Digital disruptor works alongside traditional media
Marco Broccardo is the CEO of ColonyHQ
Tell me about the work you do.
ColonyHQ helps traditional media companies overcome digital disruption through the use of technology. We deal primarily with two segments of the market across our two business divisions:
● Colony Campaigns serves fast-moving consumer goods brands by providing a platform that enables consumers to engage with the brands through on-pack consumer promotions; and
● Colony Live provides radio broadcasters with a platform that helps them engage with and monetise audiences they reach.
Tell me about the radio and TV messaging system you have developed.
Colony Live is an audience engagement engine allowing audience-assisted broadcasting through SMS, e-mail, instant messaging and social media.
The platform assists broadcasters to engage with their audience and aggregate usergenerated content for news, traffic, competitions, polls, dedications, opinion pieces et cetera using images, text, video and audio.
In addition, Colony Live actively mines each interaction for demographic, psychographic, sentiment and interest information.
Using interactions from multiple sources as well as information garnered from public access databases and social media sites, Colony Live builds a comprehensive profile of each audience member interacting with your organisation.
How did you end up doing what you do today?
This business is a direct result of many pivots. Some have been driven by external factors like regulation. ColonyHQ, through a legacy solution called Mobius, had been providing stations and brands a platform that allowed basic SMS communication. However, over time we realised there was value in the data and the conversations that we had been collecting on behalf of our clients.
It was at this point that we started to play around with the idea of building valuable, usable and actionable insights from this data. I guess the rest is history.
What did you want to be when growing up?
I wanted to become a game ranger; I am passionate about wildlife and the bush. But with my journey through crack cocaine addiction and being able to overcome it through God’s grace, I wanted to do anything that would help me show others that even the most hopeless people and situations can be turned around. The business ultimately became a vehicle to enable that dream.
What do you find most meaningful about the work you do?
I get to work with an amazingly talented group of people; they teach me more than I teach them. Being in a position to lead a team like this is really what I love.
In addition, taking the calculated risks of business excites me and resonates with my character.
What part of your job would you like to change or not do at all?
I suppose, if I had a choice, I would love to get rid of some of the formalities we attach to business. I think that sometimes we lean too heavily on structure that provides no real value but rather acts as a deterrent to being nimble. So, less admin and reports.