Sponsored by Affiliate Future, the Performance Marketing Awards’ Industry Rising Star category shines the spotlight on the next generation of marketers entering the industry of results-driven advertising.
Recognising a mixture of natural talent, working ethic, enthusiasm, and the early showings of a prosperous career, it’s a highly sought-after category, so with nominations open until April 7, PerformanceIN’s Rising Star Series is a chance to meet the candidates in more detail.
Today, we’re speaking to CJ Affiliate account manager, Victoria Baeckstroem
What excites you most about the performance marketing industry?
Victoria Baeckstroem: Our industry is driving us all forward, all the time, in almost every imaginable direction. Day in and day out, it’s extraordinarily exciting to have your job, your colleagues, your industry, demanding excellence from you; not only to stay ahead of the curve, but to define where it’s going. With no day the same as the last, and Big Data changing things up for us all over again, there’s no room to rest on our laurels: what made us great yesterday won’t necessarily help us excel tomorrow. You’ve got to go all-in, all-day, every day to be the best: tapping every skill we possess, from every discipline we’ve mastered. Not just to adapt and survive, but to adapt and thrive. So, what excites me most? That in performance marketing, you get to shine and rise.
Within your performance marketing career to date, what do you count as your biggest achievement, and why?
VB: It has to be, without a doubt, helping others get their careers started. Like anyone, I take a lot of joy in smashing through records and beating targets, but at the end of the day, they are just numbers. And really, this is all about people. I’ve been investing all I have to offer into nurturing new recruits; to make sure they’re the next generation of awesome people not just for my network, but for our industry. I’m immensely proud of the work I get to do on that. But it means my biggest achievement is yet to come: helping one of them get nominated for a prestigious award like this. I’d like to take my last bit of word count on this answer to tip my hat to all the awesome new people I’ve been working with, and thank them for giving it their all. You rock!
What would winning Industry Rising Star mean to you?
VB: What would it mean to me? In a word: everything. I came to the industry from a slightly unconventional background – international relations and law. But talk about hand-meets-glove. I found everything about being here exhilarating right away. I get to work with some truly brilliant people – clients, competitors and colleagues alike – who challenge me and teach me around the clock. And, perhaps they learn a thing or two from me as well. If I’m your Rising Star, it won’t just be for everything I do, it’ll be for all the people I do it with, too. It’ll mean that every extra hour, every extra drive to do better, is worth it. And, finally, with the Oscars just around the corner, I can’t not mention what a privilege and honour it is to be considered for such a prestigious award. Really. Thank you all so much.
To see the shortlist and cast your vote please view here.