Jessica Taylor, Data Strategy Associate Director

You might be surprised to learn that Jess didn’t take the ‘traditional’ route into Data Strategy. Instead of studying a STEM degree, she went to performing arts college and was a dancer before realising media was even a career option.

After completing the Maxus rotation scheme, she joined the Technology, Effectiveness and Data team, where she self-taught how to code HTML & CSS by building a game which she used to win herself a secondment to Singapore. Jess went on to spearhead technology for British Airways where she developed the strategy and led implementation of the multi-award winning campaign ‘The Power of Suggestion’, using real-time search data to power feed based DOOH creatives. At Essence, Jess leads data strategy for Universal Pictures, accelerating 22 markets across digital transformation. Her team onboarded all markets into a unified tech stack, and created the ‘Digital Spotlight', a series sharing best practices, case studies and industry updates to 120 local market attendees monthly. Most recently, she helped Universal navigate COVID-19 complexities, while cinemas were closed, to launch their first ever worldwide straight-to-online release. A first for Universal, Jess and her team were able to track consumers from movie trailer to purchase. The campaign has broken world records, seeing the highest revenue from any digital film release ever. She’s now excited to be taking the lead across Sainsbury’s Argos, a cutting edge digital client and a real opportunity to advance her martech knowledge.