The US Has Higher Quality & Service Expectations: Q&A with Jerem Febvre, Sublime Skinz

Many European ad tech companies have their sights set on expanding into the US market, but what does it take to succeed? ExchangeWire speak with Jerem Febvre, co-founder and president US, Sublime Skinz about important considerations and challenges they faced when preparing for their recent expansion across the Atlantic. 

ExchangeWire: Sublime Skinz expanded their US operations in 2015 - what journey has the company been on in the US market since?

Jerem Febvre: 2015 was really the preparation for our US launch. We laid the groundwork, working with a small team of two based in San Francisco, with our cofounders going back and forth from France and still focused on organising our European business and securing our first funding round. During that time we secured a network of 100 middle tail publishers and ran a few test campaigns. 

Our 'real business' in the US really started in 2016, with a significant increase in the size of our network, and of our team. We ran over 100 campaigns for major agencies, had two of our co-founders move to the US, and opened a second US office in NYC. In 2016, the US market comprise around 10% of our global revenue - over USD$17m (£11.6m).

Today we're a team of 15 in the US (90 globally), and our target is US market to be our #1 market within the next 36 months!

What challenges exist operating in the US ad tech versus your experiences in Europe?

Like in Europe, our product fits well with ad tech's pain points here. Specifically, we’re solving for viewability and the need for more innovative, impactful, less intrusive units. And more than ever the market also wants scalability and programmatic compliance.

The challenge for us was to start a business from scratch, to get known by the US ecosystem, and to build and train a US team. 

Has it been difficult for a French ad tech company to make an impact in such a complex market, dominated by homegrown expertise?

There's expertise and complexity everywhere. In ad tech like in any other tech, most of the players and technologies are global, meaning that the essence of our work isn't that different in the US, in LATAM or in Europe. In the US, the main difference is that there's a higher level of expectation in terms of quality of service and the size of the market also allows us to be able to achieve scale, running massive campaigns, often in combination with very narrow and specific targeting constraints.

How does your business strategy differ?

We focus on top quality, high performing ad units, that were very hard to run at scale before us. Our technology creates standardisation, programmatic compliance, and makes these units as easy to run as any other unit.

It's kind of a luxury, niche positioning, and we're creating our own market vs the standard units. In France, which was our first market, a study from Kantar Media in June 2016 showed that skinz unit now represents 6% of the display market. Four years ago, there was just no skin/Homepage Take Over Market at all there. We’re expecting that same evolution in the US.

What are the key considerations for US expansion and what advice would you give to other ad techs looking to enter this market?

The ability to build a great team is the game changer. And it's very hard, as a European company, to hire the right people, to understand how to convince, to manage, and to motivate them when your company, your product or your investors are unknown in the US. Due to the very high salaries, one or two bad hires can compromise your US expansion.

It also can be a challenge to market your offer when you have a disruptive product or model—even internally, especially if you work with experienced people, to convince them that you want them to change their habits and the way they've always worked. It's a matter of building confidence, and having strong case studies from abroad can help a lot.

Most important : Be 100% committed to the US Market. Move there. Have a co-founder, or someone that gets the company's DNA move there. The mindset is so different, the competition is so huge, this has to become your only obsession. 

What’s next for you?

Work hard and satisfy more and more clients and publishers. Launch our new mobile unit, increase our three digit growth rate and eventually enjoy in the US the same success that we have had in European market.