Unruly VP Nigel Ashton and Accenture Interactive’s Rod da Rosa to head up new London hub as leader in measurement of online attention steps up global expansion plans
LONDON, ADELAIDE — Global attention measurement platform Amplified Intelligence is expanding into the UK. The Adelaide-based company – a global leader in the research and measurement of online human attention — is opening a new regional HQ in London, and has appointed Unruly’s Global VP, Client Partner, Nigel Ashton, as its SVP Commercial Partnerships, EMEA.
Ashton, who has worked in the ad industry for over 25 years, will lead Amplified Intelligence’s commercial strategy in EMEA, where he will be responsible for servicing the company’s growing client base in the region. He will be supported by Accenture Interactive’s Rod da Rosa, who joins as EMEA Commercial Operations Lead. Ashton has worked at global advertising platform Unruly for almost three years as VP Global Strategic Accounts. Prior to this, he was Global Industry Partnerships Director at Oath / AOL and also held senior positions at Microsoft, the Telegraph Media Group and Mail Newspapers. Da Rosa has over 20 years of experience working in the advertising operations, technology and consultancy space with companies such as Virgin, InSkin, TrafficRich and Accenture. He will be responsible for building out Amplified’s customer success and technical functions to support client operations across EMEA.
Da Rosa has already started in his role, while Ashton will officially join the company on March 28. Ashton will report into Amplified’s Chief Growth Officer and 2IC, Phil Townend, while Da Rosa will report into Daniel Lyas, Head of Product Operations.
Townend said: “I’m delighted that top talent such as Nigel and Rod have agreed to join the Amplified team. With almost two-thirds of our revenue now coming from the US and UK, it’s critical we give our rapidly expanding client base access to the best in-market support, while also providing air cover from our global HQ in Australia. But this is just the beginning of our global expansion plans – and we plan to have on-the-ground representation within four continents by the end of the year.“
Ashton said: “It’s rare that you get a chance to work for an organization that is redefining the way an entire industry is measured. The fact that only 17% of MRC viewable inventory gets more than half a second of real human attention goes to show the job that needs to be done to help clients identify and eliminate media wastage. I’m thrilled to be joining the Amplified team at such an exciting time and being part of the future journey of this pioneering business.“
Da Rosa said: “Our industry is changing – the need for transparency, media efficiency and reliable data-driven insights has never been more important for benchmarking campaign effectiveness. I was so impressed by Amplified’s vision, its proprietary tech in collecting human attention data cross-platform and what they’ve achieved in a relatively short space of time. I had to get onboard.“
The expansion into EMEA is the latest important milestone for the rapidly-growing company, which recently announced it had closed a post-seed funding round of $3M AUD ($2.2M USD) and is now generating a lot of interest from top tier global VCs ahead of an expected Series A funding round. Amplified Intelligence’s suite of human attention-based products are currently attracting significant market traction from agency holding companies, broadcasters, media platforms and global brands, including Dentsu, IPG, OMG, Publicis, WPP, Shell, Mars, Pepsi, Channel9, Facebook, Twitter and Spotify.
Powered by its AI-powered attention-tracking technology and the most comprehensive database of attention to advertising across digital and TV, the company’s solutions provide advertisers with a more accurate picture of how much attention their campaigns are actually generating — helping them to maximise their media spend, drive better campaign outcomes and minimise wastage. Amplified is on a mission to change the way media is traded, replacing legacy metrics such as viewability and traditional opportunity-to-see (OTS) with tools that measure exactly how effectively ad placements across different media drive real active human attention.
About Amplified Intelligence
Amplified is a global leader in the research and measurement of online human attention — the most valuable and important indicator of ad success. The company’s pioneering AI-powered technology, world-leading research and easy-to-use media planning platform help brands and agencies run more efficient, impactful and successful ad campaigns.
Created in Adelaide, Australia, in 2017 by Professor Karen Nelson Field — a globally acclaimed author and media science pioneer — the company’s mission is to revolutionise the way media is traded to focus on attention, making it fairer and more accountable. Customers include OMD, WPP, Shell, Mars, Pepsi, Twitter, Facebook and Spotify.
In September 2021, the company announced it has closed a post-seed funding round of $3M AUD ($2.2M USD) led by TEN13 — a market-leading investment syndicate co-founded by Aussie tech entrepreneur and Shark (‘Shark Tank’) Steve Baxter.
