Mark Josephson '94 President of Seevast Making Waves in Internet Advertising World
 -Advertising Star By Heather Jung
In an age when the Internet is the main source of, well, just about anything, it should come as no surprise that it accounts for a large percentage of all media consumption.
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 "Absolutely more dollars are flowing to the Internet at the expense of other media," Mark Josephson '94 said. "And that's because of the hyper-growth of the audience, and that's because of the transparency and the accountability of the medium and the ability to drive awareness, engage the consumer, and drive sales—all of the things you want your marketing and advertising to do. The Internet started off as a purely direct-response medium, and it is absolutely evolving into one of engagement and brand building."
Josephson, who earned his bachelor's degree in psychology from Skidmore College in 1994, is the current president of Seevast, which is the parent company of two ad-network businesses (Pulse 360 and Kanoodle) and a domain asset-management company (Moniker).
Josephson got his first taste of advertising during an internship he found through Skidmore's career services office. After graduating, he started his first full-time job at Cone Communications, working in its sporting goods department. During the course of working there, Josephson said, he developed a good relationship with the company's clients.
"I really enjoyed the opportunity to build a business and to build an audience and then to find the opportunity to build a business off of building an audience and finding what resonates with consumers and readers to find something that works for advertisers," Josephson said. "From there, I just continued to leverage. I love content. I love great content. I love building audiences, and I love helping people build great businesses off of great audiences."
Josephson eventually left Cone to work for About, Inc., the corporation that manages the consumer-advice website About.com . During his time there, Josephson worked in several capacities, including marketing, business development, ad sales, and general management.
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What do you do for fun? |
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Spend time with my family, with my boys. And exercise, work out. |
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What CD is in your CD player right now? |
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Who has a CD player anymore? Right now, I have a new fascination with country music. |
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What is the last magazine that you read? |
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Sports Illustrated . |
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What is your favorite TV show? |
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The Shield . |
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Who is your role model? |
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My dad. He is a lifelong entrepreneur and built a business and supported a family, and that's what I want too. |
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In 2003, Josephson joined the Seevast team as its CMO, a position in which he served until 2006, when he became president. As president, he oversees the company's marketing, sales, client services, and business development.
Josephson said he would give the same advice to people looking into advertising that he would give to anybody considering a new career.
"Be aggressive and dedicated," he said. "The thing I particularly love about the Internet space still, after 10-plus years in the industry, is that most places and businesses I see, your career growth is capped only by how good you are and how hard you work, and those are criteria I would be looking for in picking a business or picking [your] new job. [Will] you be at a business where you can continue to grow and develop because you're good enough, because you're working hard enough?"
Josephson, who grew up in Rhode Island, currently resides in New Jersey with his wife and two sons.
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