Toby Gabriner, new chief executive officer of Poindexter Systems, discusses his move from Carat Fusion and his views on data-driven marketing.

By way of background, Poindexter Systems specializes in delivering real-time, audience-based predictive marketing technology and services that help advertisers and marketers reach prospects and customers more effectively online. Poindexter’s solutions provide a combination of the right message, delivered in the right way to achieve the right results. By discovering unique audience groups and delivering the most appropriate messages to them, marketers/advertisers can achieve far greater clicks and conversions, as well as the most efficient use of the media.

Gabriner has a track record of using his strategic business skills and background to deliver exceptional results with growing enterprises.

Prior to joining Poindexter, Gabriner served as president of Carat Fusion where he was responsible for overseeing five offices, 250 employees and a stable of blue chip clients including Pfizer, adidas, RadioShack, AOL, Kodak, Microsoft and Phillips. Previously, Gabriner was chief operating officer of Freestyle Interactive and later was named president. Under his leadership, Gabriner grew media billings to more than $25 million while improving profitability, which resulted in Freestyle being acquired by Carat Interactive in May 2003. He also initiated and led their first global growth strategy in the European market, which included the acquisition of new business and the development of channel and implementation partnerships. In addition to holding a BA in public policy from Occidental College, Gabriner holds a joint MBA/MS from Boston University, Graduate School of Management.

Dawn Anfuso: What prompted the move from Carat to Poindexter and what has the transition been like for you?

Toby Gabriner: My decision to leave Carat Fusion was driven, in part, by two factors. First, after having been on the agency side of the business for the past decade, I felt as though I wanted to expand into other areas of the digital media sector. Carat Fusion is a fantastic company and I am extremely proud of the work we did to become one of the leading digital agencies in the world. At the end of the day, however, it was time for me to move on. Second, over the past couple of years it has become apparent to me that technology is going to have a profound effect on not only the interactive community, but also the entire marketing services sector. It is for this reason that I found Poindexter's value proposition so compelling. In joining Poindexter, I have become part of a team that is leading the industry in audience-based, real-time targeting. Moreover, our vision of real-time or continuous optimization expands a very wide spectrum within the marketing value chain and this will not only give us a competitive advantage it also will provide tremendous value for our clients.

Anfuso: What have you learned in the five/six months you've been at Poindexter?

Gabriner: The past few months since joining Poindexter have been both a wonderful and humbling experience. This company is filled with incredibly smart people who have been thinking about the digital marketing problems in incredibly unique and innovative ways. My focus is to help bring the collective intelligence of this organization to the many clients who will benefit from the fantastic solutions that have been developed within the company. I’m finding that our customers love us, not only for the performance of our technology and ease of implementation, but because of the incredible ROI they see every day (in real time) from our efforts. As I mentioned, we’ve become proactive partners, helping guide their product and solution strategy. 

Additionally, it has become apparent that the next frontier within the marketing sector is improved conversion optimization based on audience. As more and more analog channels become digital and the budgets for digital media grow, the importance of targeting, measurement and action will continue to grow. The glut of data will paralyze many marketing organizations and, therefore, it will be critical for companies such as Poindexter to create automated solutions that act as both an enabler as well as a dashboard for marketers.

Anfuso: What issues did you face on the agency side that you're now able to contribute to alleviating on the technology side?

Gabriner: Great question. First, our solution is focused on what really matters and on what agencies get paid for-- results. With our solutions, agencies will be enabled to assist their clients in improving conversions using our Progressive Optimization Engine which spans from media to site-side. Second, we provide what will become increasingly important for agencies as they deal with increased margin pressure-- an efficient solution that will simultaneously allow agencies to reduce or control headcount while focusing on what they do best-- strategy.

Anfuso: What are the greatest challenges agencies and marketers still face when it comes to optimization?

Gabriner: All of the noise in the marketplace. Since joining Poindexter just a few months ago, it seems that we discover or hear of a new competitor every week. Moreover, these competitors all seem to sound the same, thus creating a great deal of confusion. 

Marketers know that they need to incorporate the online channel in their campaign but are not sure of where and how to apply real-time analytics or predictive marketing solutions. While data mining and warehousing technologies have given firms the ability to analyze the tidal wave of consumer data, the power of analytics lets firms divide consumers into even smaller segments, allowing firms to create offerings for individual consumers, not just groups of consumers. We’re finding that in industries such as financial services, automotive and telecommunications, more and more online marketers are realizing the need to utilize real-time targeting solutions to make relevant offers based on a consumers’ individual situation at the time of first impression.

Marketers are going to have to become very educated on the differences between these many companies and how their respective solutions truly work-- in other words, marketers will have to become even savvier on the various technologies out there.

Anfuso: What are the trends/developments taking shape on the optimization side that will most benefit marketers?

Gabriner: I think the most exciting development is the notion of leveraging optimization methodologies and tools up and down the marketing continuum. At Poindexter, we spend a lot of time thinking about our products as an end-to-end solution-- in other words, from first impression to conversion to remarketing to retention. We are developing our solutions in such a way that marketers can have a true real-time marketing enterprise.

Anfuso: What are you most passionate about when it comes to your job? If there's one thing you'd like to accomplish over all else, what would it be?

Gabriner: From a personal perspective, I very much would like to see Poindexter perceived as a market leader in real-time marketing/audience-based targeting category. This is a company that has an incredible technical asset and some of the smartest people I have ever worked with, so I really see it as my job to get them the recognition they have long deserved.

Anfuso: What keeps you up at night?

Gabriner: Noise and confusion in the market place. This is a relatively new category and is difficult for marketers to understand. I worry that Poindexter will simply be lumped in with certain competitors (or perceived competitors) despite that fact that we have a much more comprehensive set of offerings.

Anfuso: What's on tap for Poindexter in the near future? Long term?

Gabriner: In the near-term we have two exciting initiatives that we are focusing on: 1) the launch of a new name/identity and the corresponding messaging and 2) a new product release. Both of these will be completed in the middle of the second quarter. Since our overall focus is on marketing solutions, we are always on the lookout for strategic partnerships (i.e., site analytics, email and call center processing, et cetera) that can provide an all-inclusive platform. Long term, we are focused on a combination of expanding our product lines, continuing to focus on providing great solutions and insights to our existing clients, and growing market share.

Dawn Anfuso is senior editor of iMedia Connection.