Brittany Hawkins, Founder & CEO @Ignite Media Group
Brittany Hawkins, Founder & CEO
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyfriary/
Let’s give a warm welcome to the incredible Brittany Hawkins, Founder and CEO at Ignite Media Group. Brittany, your career journey has traversed through impactful roles, from being the Director of Client Services at Frontline Direct to serving as VP, Email and later as VP, Client Services at Amobee, culminating in your role as Founder & CEO of Ignite Media Group. Could you reflect on the evolution of your journey as you navigated through these professional landscapes?
It has been a wild but very fun ride, that’s for sure! Through my career I was very fortunate to have exposure to the whole spectrum of stages of a business and was able to see several transactions firsthand. I started at Frontline Direct in a very classic startup environment where everyone wore many hats. We learned quickly and grew quickly. After a few different acquisitions, my last role was at Amobee, which was on the other side of the corporate spectrum. We were a large company ourselves and were owned by an incredibly large and public company out of Singapore. I really valued being a part of both environments and feel that as Ignite, we are able to extract the best of all worlds in our business with the agility and resourcefulness of a startup and the best practices of a large company.
In 2022, my journey took a new direction toward entrepreneurship as I started Ignite Media Group and acquired the performance marketing division of Amobee, a division I had been running for several years. Two of our team's core values have always been to put people first, whether that’s our team members, clients, or colleagues, and to act with the utmost integrity. The consistency of these two principles paired with our solutions that drive high performance was the foundation of our success as the leading acquisition email solution provider. We are trusted, well-respected and are comprised of a tight-knit team of experts. It’s this team and their reputation that allowed us to facilitate a really smooth transition for our business to Ignite Media.
I am so proud of every member of Ignite and believe the results speak for themselves. We retained 100% of our team, our clients, our technology, and our partnerships in the transition from Amobee to Ignite Media. We’re now thriving as an independent company where we can invest our success back into our business and team. It has hands down been the most challenging but most rewarding time in my career!
What are your ultimate dream goals or aspirations for the company?
Here at Ignite Media, we want to continue on our trajectory of growth while not compromising our spirit or culture. I want to provide an environment where people can grow personally and professionally, where they can be challenged and supported, and where we can be our best selves and proud of the work we are doing and the customer acquisition solutions we are supplying. I believe wholeheartedly that success at these initiatives internally directly impacts success with our partners.
Ultimately, we are on a mission to transform everyday consumers into valuable customers. Through a people-centric and data-driven approach, we continuously push the boundaries of what is possible to deliver unparalleled results.
Our vision is to be the trusted leader in performance marketing for the nation’s largest brands.
Ignite Media Group has a wonderful track record for end-to-end solutions to address clients’ marketing priorities and achieve performance goals. Could you provide insights into the unique services or strategies that Ignite Media Group offers within the performance marketing landscape? What sets your company apart from competitors, and who would benefit most from seeking collaboration or services from Ignite Media Group?
Ignite Media Group is a performance marketing solution for Fortune 1000, US-based, direct-to-consumer brands looking to expand their customer acquisition strategies. We act as an extension of a brand's marketing team to understand their goals and KPIs to build a media plan that focuses on bottom-of-the-marketing funnel strategies to drive customer growth with a focus on brand safety, scale and efficiency.
Without question, what differentiates us is our people. They are engaged, passionate about what we do, support each other, and take our roles in helping our partners’ businesses grow seriously. We also have so much fun together, genuinely enjoy each other’s company, and want to see each other grow both personally and professionally. Our team and the culture we’ve built is a unicorn, we don’t take it for granted!
Ignite’s first annual Family Fun Day! All Ignite team members + spouses, partners and families came together to have a great time.
As a full-service digital marketing company specializing in diverse areas, how do you perceive the role of AI in shaping or enhancing the creation and distribution of content to engage and resonate with target audiences? In what ways does Ignite Media leverage AI or cutting-edge technology to optimize the effectiveness of the media content you produce?
Candidly, this is something we and the broader industry are just scratching the surface of and something we are incredibly excited about as AI develops at such a rapid pace. Today we leverage AI for job efficiencies, streamlining tasks, site and advertising content generation, and engineering support, to name a few.
We're making substantial investments in technology and Machine Learning to enhance the training of our models, crucial for informing our AI. Exploring the broader potential of AI, we aim to further leverage it in areas such as data analytics, predictive modeling, personalized advertising, and customer segmentation, among other applications.
The name 'Ignite Media Group' evokes a sense of energy and dynamism. Could you share the story or inspiration behind choosing this name for your company? What does 'ignite' symbolize or mean to you within the context of your business vision and goals?
For a long time, I’d think about the incredible team I worked with, the great solutions we were providing, and the vast new opportunities we could execute on if we were an independent company. Over time, there was a fire lit inside me that I just couldn’t ignore and Ignite Media was the one and only name considered. Ignite not only aligned with the passion I had for the opportunity I could see but also really aligned with our business solutions. We help brands understand new customer acquisition strategies that they haven’t considered and grow those into large channels. We are engaged, passionate, and genuinely love doing what we do!
The team enjoying an afternoon together!
Beyond your remarkable career achievements, what personal philosophy or guiding principle has been instrumental in steering your professional journey and maintaining a sense of fulfillment in both your personal and professional life?
I really believe that if you do the right thing, are a good partner/friend/leader, and treat people fairly and with respect, then good things and good people will come back to you. I was an employee for 20+ years in many different capacities so as a leader, my guiding light is to lead the way I would want to be led. It’s that simple!
As a successful female entrepreneur leading Ignite Media Group, what advice or insights would you offer to other women looking to build and expand their own companies in the digital marketing or related industries? Are there specific strategies or key learnings from your journey that you believe could be beneficial for aspiring female business leaders?
I was really fortunate in that both personally and professionally I had really strong women to look up to. My mom is an entrepreneur and has worked hard my whole life owning preschools until she retired two years ago. She set a great example of what hard work can achieve but also managed to balance work and life well. I never felt that they were at odds but saw the value in being able to provide for yourself and be strong & independent.
Professionally, I had two incredible female mentors from the beginning of my career, Kim Perell and Amanda Currie. I learned so much from them with regards to leadership and what goes into running a successful business that I’ve taken with me through the years. For other aspiring female business leaders, whether you have a desire to be an entrepreneur or grow within a company, I would say there are two main pieces of advice that I think are critical to success.
First, I can’t underscore enough how valuable really strong relationships are. When I’ve been in tight spots or am up against something I don’t know enough about, or need a sounding board I can trust, I phone a friend. I have a series of people in the industry and business community who I can call and ask for advice. I have learned that people genuinely do want to help others, they want others to be successful, and they are happy to make introductions or share what they know. If anyone reading this has any questions or needs anything, please reach out! I love to pay forward what I’ve learned!
Second, I am innately curious and love learning new things. As a first-time founder, there is an unending amount of subjects I had to learn quickly so I found experts (ideally many experts) and asked questions. Once I go through all the questions I can think of, I ask them what I might not know to even be asking, and make sure I can relay back to them what I’ve heard so that I truly understand the topic and can be better prepared to make decisions.
When you're not immersed in your professional endeavors, what are some of the activities or places in your local area—or any other favorite spot—that bring you joy and relaxation? Whether it's in San Diego, CA, or elsewhere, what do you enjoy doing during your downtime?
When I’m not working on all things Ignite, my five-year-old daughter, Veda, and eight-year old son, Knox, keep me and my husband very busy! You can usually find us at a park, in the swimming pool, or at one of the kids’ sporting events. In the hours I have to myself, I’m a huge fan of podcasts, reading, traveling and going to any live entertainment events! Life is chaotic but I balance it out as best I can, trying to be present at what I’m doing and with who I’m with. You can’t do it all, you just do your best :)
Will we get to see you in Vegas in a few days during Affiliate Summit West and the Affiliate Ball? What are you most looking forward to?
We haven’t exhibited at a conference or Meet Market in years and are really excited to return to it at ASW! We will be at the Meet Market at booth #1352 and would love if you’d come say hi!