Meet our People
Brian M. Mathena
Group Media Director
Aegis Media, Carat US
Brian joined Carat over three years ago from Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles where he led the digital launch of the Toyota Prius, among other notable media efforts for Toyota.
As Group Media Director, Brian oversees the digital media teams working on strategy, planning, and buying for Carat’s Los Angeles office and its broad client base. He touches nearly every account in that office and specifically has a rich three-year history in building adidas’ digital efforts in the U.S. from the ground up. As a result, Brian is Carat’s designated national media expert for youth-focused digital marketing.
“I see one of the biggest contributions that I can make to our clients’ business as creating a mentor-based relationship with our hugely talented media communications group here in Los Angeles. We’re in a service-based idea business. Those ideas come from our people. And I believe that at the core, people do things for people – not companies or causes. So, the best way for our clients’ businesses to succeed is to focus on those connections between people. Connections between our agency staff that bring results-oriented collaboration. Connections between our media leaders and client leaders to foster a partnership that keeps everyone enthused about our relationship and our work. Because when those hard days come along, we need that connection for everyone to lean on and feed off of.
“This people-based approach shows in our business. We continue to be a growth-oriented organization. We’ve grown existing clients’ digital business as much as ten fold. We continue to grow our agency business by adding new clients. Los Angeles has gone from four digital staff members to forty in just over three years. And, we have an amazing reputation for growing the digital industry as a whole.
“I recently worked with two of our Aegis Media clients - adidas and Electronic Arts - during their participation in a joint research study conducted by MySpace, Carat and Isobar called “Neverending Friending.” The research brings measurable business value to the realm of social network marketing. I travelled the country with the research teams to learn as much as we could about how youth interact with social networks. The result was so groundbreaking. It actually defined new industry metrics for social media measurement. Our clients couldn’t have responded more positively and it’s been one of the most interesting projects of my career.”