On Advertising Champions, our host, Tony Stanol, interviews bright and engaging members of the digital advertising and media community. On this segment, Tony speaks with William Lederer of iSOCRATES.
iSOCRATES advises on, builds, manages, and owns mission-critical Marketing, Advertising and Data technologies, platforms and processes as the Global Leader in MADTech Resource Planning and Execution serving marketers, agencies, publishers, and enablers.
iSOCRATES has two lines of business: Products (MADTechAITM) and Services (Consulting: Strategy and Operations; Managed Services).
iSOCRATES is staffed 24/7/365 with its own proven specialists who save partners money, time and achieve transparent, accountable performance while delivering extraordinary value. Savings stem from a low-cost, focused global delivery model at scale that benefits from continuous re-investment in technology and specialized training.
The company is headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.A., with its global delivery centers in Mysuru and Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
How do you define success?
Success for me personally: paying off student loans, finding someone who would put up with me, improving the gene pool, finding challenge and joy in my work, and having enough personal time and physical wellness to walk a bit with my wife each week, read widely, and play 3-4 days of tennis/week.
Success for me professionally: being able to learn every day while creating value in the field of one’s choice while spending time with whom you wish to and earning enough not to have to worry about it to terribly much.
How did you get started in your field or work?
I founded e-commerce company Art.com back in 1998. To survive those early days in digital marketing, you had to embrace a detailed focus on what works and what does not. One way or another, I have been trying to create, prove and sustain value one or another ever since.
What’s one thing we should know that makes your company unique?
The combination of MADTech planning and execution skills, capabilities and platform and global industry experience we have in end-to-end data-driven digital media and marketing is uncommon and of particular value to people who are seeking a value-added relationship where results matter.
What was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome in your business?
The first 5 months of the COVID outbreak was pretty big. The unexpected loss of a few key accounts due to no fault of our own during the same period when we were investing heavily in our homegrown AI platform without external financing or AI-related customers at that time was not ideal.
