Mindshare Unplugged spotlights and interview rising stars across Mindshare North America – people who exemplify our core values of Provocation, Speed, and Teamwork. Say hello to Maddison Mutschler (Associate Director, Strategic Planning) from our Chicago office and find out what makes her tick.
1) What inspired you to go into the media industry?
It wasn’t so much media at first as it was advertising in general. I liked picking apart TV and print ads when I was a kid, judging the creative on whether or not it accurately reflected culture and reality (or my perception of it as a 7th grader). In addition, I liked trying to figure out what the ad’s targets were – for example, was it trying to reach adults or teenagers? I guess I have a natural born passion for competitive analysis.
2) Give us one big prediction for the media industry of the future.
The combination of data personalization, standard advertising fatigue, ad blockers, and cord cutting will force traditional marketers to shift investment drastically into tactics that embed their brands organically into content, particularly influencers and integrations to reach younger audiences. While we’ve definitely seen influencer and integration strategies become very popular for certain categories (such as beauty and technology), there are other brand verticals such as CPG where there’s a lot of room to grow in that area. These tactics that have been historically used to gain credibility with niche audiences and played a less critical role in the media plan will take on a bigger, more essential role in driving mass awareness with younger audiences whose media consumption habits and offline/online behavior are markedly different from the generation before them.
3) If you could give one piece of advice to your college-senior self, what would it be?
To have a more well-rounded college experience, focus less time building your credentials on paper and more time on the things you are curious about.
4) Last one: if you got a blank plane ticket today, where would you go – and why?
I would love to go to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy to see works of art that I’ve only seen in books and documentaries in person.
