and colleagues. The work is also very rewarding when you can see your own handprint every day.
What is your superpower in programmatic advertising?
Curiosity and desire to learn new things.
If you weren’t a digital advertising professional, what would you do for a living?
I would probably run a cafe in Switzerland by a lake 😀
What is the most interesting phenomenon right now in digital marketing or programmatic advertising?
Attention and, more precisely, the utilization of the KPI measure based on the cost-effectiveness of the attention value in programmatic advertising.
Tell us a surprising fact about yourself!
My passions are pizza and donuts. As a counterweight, I jog with my speckled dog.
Noora Pyörre
Programmatic Manager
Who are you and what do you do at Alma?
I’m Noora Pyörre and I’m a programmatic advertising expert at Alma Media. As with the rest of the team, the most central contents of my work include supporting programmatic advertisers and customers as well as internal stakeholders in programmatic challenges.
What is the best thing about your job?
Learning new things and the best colleagues and the nicest customers. Of course, you always get energy from working with people!
What is your superpower in programmatic advertising?
IT and coding studies during college helps me to understand algorithms in useful ways sometimes.
If you weren’t a digital advertising professional, what would you do for a living?
I speak semi-fluent China and not-so-fluent Japan, so jobs related to tourism in Asia are interesting to me.
What is the most interesting phenomenon right now in digital marketing or programmatic advertising?
The wave of fashion in digital marketing is interesting and it’s fun to see how the use of advertising formats changes over the years. Now, high attention value advertising forms and effectiveness are on the rise, so we are working on the most important basic concepts.
Tell us a surprising fact about yourself!
I like to do sports where you have to concentrate so hard that you forget everything else, like work. In general, skating is close to my heart, so in my free time I can be found playing roller derby, a full-contact sport. In the middle of the chaos of the game, you don’t have time to think of complete sentences.
