Adnews Industry Profile: Joseph Pardillo

Name: Joseph Pardillo

Job title: Managing director at Ryvalmedia

Time in current role/time at the company: 2 Years

How would you describe what the company does? Ryvalmedia uses its digital-first marcomms expertise, encompassing performance media, data science and analytics, to drive a tangible value exchange between customers and brands and hence real business results for clients.

What do you do day-to-day?Stay super engaged with both staff and clients with an obsession in orchestrating the way forward for the teams, via ensuring a fully fit and energised Melbourne office infrastructure. So, if I’m not on the phone or having my matcha latte with our clients or valued media partners, then I’m ensuring that the people are best equipped to lead and collaborate in their day-to-day duties and love coming in to work.

Define your job in one word:Alive.

I got into advertising/ad tech/marketing etc because:I deferred my second year at Uni studying Civil Engineering and fell into a course at RMIT in my gap year, studying Business – Advertising. Purely because I thought that this would be a bit cooler than the hard-core maths and chemistry classes entailed with any engineering course… And as soon as I learnt about the engineering of TARPs I never looked back! Someone just didn’t warn me that ‘maths’ and ‘chemistry’ are still key in the world of media & agency land though.

What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role?Attracting and retaining Gen-Z’s and growing them within our industry. As businesses and industry sectors all around continue to be wildly disrupted with the acceleration of technology and the horizon of the metaverse, the key focus must be how we foster people and train up the young guns to be that next frontier of future client partners and media experts within the new economy. 

What’s the biggest industry-wide challenge you’d like to see tackled?The same challenge that emanated 5+ years ago… As data becomes our currency, we need to work harder as an industry to create a universal method of measuring across not only screens, audio and other touchpoints, but how this is also meshed across those infamous walled-garden behemoths. Together we can revolutionise and build a better ecosystem of audience understanding across platforms, where everyone is still the winner.

Previous industry related companies you have worked at:Prior to launching Ryvalmedia, I spent nearly a decade at Carat, which came off the foundations of many years learning my craft at Starcom, ZenithOptimedia as well as at sales land at Seven West Media (as Seven Group Sales Manager). Somewhere in between all of that was an adventurous 12 months launching a content, digital and media strategy agency also – called Hotglue, with a very talented bunch of individuals, that I have the fondest of memories with to this day!

Notable ads/campaigns you have worked on Without question the launch of the now historically iconic and very much missed Holden VE Ute, some 14 years ago… The team, the creative agency crew, the beloved clients who are now long-time friends, and just the overall success from start to finish will aways be with me forever. It was truly an amazing moment to have been a part of piecing together this campaign.

Who is/has been a great mentor to you and why?I don’t think I could ever boil this down to a single person or even two. It may sound a bit corny, but I’ve been fortunate enough to this date to have crossed paths with many wise words, experiences and special people throughout my career – so I truly believe that my stories and successes thus far are the journeys I’ve shared with them all. If you’ve ever watched the classic movie, The Way (about the El Camino), then that’s how I liken my media journey… where the people I have crossed paths with, good and indifferent, have all had their impact. Like the saying goes: Learn from everyone. Watch for patterns. Follow no one but the ONE.

Words of advice for someone wanting a job like yours?Keep it real.

If I wasn’t doing this for a living, I’d be:Perhaps designing and maintaining roads, bridges, dams, and similar structures for Victoria as a Civil Engineerist… Actually maybe not that!

My mantra / philosophy is:The secret to success is making the right decisions; the only way to make the right decisions is via experience; the best way to gain experience is by not being afraid to make the wrong decisions

My favourite advert is:Watching a gorilla drumming to Phil Collins inspiring me to pick up a glass and a half of cadbury dairy milk chocolate shouldn’t work, BUT IT DID! So it has to be the winner…

Music and TV streaming habits include:All of the above and everything in between.

Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?I knocked back Stevie Wonder. Okay the real story… After winning a competition to share the stage with the living legend himself and actually sing a duet with him, I had to declare to the concert tour organisers that it’d be a disaster if they let me sing. So instead, I scored an alternative prize – A backstage pass to a private jam session with Stevie, which in turn saved the concert crowd from bleeding ears.

In five years’ time I’ll be:Preparing to actually walk the El Camino as I venture into life’s half century and beyond… as surely I’ve built up enough life experiences to pass on and share with others along The Way!