Growth beyond borders: Embracing change to drive growth
Opinion
Lisa Morgan reflects on expanding the company into North America and the lessons learned along the way.
I recently attended the AI Growth Conference hosted by the IAB, where one theme stood out above all others – future growth belongs to organisations willing to embrace change.
Much of the discussion focused on the UK’s ambition to be a global leader in innovation, and the role that AI in digital advertising can play in accelerating economic growth. The discussion particularly resonated with me as Generation Media launched in North America this year.
This move has always been part of our long-term vision, and as a result, many of the decisions we have made over the past few years have been made through an international lens.
Our investment in technology, AI, systems and processes was not simply about becoming more efficient; it was about building a business capable of scaling across borders. We wanted to create foundations that would allow expertise, insights and best practice to move seamlessly between markets whilst maintaining consistency for clients.
One of the key takeaways from the IAB conference was that AI is no longer something businesses are preparing for. It is already transforming how organisations operate. For companies looking to grow internationally, this presents a significant opportunity. Technology can accelerate learning, support localisation, improve efficiencies and enable collaboration across markets in ways that simply weren’t possible a decade ago.
For us, having the right infrastructure in place has undoubtedly made our transition into North America more seamless. But if there is one lesson our expansion has reinforced, it is this: technology can enable growth, but it cannot create it. So what other lessons have we learned in our expansion journey?
Platforms don’t build trust, people do
One of the most important decisions we made was investing in experienced local leadership. We needed people with established credibility, strong relationships and a deep understanding of the market. People who could translate our expertise into the language, expectations and nuances of the region.
No amount of AI can replicate years of category experience, local market knowledge or trusted relationships. The businesses that will succeed in the AI era won’t be those replacing people with technology. They’ll be those empowering great people with better technology.
A ‘Glocal’ approach
Every market has its own nuances. What clients value, how they buy, how quickly decisions are made and what success looks like can vary dramatically. Equally, employees have different expectations of leadership, communication styles and workplace culture depending on where they are in the world.
It is tempting to assume that because something works well in one market it will automatically work in another. In reality, the fundamentals of your business may remain the same, but your narrative, proposition and approach often need to evolve.
Understanding those local nuances is critical.
Before launching in North America, we spent significant time understanding the market, assessing where we could genuinely add value and identifying the challenges facing clients within our specialist sectors. We looked carefully at consumer behaviour, competitive dynamics and opportunities where our audience-first approach could make the greatest impact.
A great example of this is recognising the relative scale of the market you are entering. The UK has around 68m people, whereas the US population is five times that, exceeding 340m. For brands, that creates an entirely different planning challenge. A campaign that can achieve national reach relatively efficiently in the UK often requires a far more sophisticated regional and state-by-state approach in the US. The opportunity is significantly larger, but so too is the complexity.
Plan, plan and plan some more
Abraham Lincoln famously said: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Knowing that you have a proposition well-suited to the local market you are entering is crucial.
However, no matter how much preparation you do, there will always be challenges you could not have predicted. Regulatory differences, cultural nuances, economic uncertainty and operational complexities all have the potential to derail progress. The more work you do upfront, preparing for scenarios, the more effectively you can respond when those challenges inevitably arise.
As leaders, we are often encouraged to move faster. Yet some of the most important decisions require us to slow down, ask better questions and prepare more thoroughly.
Whilst technology and AI can remove barriers to international growth, they cannot replace the fundamentals of great business. The advantage will continue to belong to organisations that understand people, invest in relationships and adapt with curiosity. Technology may make the world feel smaller, but success in any market will still be built by people.
Lisa Morgan is managing director at Generation Media. Read her monthly column for The Media Leader on the first Thursday of each month.