Our first-ever Chief Innovation Officer Ben James joined us this summer and is proving that innovation is more than just a buzzword. He sat down with Little Black Book to share his thoughts on redefining what innovation means to GALE and our clients:

LBB: You've just had your first couple of months at GALE - what led to the decision to join? 

Ben: What really excites me about GALE is our audience understanding. GALE is a data agency at its heart. It's analytics, it's CRM, it's media planning, it's earned media and creative operations. We have all these great things built off audience understanding and great relationships with clients. That's exciting because I like understanding the connection between business and audience. There's so much good in the world that can come from our work when those relationships exist. 

LBB: Chief innovation officer is a role that can differ very much depending on what sort of agency or company you're a part of. In your first couple of months, what has your day-to-day looked like?

Ben: When you put innovation in your title, it invites a lot of scrutiny and questions about what we mean by that. And that's because I think the word is overused and a bit misappropriated by the industry. 

But innovation is an approach. It is funneled naturally into the way we work and it represents the opportunity to reach audiences where there are new and emerging connections in media. So our first focus is to connect with platforms, publishers and media teams to understand their audiences and work on new ways to help our clients bring value to those spaces.

For the full Q&A, click here.