News & Events - Mason Interactive

We’re thrilled to announce that Kelly Stancil has joined a brand new team at Mason Interactive as our first Data Engineer.

With 7 years of experience in data visualization and report management, Kelly joins our agency with a goal to focus in on insights so that clients can better understand customer behavior in an ever-changing digital landscape.

Kelly is from Pinehurst, NC. He spends his free time being a night owl and enjoying the stellar cast & writing of Showtime’s Billions.

“As our agency grows, we know that specialization is becoming more important than ever. We’re thrilled to have Kelly in our Charlotte office as a full-time Data Engineer. This will greatly bolster the service we provide to our media clients.”
Brook Shepard, Founder & CEO of Mason Interactive

Get to Know Kelly

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

Mind compulsion like a vampire, I’d be the world’s best performance coach, fitness trainer, hostage negotiator, possibilities are endless.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what one item would you bring and why?

If it’s a luxury deserted island it’ll be a laptop to work remote because I’m never coming back to the states. However if it’s a non-amenity laced deserted island I’m bringing Jeff Bezos so we won’t be stranded for too long.

What’s your favorite throwback jam/go-to karaoke song?

Favorite Throwback: Usher and Alicia Keys “My Boo”.

Cheers Kelly, and welcome to the Mason family!

First party data refers to user information collected from direct interactions with your brand (email, site, app etc). Owning this data should now be an essential part of your marketing strategy–especially as platforms prepare to sunset 3rd party cookie tracking.

Today’s consumers are shopping online more than ever before, but they’re also more protective of their data than ever before. Despite the increase in user activity, it’s getting harder to tell who these users are and which are most likely to be interested in your products.

Apple’s new iOS privacy features allow users to refuse data tracking. Facebook & Google are moving away from 3rd party cookies. Changes like these mean that it’s up to your business to collect the data you need to understand who your customers are and which acquisition channels are the most effective.

In other words, you need to start collecting first party data.

Understanding First Party Data

Consider first party data the foundation of your marketing strategy from this point on. Since most sites won’t be able to collect the key identifier data, it’s on your business to collect it from your customers and prospects.

Asking users to share your data is challenging, but it’s much easier when the user has an established relationship with your brand. Therefore it’s incredibly important to build trust with your customers in order to collect first party data.

Want Proof? Nike Just Did It

Nike’s share price shot to an all-time high in 2020 thanks to its customer-centered DTC strategy.

The company couldn’t utilize its network of over 900 global stores in the midst of the pandemic, so it instead leaned into what it called a “Consumer Direct Offense”.

“[In] a future increasingly defined by e-commerce, fast-moving trends and, above all, the rising power of branding to drive consumer preference when competitors are just a click away, Nike realized that in order to thrive, it needed to take control of its distribution to better manage its brand and deepen its connection with consumers.”
Inside Nike’s Radical Direct-to-Consumer Strategy, Business of Fashion

Mapping the Customer Journey with First-Party Data

Connecting with your loyal customers is critical, and every single step of your customer journey should be optimized with that in mind. Here’s a helpful video on building trust with your customers and why that matters:

We can help you strategize around this so you can:

Improve targeting precision
Improve omnichannel measurement
Drive ad relevance
Close the loop on attribution
Create a single view of the customer

We’re currently helping our clients prepare for the cookie-less future. Here’s how we can help you too:

Make a roadmap for your first party data
Determine the right data sources and data points
Benchmark and monitor over time

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s meet and discuss how we can create a tailored strategy for your business.

We’re excited to announce that Mason Interactive recently added the International Center of Photography, a world renowned institution dedicated to the practice and understanding of photography, to our portfolio of notorious New York brands.

Founded in 1974 by Cornell Capa, ICP continues to champion “concerned photography” — socially and politically minded images that can educate and change the world. Since its inception, ICP has presented more than 700 exhibitions and provided thousands of classes to artists, scholars, and students worldwide.

CONTACT HIGH | A Visual History of Hip-Hop

Image: Barron Claiborne, Biggie Smalls, King of New York, Wall Street, New York, 1997.

This exciting new partnership will focus on growing awareness and driving qualified leads through a long-term digital marketing strategy that will center around the institution’s One-Year Certificate program. The Mason Paid Media + SEO strategy teams will be responsible for increasing YoY revenue, and working with the ICP team to explore new channel opportunities, with an emphasis on driving new enrollments and brand loyalty.

Learn more about ICP and plan your visit to visit the new location at 79 Essex Street in New York.

We’re excited to share that our agency has achieved 2022 Premier Partner status in the Google Partners program.

This designation recognizes us as one of the top 3% of agencies in the United States.

This month, Google recognized the achievements of top-performing digital marketing partners across the globe by awarding Premier Partner status as a part of the new Google Partners program.

The Google Partners program has undergone significant changes for 2022, including redefining what it means to be a Premier Partner through new, advanced program requirements and offering new Premier Partner benefits to support growth and success with Google Ads.

“Congratulations to our Premier Partners for being among the top 3% of Google Partners in the United States. These companies stand out based on their commitment to developing product expertise, building new client relationships, and helping their current clients grow. We look forward to supporting them as they help their customers succeed online.”
– Davang Shah, Senior Director, Google Ads Marketing

Mason Interactive is part of a select group of Premier Partners in the Google Partners program. This program is designed for advertising agencies and third parties that manage Google Ads accounts on behalf of other brands or businesses. Its mission is to empower companies by providing them with innovative tools, resources, and support to help their clients succeed and grow online.

Grow With Us

As a recognized partner of Google, Mason Interactive leverages an exclusive toolbox of platform solutions that we use to help our clients grow their businesses. To find out more about how you can benefit from our partnerships, send us a message at hello@masoninteractive.com, or leave your contact information here to hear from one of our experts.

Many brands depend on Cyber Five, the days between Black Friday & Cyber Monday, to put them into the black for the year. Though Cyber Five 2021 was complicated and busy, it was also one of the most profitable to date. Our clients closed out the year on a high note thanks to a few pretty simple actions. What were they? Let’s take a look together in our 2021 Q4 After Action Report.

1. Start with a Plan

Everything starts with a plan. The sooner you have one, the sooner you can review it, make adjustments, and execute. Our winning clients invested heavily into prospecting in the months leading up to Black Friday, emphasizing list-building for owned 1st party data, allowing owned channels like email and SMS to scale. Thanks to the work they did early on, our clients were able to get in front of consumers well before their competitors and convert with assets they had ready to go.

What This Means for You

When you don’t plan ahead, you give up sales to your competitors who do. Fret not, this isn’t our first time at the Cyber Five rodeo. Send us a message at hello@masoninteractive.com and we’ll help develop a strategy with you.

2. Grow With the Flow

Scaling a digital marketing operation isn’t easy, and frankly, it’s not getting any easier. Industry research points to consumers being spread out across more platforms than ever before, and it’s only getting more difficult to track and target consumers across the digital landscape. More on that in just a bit.

Our winning clients isolate top geographical markets and focus on their most actively engaged audiences, letting us double down on purchase intent from two separate angles. Additionally, clients who met or exceeded their goals were in (on average) 6 advertising platforms.

What This Means for You

Brands that diversify into more platforms and begin planning for the Holiday season earlier, ultimately see more success during the Cyber Five. Planning ahead and building diversification into those plans enables you to layer on complexity to your marketing mix as the year progresses towards Cyber Five. More on how you can do this in our After Action Report.

3. Own Your Data

In case you haven’t heard, the data game has changed. Apple’s iOS14 update has impacted advertisers’ ability to target users online, and Google’s new policies expected in 2023 will only affect things more.

Where do you turn? Your own data. 1st party data, or the data your company collects about its customers (interactions, purchase history, behavior, preferences, etc.), is becoming more valuable than ever. Since the changing attribution methods of digital platforms makes them a less-reliable partner, 1st party data gives you a solid single source of truth to rely on.

What This Means for You

There are many ways to start collecting 1st party data. A lot of it can live in a platform like Shopify, Salesforce, or Google Analytics. Organizing, interpreting, and acting on your 1st party data can be a headache. We can help with that too.

You have the keys, now let’s open doors.

The digital landscape changes all the time. You know that. We know that. What we don’t know yet, is how we can use our 13 years of experience to help you keep up with the shifting tides. Download the report, send us a message, and let’s get you started with a free marketing analysis today.

Mason Interactive announces a new, second office opening and an expansion of the service portfolio. These additions empower our clients with enhanced, integrated digital marketing solutions, driving performance for brands across all industries.

The big day has finally come; we are pleased to announce the opening of Mason’s new office in Charlotte, North Carolina. Led by VP of Operations, Adrian Padron, the new location will operate side-by-side with the HQ location in New York City.

“Charlotte was a sensible choice for Mason. The area is a hub for great talent, fast-growing businesses, and technology innovators,” says Adrian. ”We were fortunate to find a perfect office space in one of the most vibrant, up-and-coming areas of Charlotte. The new location will help us continue to expand the agency and grow our team, allowing us to further service our clients’ evolving business needs”, he explains.

New Services: Creative & Social Media Management

Along with the office opening, in the last few months, we have been working vigorously to expand our service portfolio. We’re proud to launch two new services that compliment our dedication to deliver integrated, holistic marketing strategies:

Creative; the creative team curates eye catching, thumb-stopping and beautifully designed ads that are aligned with the client’s brand. Creative is produced as part of a holistic strategy that’s tailored specifically for the client’s audience and their journey with the brand.

Social Media; the social media team pairs ideas and content creation with strategy and audience insights to help brands grow faster, engage better, and ultimately sell more products through the holistic and systematic approach to social media strategy.

Welcome Shannon, Mason’s new Creative Director!

Shannon Gallaher has joined the agency as a Creative Director to build and manage the Creative department, and oversee all creative and social media services. Shannon is highly experienced in the space, with a background in DTC marketing and 7+ years of design experience.

New Creative Director at Mason Interactive

“I’m thrilled to be building this creative team at Mason Interactive— everything we produce is driven by strategy and optimized to perform.”
Shannon Gallaher, Creative Director

“There’s a common misconception that creative professionals exist solely to design beautiful brand assets. While that’s certainly a part of what we do, it’s just the tip of the iceberg”, Shannon says. “I’m thrilled to be building this creative team at Mason Interactive— everything we produce is driven by strategy and optimized to perform. We are looking forward to the client partnerships to come and are eager to help brands elevate their potential through our Creative and Social Media services”, she continues.

We would like to thank all our clients and partners for making the growth possible, as well as Mason’s team for their commitment in service excellence.The new location and expanded service portfolio are the culmination of Mason’s mission to be a trusted digital partner for fast-growing businesses.

If you have any questions regarding the new location, or Creative services, contact us here.

You can find the new office at 1018 Jay Street, Suite 470, Charlotte, NC 28208.