Senior Vice President/ Managing Partner, Digital,
Without question, Natalie Bokenham is an internationalist. She’sworked in London, Madrid, Paris, Quito, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. Born in Singapore while her father was based there to build a cocoa trading business, her mother is of Philippine-Spanish descent, while her dad is French-English. She’s a citizen of the UK, and a resident of the USA who studied Spanish and French at Oxford University. Plus, her Filipina aunt was Miss Universe in 1978, and her great-grandfather was the first president of the Philippines. (Today, his face can be found on the 100 peso note.)
Along with those global credentials, Natalie brings a keen understanding of the intersection of media and technology to UM, as well as a uniquely international perspective. As SVP Managing Partner, Digital, her main responsibility is to drive digital innovation, whether that be delivering better interactive content experiences, identifying new monetization opportunities on emerging digital platforms, or partnering with media owners and startups to deliver unique initiatives for our clients. Natalie is also charged with driving effectiveness and efficiency in the way media is transacted, expediting UM’s automation agenda.
Ensuring that innovative thinking will be applied in a way that is locally relevant is an important concern of hers. “Innovation, in many ways, is about disrupting the way consumers view your brand and its role in their world,” she says. “A huge amount of insight and sensitivity into the local culture is required in order to achieve this. It is important for the team to be physically immersed in all local markets. No amount of reading can make up for physically interacting with local consumers and experiencing the nuances of their world.”
She adds, “Innovation in marketing is about identifying and rethinking better solutions to solve business challenges. However, solutions are certainly not just about different executions. Innovation starts with the way you source the data that will form the basis of your insights and the entire direction of your marketing strategy. The innovation path will be different depending on whether the goal is to shift perception or drive sales, and will be affected by all sorts of other factors such as the target's behaviors and cultural landscape.”
An advocate of UM’s recently-invented workshop called “The Fast and the Curious,” she explains that the initiative occurs at the start of every briefing process. “The entire team spends a few days digging deep into various angles on the brief and reconvenes to present findings and inspire each other in creative ways. I am also a huge proponent of using data derived from actual consumers (such as location data observed from smartphone usage) as opposed to less accurate survey-based data.”
Prior to her UM Digital role, Natalie served as Director of Strategy at the IPG Media Lab, the innovations hub of IPG Mediabrands. She was responsible for the Lab’s thought leadership writing in the emerging media space, as well as playing a key role in developing next-generation media platforms for large-scale media owner clients. She drove the strategy and development of The New York Times’ new ad product Spark, which allows brands to align with the Times’ most influential stories. Prior to her time at the Lab, Natalie managed integrated communications and digital strategies for UM in both London and San Francisco, working with a broad range of clients including Microsoft, General Mills and Nickelodeon.
“Ultimately,” she says, “The goal of innovation is to produce results. Our innovation strategy is defined by what will improve outcomes based on the business goals, the consumer behaviors and the cultural climate.”