I know Bernadine Reddy personally and this girl is on fire. Aside from having a bright personality, she definitely looks like a firecracker.
Bernie as her friends refer her to; knows what is needed and how to make things happen. She has been in the advertising industry for 15 years where she started in print advertising, she then moved on into digital, where she now runs her own media representation firm – Happy Bold Italic.
Happy Bold Italic started with 2 media owners, it now carries 10 in its portfolio. The firm represents online portals such as City Nomads, Honeycombers, CHOPE, Urban journey, The Smart Local, WTF, to name a few. Happy Bold Italic sources advertisers for their media owners and acts as the bridge between media owner and brands.
Having amassed the wealth of experience in the advertising industry, this homegrown hotshot aptly imparts her knowledge here on this blog.
So I decided to ask her a couple of questions, which she was more than willing to answer.
What’s a general misconception about advertising?
That consumers matter the least, many are surprised to know that a lot of marketing is done in silos. Most of the time marketers don’t listen or talk to consumers before deciding on what to proceed with.
Would you be able to break down which platforms work best for certain industries/brands and which are a complete waste of time? That’s really a grey area. I come from a very strong print background and for me, it still holds a soft spot but now that I focus on digital, I do realize that regardless of industry, digital channels when placed together the right way can give any brand an insight to what they previously were unaware.
In this day and age, what’s the best way to advertise your business/brand? Why?
That would be to identify with your target market – the clientele you want to reach; which age group/profession, income bracket, gender etc. By understanding the potential consumer, brands can really begin engaging with them on a deeper level.
What is the most difficult challenge you face when dealing with clients, bosses etc when it comes to the world of advertising?
Some clients want immediate results, which is not always possible. It takes time to win consumers over, especially if a brand/product is new.
If you could change the world of advertising would you change one or many things about it?
I want media owners to know their worth – as media owners devalue their product by slashing their rates; it a chain reaction that affects many marketers. This is especially sad when I come across great written or hard work that has had less that what it deserves
I want media owners to know their worth – as media owners devalue their product by slashing their rates; it a chain reaction that affects many marketers. This is especially sad when I come across great written or hard work that has had less that what it deserves
Can you teach us some advertising lingo most frequently used?
- KPI: Key Performance Indicators
- ROI: Return on Investment
- TA: Target Audience
- HTML: Hyper Text Markup Language
Give us some industry secrets
- Build a good rapport with your clients
- Understand what drives a client’s business and not just the one-off assignment
- Understand the client’s consumer
- Show that you care in the business and not just their advertising dollars
- Follow up with them and learn to listen to their needs.
Check out Happy Bold Italic here (http://www.happybolditalic.com/).
