Clarence Kwei is the Executive Producer in the Style & Entertainment Group of Time Inc., a division of Time Warner. He manages technical production for PEOPLE.com, InStyle.com, EW.com, and PeopleenEspanol.com. His team has launched numerous products in 2008 and 2009, including People TV, CelebrityBabies.com, PeoplePets.com, EW Picks, InStyle Makeover, and multiple redesigns. He’s on the forefront of new/digital media, and it is a pleasure to feature him in this week’s Spotlight feature.
DM: What does the online executive producer of 4 very popular brands actually do every day?
CK: Part of my day is spent making sure my team is on track with our projects. We run 20+ projects simultaneously and check in with the project managers to make sure projects are on track and the team is making the right technical decisions. Sometimes I act as a member of a team – I could be a tech lead on one project, or project manager on another.
Another part of my day spent working with the central IT organization at Time Inc. They provide shared technology for all our brands. As a user of these technologies, I maintain a dialog with them on our needs, which range from content management to mobile applications.
Another part of my day is working on new strategic projects for the different business divisions. There is a broad range of initiatives, and I help teams work out ideas before they turn into projects or products.
DM: Where do the strategic ideas come from?
CK: They come from a variety of sources such as internal planning sessions, corporate and business initiatives, conferences, and user feedback.
DM: How important is it in your work to have a deep understanding of the technologies in use to bring a site like PEOPLE.com to market?
CK: I am primarily tech-focused, so it is critical to have a deep understanding of technology. It directly affects our consumer’s experience in the same way a poorly built automobile would affect a driver’s experience on the road.
DM: What’s the most exciting project you’ve worked on while in your role at Time, Inc.?
CK: A recent example is the new gallery experience we launched that displays edit notes and tags over a photo. Two things I liked about this project: On the consumer side, we feel this new experience is a nice innovation in celebrity photos.
We also built an editorial tool to facilitate the tagging process: editors use a WYSIWIG interface to quickly add notes or embed images over the photo.
DM: Can you share your thoughts about where digital is headed, particularly in the area of targeted advertising?
CK: I think the ecosystem around fully-target advertising isn’t quite there yet. We have behavioral, social, and user targeting, but really “targeted” advertising is going to have to involve a wider net of actions. Think about what goes into making a purchasing decision – emails received, conversations had, store windows viewed…
The technology is getting there; we have location-aware apps, mobile phone with GPS, and email in the cloud. However, there are not many companies positioned to capture that large amount of info, to be able to fully target consumers. There is also so much more to targeting than online behaviors to show why you would or would not engage or react with an Internet ad.
Having the full history of on and off-line behavior will make targeted advertising more meaningful.