GenNEXT Profile: Abby Lehman
Abby is an Analyst on the Spark Precision/Analytics and Insights team at Spark Foundry and a member of the GenNEXT board. In her role, she is committed to helping other young professionals get more connected with their colleagues across Publicis Groupe and has learned a lot along the way about herself , too!
Tell us about your position at Spark Foundry. What’s your day-to-day like?
My role is relatively new and has been changing since I arrived! I support our Precision team with Analytics and Insights. Honestly, no two days have been alike! I am usually downloading the latest reports from our platforms, monitoring our campaigns, updating dashboards, and looking for insights or optimizations to recommend. Of course, I am always attending status meetings, I watch webinars, and attend vendor lunches to learn more about the industry and new product offerings.
Lately, I have been focused on understanding the landscape of Multi-Touch-Attribution (MTA) and Marketing-Mix-Modeling (MMM) studies and trying to improve my Python skills so I can extract, cleanse, analyze, and visualize all my data more efficiently. I also have been reading more about machine learning and different methods of modeling so I can better understand how our vendors’ algorithms are making decisions to help us improve our performance.
It’s definitely exciting and I am always learning.
What’s the most interesting thing you’ve worked on?
I think the most challenging thing I worked on has been a Nielsen facilitated Multi-Touch-Attribution study with online and offline sales data to determine our client’s Return on Ad-Spend … the holy grail of marketing. I was the research point-person and was responsible for finding insights and integrating all our data across numerous platforms. For a consumer packaged good that relies on third-party retailers and doesn’t have great visibility into its effectiveness, this was a very attractive study and opportunity.
What motivated you to get involved with GenNEXT?
First, I think this group represents recognition from the highest levels of the company that Millennials have different needs and expectations than our predecessors. By recognizing our potential earlier, investing in our knowledge, and providing global opportunities, I think Publicis really stands to cultivate and retain top talent. I really believe in these practices and I want to be a part of an organization making those choices any way thatI can.
Being a part of GenNEXT also lets me explore different career tracks and see what might be right for me in the long term. In just a short period of time, I have gained a lot of visibility into Publicis’s network and potential opportunities.
What is your role as a board member of GenNEXT?
I work with data all day and get to strengthen a really analytical part of myself, but it’s not the only professional skill I want to develop! As a board member of GenNEXT, I get to practice leadership, team building, public speaking and presentation, project management, community engagement … and the list goes on. I also got to practice developing the media-planning and strategy for GenNEXT Week and I really enjoyed it.
I consider myself entrepreneurial and I think you really stand to gain whatever you put in. I have had several ideas that have already come to fruition—including some of the offerings we have this week! That’s not only personally very rewarding, but it also creates more experiences and accomplishments that enrich my career and diversify my skills.
Why should other young professionals at Publicis Groupe get involved with GenNEXT?
This is an incredible platform to learn more about the Publicis network and figure out your place within it. GenNEXT is committed to offering networking and educational opportunities that are tailored specifically to us. As a new Business Resource Group (BRG), we are still forming our identity and all ideas and contributions are welcome. Now’s the time to get involved and make your mark, too.
GenNEXT is Publicis Groupe’s business resource group (BRG) for young professionals and is dedicated to supporting our next generation of talent by providing guidance, empowerment, and specialized resources to young professionals within our network.
The week of October 16, 2017, is GenNEXT Week. We will be hosting a series of events covering a variety of topics relate to professional and personal development. We’re also profiling GenNEXTer’s on social media every day to share their stories about their experiences in new places at the start of their promising careers.
