State of Search

Alessandra is armed with a degree in Philosophy of Science, an executive business education at SDA Bocconi and Duke University, as well as 20 years experience advising global brands on their digital strategy. 

In 2019, she completed a MSc in Human-Computer Interaction Design under the Engineering and Computer Science department at City, University of London and she studied Machine Learning and Data Science fundamentals. Alessandra's daily job at Google UK consists in supporting customers in adopting and scaling Google technologies and, at the same time, partner closely with the engineering team to represent market requirements and to help Google build the best products for advertisers. Passionate about Diversity & Inclusion, Alessandra leads some of the Google Employee Groups who support Women and the LGBT+ community. 

Adam has been in the industry for over 10 years and has been at the7stars for 6. Having “grown-up” in PPC, he has delivered award-winning paid search strategies for brands such as Iceland foods and Suzuki cars and is responsible for the output and development of paid search and social media teams at the UK’s largest independent media agency.

Asher Gordon leads a multi-disciplined media team who plan, buy and deliver integrated media plans for a diverse set of clients at Tug. Asher develops audience first, cross-channel strategies that deliver ROI, using attribution modelling to measure effectiveness at each stage of the customer journey. With over 10 years’ experience working across multiple markets and brands at PHD and Wavemaker, Asher works with clients to beat their marketing goals and drive their business forward.

With over 5 years of industry experience working across multiple verticals from ecommerce to travel, Eloise has seen firsthand the evolution of search advertising to the automated landscape businesses encounter today. As Starcom Employee of the Year, Eloise has played an integral role in ensuring clients are adopting search excellence & innovation in order to remain relevant and profitable in increasingly competitive media landscapes. Eloise has a particular passion for automation and how it can fulfill a dual role of operational time saving & capability enhancement.

Laurie has over eight years’ experience in media in both large and small agencies having previously worked at Kite Factory and Wavemaker, and over this time he has worked with brands such as Lloyds Banking Group, ITV, Hiscox, and The Gym Group. Laurie started his career within paid search but quickly expanded into paid social, programmatic, and video. Having worked in both planning and buying roles across brand and performance activations, Laurie brings a wealth of experience to the table and at Goodstuff he is responsible for ensuring best practice planning and buying across digital self-serve platforms. He also takes a leading role in creating digital strategies built on effectiveness principles as well as creating integration through the line in media channel activation.

My career began in scientific research before moving into digital media with roles in PPC, social and display at Merkle, iProspect and Brainlabs. My passions in digital media lie with audience integration, statistical analysis, and automation, driving results for clients in retail, pharma, finance and travel.