TODD GELLER


senior vice president,

Inter/Media Interactive

I get up with my 2-year-old old son at around 5 a.m., but then we go back to sleep for another hour before we get dressed. My wife also works, so she is getting ready at the same time.

I don’t eat breakfast. I don’t function well with breakfast. No coffee. I don’t work on caffeine. I grab a water, say goodbye to my son, and leave at 7:15. I live in Agoura Hills and the office is in Encino, so it’s a 30- 35-minute commute.

I am in charge of everything for online right now at Inter/Media. It’s mostly an offline full-service advertising company and I’m heading the company’s new online unit.

By the time I’m in the car, I’ve already started working on the cell phone. I make calls to East Coast clients or vendors to talk about online marketing or advertising in general. This morning I was working with a vendor to provide traffic for our advertisers. Sometimes I’ll talk to my mother who lives in Florida, too.

When I get in, I usually have a short meeting with the president and chief executive. I’ve been here three full weeks. Since I’m starting the interactive business unit from scratch, there are a lot of things going on. During the morning meeting we go over potential deals. I’m doing business development and obtaining new clientele. I am setting up our networks, our servers, our mechanisms to present online advertising to our clients, and I’m presenting creative ideas as well.

Right now we are also doing new hires. This morning we presented two offer letters for an affiliate manager and a creative director. The creative director was here on a contract and we made him permanent.

I’ve been in the online space since 1992. In the Internet business, everybody knows everybody. My creative director has been with me for five years through each company change. I had dinner at a Microsoft convention with the affiliate manager I just recruited but I didn’t remember. When I saw the resum & #233; I didn’t recognize the name, but I recognized the face when he came in.

I’m currently getting the five pillars of Internet advertising in place: online media buying, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, affiliate marketing and e-mail. I need the right people in the right positions to create those departments.

I’ve brought search engine optimization to Inter/Media. I’ve also made it possible to detect click fraud. The third technology I’ve introduced is “save a sale,” meaning after a customer leaves a site, we save a lead. I’ve introduced interactive TV:While a commercial is running, an interested person can click “I want more info” or they can click automatically to buy.

Sometime during the morning, I meet with my creative director to go over projects that need to be developed. We are working on about seven projects, four for our own use, and three for our clients.

I try to take a 30-minute lunch if I have time. Then I make sure all my client inquiries are taken care of. Afterward, I do staff training. I call all my contracts each day between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. to keep them up to date on investment reports. I am also hitting old clients of mine, seeing if they would like me to take care of some marketing for them.

I get in the car and I’m back on the phone again till about 7:30 or 8 p.m. When I get home, I spend time with the family or play hockey. By 10 my kid and wife are asleep and then I watch our commercials on TV. I typically go to bed around midnight.

As told to Sarah Filus

Todd Geller



Senior Vice President

Inter/Media Interactive



Current Project:

“Inter/Media is doing a program with the Pepperdine business school. I’ll probably do some speaking engagements for them and we’ll also do an internship program with them.”

Close to Home:

“I’ve lived in L.A. since I was 13. My favorite thing to do around the city is go to the Ahmanson Theatre.”

Hobby:

Plays goalie for an adult hockey league, both on ice skates and roller skates.

Loyal Alumnus:

Holds a sociology undergrad degree at UCLA (as well as an M.B.A. from Pepperdine). “I like to watch college basketball and football, especially UCLA and Pepperdine basketball.”