CANNES — There is a common notion that binds two top themes in Christa Carone’s world – opting-in.
The president of Infillion, a new company recently formed out of a merger of Gimbal and true[X], wants more women to “opt in” to the workforce, and she wants more TV viewers to get control in the advertising value exchange.
In this video interview at Cannes Lions with Tameka Kee for Beet.TV, Carone describes her vision.
Scaling-up women
“I have this crazy passion about encouraging women to opt into the workforce,” Carone says.
“As you scale in your career, there’s other priorities that you start to juggle. You may become a mother, you may be managing elderly parent issues; all of a sudden have all of these stakeholders in your lives … you’ve got employees, you have bosses, you have clients, you have babies, you have parents, you have loved ones.
“Sometimes, it gets a little bit overwhelming, and the inclination is to say ‘time-out, I can’t do this anymore’. Women are going to excel more in the workforce when we support each other and encourage each other to stay in and find those sources of support so that you can manage all of those different priorities in a pretty flawless way.”
Mergers & Aspirations
Infillion’s true[X] was previously acquired by Fox and then sat with Disney through its acquisition of 21st Century Fox.
In October 2020, true[X] was sold to Gimbal, a technology company focused on using location information to activate ads.
In February, the pair announced a new single brand, Infillion.
Respect at a premium
Carone doesn’t just want to rebalance the workplace for women, she also wants to make the implicit contract of ad-supported media viewing more equitable.
After all, true[X] pioneered the creation of interactive ads that can reduce ad load and yield higher viewer engagement, incentivising viewers to use high-engagement ads in return for a lower subsequent ad volume.
“The core nature of Infinian is being respectful of consumer’s time, attention and privacy,” Carone says.
“If you’re going to give us your time to watch a 30-second spot, we want to give something back to you.
“Why don’t we pause for a second and say, ‘what do consumers really want in their advertising experience?’ … When you do, you’re going to be able to charge a premium for that.”
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