The Fishbowl: Dave Randall, Future
The Media Leader’s interview series asks the media industry’s top salespeople 10 revealing questions, drawn from our fishbowl. The questions will be drawn at random and contain some tricky posers set by the commercial chiefs themselves.
This week is Dave Randall, commercial director at Future.
Dave Randall started at Future as head of commercial technology in 2019, before moving to commercial director in 2021.
He has previous sales and management roles at Taboola, Videology, Unanimis, The Exchange Lab, Atlas/Aquantive, and Ask.com.
**Peer question** What would you tell your younger self about if you could?
There are a few tech companies out there that I would have bought some shares in!
To be honest, I would tell myself to put the best energy into everything you do — whether that be with work or meeting friends or spending time with your family.
Question from Richard Bon, UK managing director and Europe commercial lead at Clear Channel.
If you could take a year off from work, what would you do?
Outside of spending a year in Barbados with my family, I would love to make a feature film with my mates. I’m pretty sure it would be a comedy and hopefully not a disaster movie.
What are clients talking about this year that they weren’t last year?
The obvious talking point is the cost of living crisis. It’s replaced Covid-19, although I fear that might be making a comeback! As we move into the winter months it’s becoming increasingly clear that advertisers are much more considerate as to where their spend is going. Trusted media brands are going to benefit from that due to the attention and strong connections with audiences they offer.
**Peer question** If you were to acquire, or consolidate with another media company, which would it be?
Future has a strong acquisition history and so I can say that we have acquired and consolidated with several media companies already! Our approach to acquisitions is that they need to provide either the ability for us to enter an area that is new for us, for example GoCompare, or to help us bolster a part of an existing area of our business. The recent addition of Who What Wear to our women’s lifestyle vertical meant Future became the third largest fashion and beauty network in the UK.
Question from Dom Williams, chief revenue officer at Mail Metro Media.
What podcast do you regularly listen to and why?
I am a regular listener of ExchangeWire and was lucky enough to feature in an episode this summer which was a lot of fun. That podcast gives me a great weekly breakdown to the world of adtech and what’s important to the digital advertising industry. I also love Smartless — the hosts are hilarious and the guests are incredible. I would highly recommend listening to the Ethan Hawke episode. Life affirming stuff.
What’s your favourite ad of all-time (specific to your sector)?
Not specific to my sector but I used to love the Harry Enfield TV ads for Dime Bar.
“ARMADILLOS!” If you know, you know.
What one thing would you change when dealing with media agencies?
More feedback on both sides. I think that the demand and the supply side are so busy all the time that we can forget to tell each other what’s good and what’s bad. It’s vital to get feedback so that we can learn from each other.
Describe three qualities that make a brilliant salesperson.
A good listener, authenticity and tenacity.
Name all the streaming platforms you subscribe (pay money) to.
We have Sky at home which is very helpful when you have two young kids but we have somehow also ended up subscribing to Spotify, Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime too!
What is one of your greatest achievements?
I have been undertaking an MBA over the last two years and have just completed my final assignments so I’m feeling pretty happy that the marathon is now complete.