Season 02 • Episode 02
Julia Martin, MoPub
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Continuing our 2nd Season of the Appy Hour Talk Show (and Podcast), is the fun and super smart Julia Martin, MoPub’s Senior Programmatic Demand Lead! We chat with the always personable Julia about her favorite wine (this IS the Appy Hour, after all!), living in SoCal, and how our co-Host Ariel sounds very familiar for some reason….Then, we’ll Talk Nerdy about the in’s and out’s of the LATAM Market, especially Brasil! We end off on a fun note, as always, where we put Julia’s unique talent of being able to name ANY country’s capital city to the test!
Episode Transcription:
Louis: Hey.
Julia: Oh my god, I love that.
Louis: Thank you.
Ariel: That’s the reaction.
Julia: I want to listen right now.
Ariel: You’re in the show.
Louis: You are listening.
Julia: I’m in it. Oh my God. This is really cool.
Ariel: You’re in the show. Your in our world.
Louis: I hope you’re listening, Julia Riley from MoPub.
Julia: Julia Martin.
Ariel: You wrote it Riley.
Louis: Julia Riley Martin.
Julia: But that’s my maiden name. That’s so weird.
Louis: That’s what you wrote in the thing.
Julia: I wrote Julia Riley?
Louis:
Julia Riley Martin.
Julia:
Okay. Sometimes I still do my maiden name, accidentally.
Louis: Because in your first name when you wrote Julia Riley, and then Martin was the last name.
Ariel: Well, it’s on your LinkedIn, it’s Julia Riley Martin.
Julia: I should probably just change it, because I get a lot of “Hey, Julia Rileys.”
Louis: See?
Julia: Yeah.
Louis: Okay. Julia Martin.
Julia: Julia Martin.
Louis: I’m sorry, Julia. I’m sorry, Julia, for pronouncing the name as you give it to us. So Julia…
Julia: Yes?
Louis: … is our guest today at the Appy Hour.
Ariel: Yeah, she’s senior programmatic demand lead at MoPub, a Twitter company.
Louis: And that amazing voice that you’re hearing is Ariel Neidermeier.
Ariel: Right? Yes. Ariel Neidermeier.
Louis: Queen of content.
Ariel: Queen of content at App Growth Summit. And that on the other side of the dial is Louis Tanguay, our fearless founder at App Growth Summit.
Louis: That’s true. I have no fear. Nothing to fear. Julia, really quickly, can you tell us a little bit about you and what you do over at MoPub?
Julia: Professionally, I’ve been in the digital advertising space for 10 years now, which is crazy. And I’ve been at MoPub now for about six. I started on the publisher side, so I worked with all of the top apps out there and got them to move over and MoPub and use our monetization platform. And now I’m on the other side and I work with marketers. And it’s a cool role because I’m more of a consultant. And because we are not yet in the business of selling media, so I get to make recommendations on DSPs and all sorts of fun stuff and help them really understand mobile programmatic. That’s what I do. Should I go into personal?
Louis: Yeah, please.
Ariel: Well, if you would like to contribute. Yeah, what do you do in your free time?
Julia: Gosh, what do I do? So I live in L.A. I live in the west side and I love it. I really, really love it. I moved when I got pregnant for the first time, because I just wanted more sunshine. I’m from Palo Alto, and then spent about six years in San Francisco. And free time I spend it with my little kiddos. They’re really cute. I’ll show you some pics later, beach and just new restaurants. Drink wine.
Louis: L.A. life.
Julia: L.A. life.
Ariel: What kind of wine, though? Because I feel you on that.
Julia: It really depends on my mood and the weather. There’s a new wine. It’s not actually a new wine. Do you guys know the winery Pagiu?
Ariel: I’ve seen the label.
Julia: I think it’s Rutherford or somewhere in Napa. And they have this wine that it’s a red and white blend. It’s not a rosé. It’s kind of a rosé color. You serve it chilled and it just so good. I can’t even explain it. I will have to send you guys a bottle. But it goes with everything and it goes with nothing too. So you can just drink it.
Ariel: Well, this is the Appy Hour so, ideally, we would be drinking this wine right now.
Julia: Yeah.
Louis: Yeah, we would probably make a sound effect, “Tink.” “Oh my God. This is amazing wine.”
Julia: The clink. Yeah.
Louis: The power of post.Julia, you actually have your own podcast? Yes.
Julia: Yeah. I did mention that to you. And I have not yet published it. Maybe now I have to.
Louis: That’s it on the spot.
Julia: Yeah. I’m very much a believer in the universe and finding your passion and purpose and what life is about. And-
Louis: Ariel just blushed.
Ariel: Yeah, I put my hands up, as if you were preaching or something.
Julia: I’m just always searching and reading and interested in it. And I find myself talking to friends and trying to understand how they think about life and purpose and passion. And then I’m like, “I just want To create something,” and then I listen to a lot of podcasts about this. And so I was like, “I should just do my own podcast.” And so I’ve only actually recorded two episodes, one with my sister and one with my friend.
Ariel: I love that. It sounds like inspiration road or something.
Julia: Yeah. I don’t actually know if I will ever publish it. But at the very least, I can share it with my kids when they’re older, and they get a little glimpse into what I was like and how I thought about things at this time. And I think, no matter what, it will lead me to, at least, understanding this journey a little bit more and knowing what I want to do.
Ariel: Yeah. I love that.
Louis: I wonder if by the time that they want to listen to it, we’re not going to be able to play MP3s anymore. It’s like, “I have this cassette tape of my recordings.” “Thanks, mom.”
Julia: I know. How do I access? I should just be able to push a button in the air.
Louis: They’ll just omnisciently be like, “What did mom think back in [inaudible 00:06:05]?”
Julia: Yeah.
Ariel: Okay, so we are just going to ask you some really relevant questions. Relevant to your job, totally.
Julia: Okay.
Ariel: Are you ready?
Julia: Okay. I’m ready.
Ariel: No, I’m not going to ask this question.
Julia: Yeah, ask it.
Ariel: Okay. What’s the grossest thing you’ve ever seen someone do in public?
Louis: Yeah, San Francisco.
Julia: That’s actually one of the reasons why I was like, “I am ready to move,” is I lived in Lower Haight, and this is when I was six months pregnant. And the Muni that I took to Twitter, which is Twitter’s in the Tenderloin, went from Golden Gate Park to the Tenderloin. So lots of great characters on that commute. And one guy actually went to the bathroom in the shuttle in front of everyone. Everyone had to get off. And I was just like, “That’s it. This is it. That’s why I Uber to work for the rest of [crosstalk 00:07:06]. And like, “And I’m moving to L.A. I can’t do this anymore.”
Louis: And we just learned that Tenderloin…
Julia: The T.L.
Louis: Is also called the T.L.
Ariel: Yeah, we just had a-
Louis: We interviewed with Thomas Pan from Drive Time.
Ariel: Drive Time. Yeah.
Louis: And he said, T.L., and we’re like, “ATL? Atlanta?” And he’s like, “No, Tenderloin.”
Ariel: No, you thought it was something else, too. I said Atlanta. You said it was…
Louis: I don’t know what it is. I was just dumbfounded.
Ariel: Yeah.
Louis: As usual.
Ariel: The T.L. I was like, “Okay. So we’re calling it that, now.”
Louis: The T.L.
Julia: Wait. So I actually I feel bad. And I want to say how much I love San Francisco, because I really do. And I didn’t just leave. Actually, this is one of the things my grandmother always said, is to always leave a party while you’re still having fun. And I left San Francisco while I was still having fun. I think if I’d stayed a little bit longer, some of that stuff really would have gotten to me. But it’s such an amazing city and being back today, it’s so beautiful out.
Ariel: It is beautiful out today.
Julia: I love how when it’s sunny in San Francisco, everyone goes outside, especially in the weekends. There’s no one that’s going to be holed up in their apartment.
Ariel: Yeah, no, I feel that. There’s an appreciation for good weather that you don’t get in Southern California.
Julia: Yeah.
Ariel: What is the best meal you’ve had for under $10?
Julia: Definitely somewhere in Thailand. Probably a pad thai with eight beers.
Louis: For 9.95.
Julia: Yes.
Ariel: Yes.
Julia: Some Singha.
Ariel: Yeah. Singha. I almost said Bintang, but I think that’s Bali. I don’t know.
Julia: Singha. Yeah. That the Thai beer.
Louis: What was the make and model of your first cell phone?
Julia: Definitely a Nokia with snake. Good old snake. And I had the covers that you could switch on and off. I don’t know. I had a Nokia phone you could clip on a green cover or an orange cover.
Ariel: That’s cool. No, I don’t think so. But I myself and my friend Morgana were the only ones that had phones. And I remember distinctly my freshman year of high school, I called her and while we were walking to class and so many people were like, “Oh my God. You’re so stupid. You have a phone? Oh my God.”
Julia: They shamed you for having a phone? Wow.
Ariel: Yeah. Well, and for calling her. And also that my mom probably got so mad because she’s like, “Ugh, that’s so expensive, a one-minute phone call.” I always think about pre-first cell phone. Remember when everyone had pagers?
Julia: Yeah.
Louis: Like the Skygraham pager.
Julia: I remember I missed that a little bit. My sister was so into pager and she would page code or whatever and I couldn’t. It was like another language.
Ariel: Well, I just thought it was a conundrum because it’s like you have this pager but basically people would page you to call them. And then you still had to find a device to call them, but [crosstalk 00:10:04] pay phones.
Julia: You could still page text, but it has all numerics. And it was like this whole alphabet.
Ariel: Right? Yeah, I could only do 505 like SOS.
Julia: Yeah.
Ariel: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah. What was I love you? 143.
Ariel: Yeah. I’ve got a good one. You remember the days of AOL?
Julia: Of course. [inaudible 00:10:24]
Ariel: [inaudible 00:10:24]
Louis: You’ve got mail.
Ariel: Yeah, you got mail, yeah. Great romcom, by the way. I really like that one.
Julia: Yeah, that was good.
Ariel: Dave Chappelle’s in it, which I just can’t get over.
Julia: What? Dave Chappelle?
Ariel: No one remembers this. Dave Chappelle is the best friend of Tom Hanks in You’ve Got Mail.
Louis: Wow.
Ariel: Yeah. It’s such a random roll.
Julia: I can’t even picture that.
Ariel: Yes.
Julia: The best friend?
Ariel: He’s the best friend of Tom Hanks.
Julia: Wow.
Ariel: And he talks to Tom Hanks about Meg Ryan. That’s, basically, his role is to like ask him leading questions about Meg Ryan.
Julia: Oh my God. I can’t even-
Louis: Is this the Sliding Doors alternate universes or something?
Ariel: This is a real thing. IMDB it.
Julia: Wow. I’m so [crosstalk 00:11:03].
Louis: Well, we would believe you, because why wouldn’t we believe you?
Ariel: Well, what I was going to ask though is do you remember your AOL name?
Julia: Yeah, I do. Because it ended up being my license plate and it’s actually a funny story. But my AOL name was Jules R 911, like emergency and then it became my little nickname for all the things that you’d sign up for. And I asked my parents for my 16th birthday, if I could get a for my car. I got a car for my 16the birthday but they got me up custom license plate that said Jules 911. And then 911 happened. And everyone would ask me like, “Did you lose someone named Jules in 9/11?” So that was just [crosstalk 00:11:50]. Now, I think when you see 911, it could mean either, but for a while there, 911, it was 9/11.
Ariel: Yeah, definitely. Okay, I have another very serious relevant question. What is your most used emoji? I guess you can look.
Julia: Yeah, can I look?
Ariel: You can look.
Julia: No, I’ll think about it. It used to be the…
Louis: I love how you taking this really serious. So make sure your answer is accurate.
Julia: Well, I think I really like this question, actually.
Ariel: I think it says a lot about someone.
Julia: Yeah, I know. I make fun of my sister, because she always uses this one.
Ariel: Yeah.
Julia: But it’s so passive aggressive. I’m like-
Louis: She’s doing the one with hmm.
Julia: The passive aggressive one. Yeah. She’ll be like, “Are…”
Louis: The Michaela face or whatever?
Julia: Yeah. And also, she’s kind of passive aggressive. So I’m like, “You’ve got to stop with that emoji.” But mine is probably the laughing crying one, I guess.
Louis: Which one though?
Julia: The crying laughing one.
Louis: Which one?
Julia: With the little tears.
Ariel: Oh, with the tears.
Julia: Yeah. With the tears.
Louis: Which one. There are two. Mine is the one that’s sideways, like little angled.
Julia: Oh. No, I’ve never used that one. I don’t think I have the courage.
Louis: Because I use the one that’s a little tilted and off kilter, like angled, because that seems like they’re laughing even harder.
Ariel: Yeah.
Louis: Either that one or just a normal tongue sticking out with the squinty eyes.
Ariel: Yeah. You like the manic laughing crying.
Louis: Yeah.
Ariel: It’s manic, a little.
Julia: Yeah.
Louis: Okay.
Julia: Yeah, I agree. It’s too-
Louis: Not manic. I want on that part, but yes.
Julia: It’s a little too intense for me, I think, that one.
Louis: Yeah. I just like laughing.
Julia: Yeah. Me too.
Louis: Laughing is good.
Julia: Me too.
Ariel: Mine’s the one with the, it’s a newer one. It’s like [inaudible 00:13:38] and the tongue sticking out and it’s like going crazy.
Julia: What do you do that for?
Ariel: Honestly, everything. I just feel like it really encapsulates me in my every day.
Louis: Can you send that to me? I want to see what this…
Ariel: Yeah, and tell us what a-
Louis: This is great for a podcast, by the way.
Julia: I know. What’s something that I would text you that you would respond with that?
Louis: Hello.
Ariel: For example, I went on a yoga retreat, and I came back to a mess of an email inbox on all accounts, personal and [inaudible 00:14:17].
Julia: Yeah, I can see it.
Ariel: And I was texting a friend about it. And they were like, “How was your trip? How are you feeling?” And I was like, “Honestly, my inbox is a mess.” And then I hashtagged, “Wild times,” and then it did the face.
Julia: Yeah. That’s good.
Ariel: Yeah, just this wildlife, you know?
Louis: So the face that Ariel’s making is she’s moving her head to the side with her tongue sticking out.
Ariel: It’s this one.
Louis: Okay, so what that is, is one eye really wide open, one eye really shut closed and then the tongue sticking out like, “Bleh.”
Julia: I thought it was like, “I’m drunk.”
Louis: There you go. Well, yeah, Appy Hour.
Ariel: You know what? This is Appy Hour.
Julia: Yeah.
Ariel: I am your co-host. This is on friends.
Julia: By the way, you have such a good podcaster voice.
Louis: Oh my God, she does.
Julia: I really like it.
Louis: Now, you know I’m going to ruin it forever. You’re always going to hear this now. Who does she sound like? Don’t say anything.
Julia: Okay, I’m going to close my eyes. And [inaudible 00:15:17] say something.
Louis: Read anything.
Ariel: Well, my friend Jolene.
Julia: Oh.
Louis: Yeah, she knows.
Ariel: She does.
Julia: Wait. Keep going.
Ariel: I came out like a wrecking ball.
Julia: Oh, you do? You do sound like Miley.
Louis: Miley Cyrus.
Julia: Oh my gosh. Yes.
Ariel: See, now, you’ll never not see it or not hear it.
Julia: Oh, wow. Wait-
Louis: So you know what I could do? I could just say Miley Cyrus and my co-host and people will believe it.
Julia: Yes. Wait. Can you sing?
Ariel: No. And, actually, it’s so sad. We were just talking about this. I feel like it’s you know when you’re in the movies and you watch a really amazing trailer.
Julia: Yeah.
Ariel: And then you see the movie and it’s total shit.
Julia: Yeah.
Louis: That is not accurate.
Ariel: It’s like that. Well, okay. I know. But I’m just saying, I feel like it teases you like, “Oh, she would be great at karaoke,” or like, “She would be a great singer.”
Louis: Anyone is great at karaoke.
Julia: Do you have a good pitch?
Ariel: No.
Julia: Okay.
Ariel: Yeah, not even.
Julia: I’m literally the worst singer you’ve ever heard, literally.
Ariel: Well, okay. And I do think karaoke, sometimes it’s a little bit of a flex, especially professional. I see a lot of like company parties or gatherings, like you go out and do karaoke. Sometimes you can’t get past the fact that you have to sing a song. What song do you have in your back pocket, ready?
Louis: Wrecking ball?
Julia: I usually go with a old school, country song that everyone knows. Although that can backfire with too young of an audience.
Louis: Like what? Achy Breaky Heart?
Julia: No, like-
Ariel: Like I’ve got friends in low places.
Julia: Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Or like some Toby Keith song.
Ariel: Yeah. A good standby is like the one where they shout tequila. It’s like, “Tequila.”
Louis: Tequila.
Ariel: Or like, “Lalalalalala bamba.”
Julia: Oh, yeah.
Louis: Yeah, anything with a group is good. Because then you’re hoping that other people sing with you, so they’re not listening to you.
Ariel: Yes.
Julia: Yeah. And they’re having fun and they don’t care if you’re awful.
Louis: Yeah, they don’t care. Like that’s why you can have like Piano Man or Sweet Caroline. That’s a good one to mask yourself.
Julia: Yeah. We just did this right when I started on this new team in New York. And I had only had a half of a glass of vodka soda.
Ariel: Not enough.
Julia: Yeah. And then they played Miley Cyrus’ Party in the U.S.A. And they’re like, “Julia. Get up.” And I’m like, “No.” And then I’m like, “Fine.” And then I got up and I realized this is actually a hard song to sing. I’m really bad. Everyone was being really nice. And I just tried to dance and be funny, but, yeah, not enough liquid courage and not the right song at all.
Ariel: Yeah, no. I’ve had a really bad experience with Mystikal. Mystikal with a K, not a C.
Louis: Mystikal.
Ariel: Mystikal. Yeah, so I had had too much liquid courage, let’s say, and I was feeling very powerful and feeling myself and I got up and I say, are we going to bleep this? Can I say ass?
Louis: No. Yeah, you can swear.
Ariel: Well, so I sang the song. It’s like, “Shake your ass. Watch yourself, Shake your ass. Show me what you’re working with.” So that part’s fine. But then the in between, he talks really fast. And he kind of growls. He’s like, “[inaudible 00:18:33].” And it’s actually quite crass. It’s quite crass. And I-
Louis: So you sounded exactly like Mystikal.
Julia: Oh my God.
Ariel: I have no idea why I decided that was like the showstopper of a song.
Louis: Well, you’re not thinking correctly.
Julia: Yeah.
Ariel: No. All right. So, Louis, do you want to segue into…
Louis: Yeah, I think we should segue over to our segment called Talk Nerdy to Me.
Julia: Oh, whoa, is that original?
Louis: Well, no. Nothing’s original.
Ariel: No, I think we came up with that.
Louis: We came up with it, but nothing is original. I’m sure I’ve heard that term.
Julia: Yeah. I’m sure if you Googled it, there’s like a bunch of different blogs [crosstalk 00:19:12].
Louis: Oh, yeah. It’s definitely not something that we just came up with. But then again, nothing is right? Everything’s derivative in some form or fashion. So getting into the fun stuff. What is one area or one geographical area do you think that the industry should be more focused on that or not right now, as far as what emerging market should we start paying attention to?
Julia: I think this isn’t anything new, but Latin America is where it’s at. I’m also part Brazilian and so I’m am Brazilian citizen, my mom grew up [crosstalk 00:19:52].
Louis: [foreign language 00:19:52]?
Julia: [foreign language 00:19:53]. That’s all I can really…
Ariel: That was a really…
Louis: You’re like, “Let me stop now before he asks…
Ariel: Loved it.
Julia: But no. We’re actually, at MoPub, just really focusing on that region for many reasons. But obviously, number one being the huge growth potential, not just on the publisher side, but also on the demand side. And I was just there a little less than two months ago. And I did a sit-down panel of sorts with two different Brazilian marketers, both in gaming, one guy from Taps. Have you guys heard of Taps?
Louis: Yes.
Julia: They have a-
Louis: We just did a an event in Sao Paulo.
Julia: Oh, yeah. That’s right. Oh, yeah. They loved that event, by the way.
Louis: Yeah.
Julia: I think they mentioned it in the panel.
Ariel: Yeah, Louis. I don’t know, I feel like you had a great time in Brazil.
Louis: I had an amazing time.
Ariel: They loved you there.
Louis: I love Brazil.
Ariel: Yeah.
Julia: I think it’s, technically, the second fastest growing app market. But the potential is so huge, because we’ve just haven’t been getting it right. And talking to these marketers, I think it’s really interesting to hear from their perspective. So I had this two-part thing, and we filmed it, and we’re going to publish it. But the first was the challenges and opportunities for marketers that are based in Brazil, and based in LATAM. And what they go through. And also just best practices for partners that are looking to really get in there and work with these marketers. And then the second part was really about how to effectively do user acquisition in LATAM. And these two guys, so one guy from Taps, they have a game called bid wars, another guy from [Fanity 00:21:42]. They have a lot of different word game types app. They’re so smart and some of the things that they were sharing were just these, you would almost think that they’re intuitive, but people aren’t doing it.
Julia: In LATAM, relationships are so important. And so few companies, networks, DSPs, spend the time to actually get to know the people. So they go in with their pitches. And it doesn’t stick, because in Brazil, for example, trust is such a big part of any kind of business relationship. And then there’s so many challenges around the government in Brazil and tax implications. And that’s why Brazilian marketers spend so much with Google and Facebook, because they have local entities, and then they can avoid paying 50% plus taxes. But so that aside, the opportunity is so big. I think there’s so much that other marketers who are also targeting LATAM can do around creative. And the guys that I was talking to, they were just discussing how when you are promoting a game in LATAM, you can’t use the same creative in Brazil and also in Mexico. Obviously, the language is different, for one. But also even if you’re doing Argentina and Mexico, you can’t really use the same creative because users interact with them differently. There are different idioms and all that stuff. And people haven’t really spent the time to get that right. And if they did, then they’d see even better results than they’re seeing today.
Louis: Yeah, you hear about localization in places like Europe.
Julia: Yeah.
Louis: And it’s like, but they don’t consider it as seriously for Latin America.
Julia: Yeah, exactly.
Louis: And it’s super important. Obviously, like Brazil, they don’t even speak Spanish. So and Argentina is completely different to Mexico. No, I think that there is definitely a big challenge with running campaigns in Brazil. So you almost have to use intermediary company that has a base there. Like for example, I’m going to plug them because they’re awesome with us, RankMyApp. They can help with ASO. They have a DSP, all that stuff, or you can run your campaigns through them. And they also helped me produce the first Sao Paulo event. So whenever I can, I’ll plug them.
Julia: Yeah, so that was something that they they talked about as well. And a lot of different marketers that are based in Brazil have told me the importance of actually spending time in region and going and doing these events. They called out AGS and I think AppsFlyer also does a really good job of setting people are out there doing events.
Louis: They have a huge MAMA event.
Ariel: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah, exactly. And just showing that you care and you’re investing in that region.
Louis: I learned Portuguese. [foreign language 00:25:07].
Julia: [foreign language 00:25:08]
Louis: [foreign language 00:25:09] App Growth Summit.
Julia: If you want everyone to really like what you’re saying, and you want to make it cute, just add [foreign language 00:25:22] or [foreign language 00:25:23] after little things like [foreign language 00:25:25]. It’s just like a little hug or, “Let’s have a café [foreign language 00:25:29].” Like, “Let’s just have a little coffee.” Then you’ll see that they do that with everything. And it just makes it cuter and sweeter.
Louis: Does that work for elles and ellas? Both men and women?
Julia: Yeah. Everybody.
Louis: Okay. Yeah. I noticed that that there’s no issues with being cute.
Ariel: Yeah, you can still maintain your masculinity and be cute, is that what you’re saying?
Ariel: Yeah. That’s divine masculinity. That’s going to save our world. I could go on.
Louis: Tank you, Miley.
Ariel: No.
Julia: Oh my God. That’s the Miley thing.
Louis: Okay, so back to the…
Ariel: So back to the talk show. I know, I’m never going to not hear it now.
Louis: Back to the podcast.
Ariel: That’s the thing. That’s why I was going to-
Julia: You also kind of look like her.
Ariel: Well, that’s very sweet. Because she’s…
Julia: Well, I think you actually even-
Louis: I think she looks like Aubrey Plaza.
Ariel: Yeah, he gets this whole ob reposit thing.
Louis: You know Aubrey Plaza?
Ariel: I think it’s just the eyes.
Louis: From Parks and Recreation?
Julia: Yeah, I do.
Louis: The one who never smiles. Ariel always smiles.
Julia: Yeah. I just saw another movie with her.
Ariel: Was it what’s her face goes west?
Julia: Yes.
Ariel: Oh my God. Creepy movie. I watched it too. And I couldn’t take my eyes off. It was like watching a slow speed car crash.
Julia: Yeah. It was good, though.
Ariel: Yeah, it was good. It made you think. So, it’s a movie about a woman who, basically, is a stalker, and she finds different women on Instagram that she develops these massive girl crushes on?
Julia: Yeah.
Louis: Aubrey’s that character.
Ariel: Yeah. Yes.
Louis: Then we’re learning much about you, right?
Ariel: It’s why I went to San Diego. You don’t need to know.
Louis: That’s why she’s now in San Francisco.
Ariel: I was following joy.
Louis: Yeah, now that’s why she’s going to New York. She’s moving around a lot.
Ariel: I’m just moving around. Yeah, you don’t know what’s taking you places. Okay, so avergence of LATAM, Brazil, building relationships. Do you see any other ways that the industry is changing or evolving in the future?
Julia: So many ways. Yeah. It’s interesting, because I sort of fell into this industry. I always wanted to work at Google. And I told myself, “I will work at Google Timbuktu. I don’t even care what I’m doing.” And after college, I just kept applying and applying and then I realized, “Okay, you actually have to know someone or your resume’s just buried in 50,000 other resumes, probably more than that. And when I finally I got a job at Google, and I was working at AdSense. Do you know AdSense. Is basically the beginning of this whole thing. And of publishers really being able to monetize easily and scale that.
Louis: Websites.
Julia: Websites. Yeah.
Louis: Now you’re talking my origination.
Julia: Yeah. My first role there was calling on blogs, which was actually really cool, because Google owned the platform Blogger. And so we had all their contact information. And I would just call them and say, “Hey, do you know that you can actually make money off this thing you’re doing?” And most often, they didn’t. They didn’t even realize there was an integration where they could just literally flip a switch and put a little AdSense ad. And then oftentimes, what would happen they start making this money, and a lot of money, where they would quit their day jobs. So it was such a fun time. But I always told myself, as soon as I felt like I wasn’t growing or learning, it was going to be off to the new next thing. And it just kept innovating. There was just always something new and then AdSense, then the double click acquisition. Well, it had already happened when I was there, but the integration of AdX. So then it was this whole new platform. And I was there for four years and I’m like, “Okay, I think I’m ready for something new and moved over to MoPub.
Julia: And MoPub, it’s been even faster. It’s just this industry is so dynamic. And then now being able to see it from the other side, from the marketers perspective, rounds it all out because I was working with publishers for eight years. And it just feels like this big puzzle that is constantly changing, but also getting almost easier in a way but there’s new players. This is a really long-winded answer and I don’t even think I’m answering you.
Ariel: That’s fine. We have an editor.
Julia: Okay.
Ariel: [Louise Anne 00:29:56], we love you.
Julia: Yeah. So what?
Ariel: Oh, I was asking you how do you see the industry changing in the near future?
Julia: In the near future? I should probably know more about 5G.
Ariel: Shouldn’t we all?
Julia: Yeah.
Louis: It is not a government weapon.
Julia: But I feel like with the advent of 5G, and just the whole Internet-of-Things era, that’s going to happen really fast. And how that’s going to affect ad tech. We’re going to have to be figuring out how to monetize all of those different things. So, obviously, I’m getting into Connected TV and all that, but outside of that, just figuring out how to run ads and all the thing that we-
Ariel: Everything.
Julia: My toothbrush.
Ariel: Yeah, seriously. I know. The whole wearables conversation piece is crazy to me. You could just put ads anywhere.
Louis: And they will.
Julia: Yeah. I actually still don’t know why on an airplane they don’t force you to watch more ads.
Ariel: They do. I feel like they make you watch the airplanes ads.
Julia: Yeah. But that’s such a prime opera. Do you need that? And then you play it over the loudspeakers, it’s 100% viewability.
Ariel: Wait. That’s a good question. Thank you, Julia. We should be like, “Where are they not placing ads that they should be placing ads? Have you ever thought about that?”
Louis: Yeah. Let’s ask.
Ariel: So that’s a good one.
Julia: Could you get a free flight if you were just forced to watch ads the whole time?
Ariel: Yeah.
Louis: Yeah. Then you’d have to gamify it, right? Then you get them to watch more ads, like, “Do you want another 50 frequent flyer miles? Or 100?
Ariel: Or a free drink?
Julia: Oh, yeah.
Louis: Yeah.
Julia: Like rewarded video ads.
Louis: Yeah, exactly.
Ariel: Yes.
Julia: That’s what it should be.
Louis: Yes.
Julia: Free drink or you build up coins.
Louis: See?
Ariel: For free drinks, or free food or free anything. Yeah.
Julia: Watching ads.
Louis: Well, now that frequent flyer miles a greatly devalued, they can just make it sound good, like, “We’ll give you 1000 frequent flyer miles if you watch this ad.” And it’s like, “Ooh.”
Julia: Yeah.
Ariel: Where could they put ads?
Louis: So could skip and not watch the ad. It’s just incremental growth, right? Anything that they get off of that is bonus?
Julia: I would do that. Sometimes I don’t mind just watching stuff.
Ariel: I feel like I’d get into this weird meditative state on airplanes too where you’re just sitting there as everyone’s boarding and then everyone’s sitting down and you’re just looking out the window, thinking about your life.
Julia: Right? I think a testament to that is how everyone memorized the Virgin America safety video. I knew that song by heart. If they just placed a few ads. I guess they did. There were ads.
Louis: There are companies that are trying to sell ad space on airplanes, so some of them are monetized. But obviously not annoying enough for us to know.
Julia: And not rewarded video.
Louis: Yes, definitely not rewarded video. And maybe you can select the style of ads you want. Do you watch sneaker ads?
Ariel: Wait. This is a great idea. Let’s do this.
Julia: Yeah.
Ariel: Let’s [crosstalk 00:33:08].
Julia: So you fill out a little-
Louis: Sorry, MoPub. We’re taking Julia.
Ariel: We’re building this.
Julia: You fill out a little survey that’s opt in. Then you get around all that other complaint stuff. And then you can also just sell that data?
Ariel: Yeah.
Julia: Oh, wow.
Louis: Look at this. We have a whole business model. You know what? Remember when she used to work in MoPub, where you used to run that conference thing? Now we’re billionaires.
Julia: A bunch of kooks, amateur hour.
Louis: Now we’re billionaires. I can’t believe no one listened to that episode and just did it themselves.
Ariel: I know, there’s gold in them.
Louis: There’s gold in them podcasts. Let’s talk programmatic, since you are the programmatic demand lead.
Julia: Yeah.
Louis: What is the one thing that frustrates you the most that you hear all the time about programmatic that you’re like, “No, that is not accurate”?
Julia: Probably that programmatic is fraud.
Louis: All of it, just fraudulent.
Julia: Yeah, just fraud. I’m not going to “No, I tried programmatic back in 2000, whatever, ’13. And it’s all fraud.” And what’s interesting, and going back to the little video series that we’re doing, it’s actually a lot of marketers are finding that programmatic, as a UA channel, has the least amount of fraud, and that’s verified by by attribution partners. And I think that’s because also there’s so much transparency when you know exactly, or you can know, depending on who you’re working with, exactly where you’re at is running down to the placement and there’s just so much data that is available. Of course, there is still fraud and still a serious problem, but it’s not all fraud. And, again, definitely less fraud than some of the black box networks.
Louis: So would you recommend any anti-fraud platforms in conjunction with DSPs?
Julia: So the two partnerships that MoPub leverages are we have partnerships with Pixalate and DoubleVerify. They’re both MRC accredited. Do you know how hard it is to be MRC accredited?
Louis: No.
Julia: Someone was explaining this to me and basically their systems have to be pretty much perfect. It’s really, really hard. And I think the accreditation process happens every year. And but those are two vendors that are IVT. So invalid traffic monitoring and fraud prevention. And I think, because they’re accredited, they’re really, really top notch. So they are the two partners that we leverage and so all of the traffic on MoPub’s exchange is vetted and verified by those two.
Ariel: Okay, so it seems like you’ve traveled a lot.
Julia: Oh, I know where this is going.
Ariel: I think you know [inaudible 00:36:22].
Louis: Julie has a special skill.
Ariel: She does have a special skill. We got a whiff of it from her little pre-interview set of questions. So, Julia, we hear that you happen to be a capital aficionado of every country in the world.
Julia: Yeah. I’s definitely a fun little bar trick. But I think starting from when I was three or four years old, we’d have Sunday dinners at my grandparents house. My grandfather would quiz me on capitals. So it started easy. What’s the capital France? Paris. And then over the years, they got into Africa and Asia and what’s the capital of Burkina Faso? Ouagadougou. That’s a really fun one to say. And then I realized, ‘Okay, I know probably 85 to 90% of the capitals. I should just round it out.” So I created note cards in high school, and I just memorized, but they kept changing. So I had to keep on top of that, too.
Ariel: Yeah. So how do you keep on top? You just keep a lookout in the news if something changes?
Julia: Yeah. I do.
Louis: You should make and app for that.
Julia: Yeah, there are so many apps for that. For countries and capitals and flags.
Louis: Well, let’s see if Julia is a human app.
Ariel: Can we quiz you?
Julia: Yeah, you can quiz me.
Ariel: I’m going to start it easy.
Julia: Okay.
Louis: United States.
Julia: Washington D.C.
Ariel: Let’s do Russia.
Julia: Moscow.
Ariel: Estonia.
Julia: Tallinn.
Louis: Brazil.
Julia: Brasilia.
Louis: See, that’s one everyone gets right.
Julia: Yeah. And same with Russia. They say St. Petersburg.
Ariel: Turkmenistan.
Julia: Ashgabat.
Louis: I love the pronunciation.
Ariel: I know. She’s very precise.
Julia: Yeah, so with that, with some that I don’t know I do have to do Google Translate and they’re usually correct.
Ariel: Yeah. Okay. Myanmar.
Julia: Okay, so this one was Rangoon. But I think they just changed it. Actually, did it go back to Rangoon?
Ariel: Well, I’m using Google Maps and they say Rangoon.
Julia: They do? There’s one [crosstalk 00:38:44].
Ariel: Oh my god. But…
Louis: No, you’re right.
Ariel: No, you’re right. The government officially proclaimed the new city of-
Julia: Yeah.
Ariel: I can’t even say it.
Julia: Yeah, it’s-
Ariel: Naypyitaw?
Julia: Naypyitaw.
Louis: Damn.
Ariel: Damn, girl. You just called out Google.
Louis: She crushed it.
Ariel: Dropped it. You just super dropped it on Google right now.
Louis: See, Now, we learned Julia Martin is more advanced and more accurate than Google Maps
Ariel: Than Google Maps, yeah. You’ve out optimized Google Maps. That’s amazing. Okay, Kazakhstan.
Julia: Kazakhstan is Nur-Sultan. And that also just changed.
Ariel: Yes.
Julia: Yeah.
Ariel: Yeah, that was wild that you knew that before.
Louis: Let’s go to Africa.
Ariel: Okay. Yeah.
Louis: Ethiopia.
Julia: Addis Ababa. I was just there, actually.
Louis: You were just in Ethiopia.
Julia: Yeah.
Louis: This podcast’s going to be five hours long with just the life of Julia.
Ariel: I know, seriously.
Louis: So you have to come back and do a part two.
Julia: Ethiopian food is some of my favorite-
Ariel: It’s amazing.
Julia: I just love the, I don’t know if I’m saying it right, but the injera bread or inhera. I don’t know how to say it.
Ariel: I don’t know how to say that.
Julia: But it’s like what you-
Ariel: Yeah.
Julia: And it’s got that tangy, spongy. I just love it.
Ariel: Yeah. So good.
Julia: Yeah.
Louis: My boxing coach is a Ethiopian. Shout out [Zeb Zuhdi 00:40:04].
Ariel: Okay, Benin.
Julia: Porto-Novo.
Ariel: Sierra Leone.
Julia: Freetown.
Louis: I think that was a little easier for her, though. That just seemed like it was just easy, like, “Oh, Freetown.”
Ariel: Here’s another one. Mauritania.
Julia: Mauritania, Nouakchott?
Ariel: Yes.
Louis: Wow. This is good. All right, three more and then we’ll wrap it up.
Ariel: Oh, three more? Okay, do you want a different continent? How do you feel?
Louis: Yeah.
Ariel: Okay.
Louis: Antarctica.
Julia: That’s not a country.
Louis: Okay.
Ariel: Oh my gosh, you can’t throw her.
Louis: See. Just trying to throw things out there, you know.
Ariel: Okay. Yemen.
Julia: Sana’a
Ariel: And yeah, let’s somewhere else.
Louis: No, two more, because I did a joke.
Ariel: Let me go somewhere else.
Louis: Let’s go Central America.
Ariel: Yeah. Let’s go to Central America.
Louis: Because I’m queuing up her brain to think-
Ariel: Well, Central America I feel like it’s [crosstalk 00:40:59]
Julia: [crosstalk 00:40:59]
Ariel: Yeah, it’s going to be easier.
Louis: A little bit.
Julia: The Islands are the hard ones.
Ariel: Okay.
Louis: Okay. She’s like give me something hards.
Ariel: She’s leaving us breadcrumbs.
Julia: Give me some hard ones.
Louis: What about Nicaragua?
Julia: Managua.
Ariel: What about St. Kitts and Nevis?
Julia: Basseterre.
Louis: Okay.
Ariel: St. Lucia.
Julia: Castries.
Ariel: Honduras.
Julia: Tegucigalpa.
Ariel: I’ve never even.
Louis: You know what. That was the mic drop moment right there. That was it.
Ariel: Tegucigalpa.
Louis: Okay. So Julia, you’re amazing. It was definitely a really-
Ariel: This is so fun.
Louis: Yeah, this was super fun.
Julia: This is so fun. I love this.
Ariel: We should do this all the time.
Louis: You should just join us and be one of our co-hosts.
Ariel: Yeah.
Julia: This is really, really cool what you guys are doing here. I love it.
Louis: Thank you. We didn’t talk too nerdy, but we talked nerdy enough that I hope MoPub should be happy with it.
Julia: Yeah. Definitely.
Ariel: Thanks for coming.
Julia: Yeah, that you guys. This was really, really fun. And I love this whole little setup. I feel really professional in my headphones and this whole thing. It’s cool. Thank you guys.
Ariel: Okay. Thank you.
Louis: All right. Thank you. And if anyone wants to get in touch with Julia, where’s the best thing to get…?
Julia: I wonder. Should I give my email?
Ariel: Sure.
Louis: Or LinkedIn or Twitter or something.
Julia: LinkedIn, Julia Riley Martin. Twitter is julialovesapps. And you can email me [email protected].
Ariel: Oh, you heard it here first. It’s the VIP channel.
Louis: There it is.
Ariel: Get after it. Okay.
Julia: All right, guys. Thank you so much.
Louis: Thank you, Julia.
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