Rick has been in the media information industry for more than 20 years, helping professionals from every industry connect the dots from global media data, for insights that help teams make faster, more informed business decisions.
From designing and implementing media intelligence ecosystems for the largest PR and advertising agencies, to leading consulting groups, government agencies and multinational Fortune 500s, and leading media data solutions for smaller organizations and in-house researchers and communicators, Rick has diverse organizational experience. He specializes in integrating and enriching data from news and social media conversations into platforms that present optimized insights, analytics and predictive models for communicators and researchers.
We’re thrilled to have Rick’s deep industry experience on the Truescope team, and wanted to get to know more about him.
Q: Rick, based on your experience and areas of specialization, it seems that you really love working with data! Please tell us more about why you love the data/ technology industry?
A: Like most people I enjoy music and art. I am drawn to it and I can't always explain exactly why I like it, but from it there are overarching patterns and messages that make it attractive. The same goes for data. Data always tells stories if you look at it through the right lens, stories from which you can make predictions and “better bets'' . Truescope similarly helps organizations find stories in their data, and in turn they can make smarter business decisions, the “better bets”. I love making the connection between data and the stories it tells when speaking with any industry or brand.
Q: How data-savvy have organizations become? Will advances in data technology make it easier to access and interpret data?
A: I believe organizations are largely data-savvy and will continue to become more so, but I also believe there can be too much data and too many ways to consume it - honing in on the data that matters to you and your organization is key. Advances in technology will definitely make this easier - but there might be automated recommendations that are counter intuitive. When it comes to getting true media insights from data and technology, organizations need the best in content and automation/AI, but they also need smart humans to curate the insights and signals on top of the tech.
Q: You are a specialist in artificial intelligence and its impact on the media, presenting at multiple industry events. Can you give us an overview of what you see as the near and longer term impact of AI on professional communicators?
A: AI will help communicators and researchers get more information, faster. I believe however that applications that write, draw and take actions will simplify tasks but also create noise. That noise will eventually be recognized by consumers and professionals and bring new conventions and meanings to how information is created and disseminated. My best bet is that communicators and PR professionals will become even more precious and more of an influential voice for the brands they represent.
Q: What drew you to the role at Truescope, and what excites you about the platform?
A: I joined Truescope because the founders and team have built the media information industry over the last 30-40 years; they are the real deal when it comes to industry expertise. They apply AMEC principles to truly measure impact of a PR campaign and they have built and continually innovate the smartest platform with best-in-class analytics and artificial intelligence that make a communicator’s tasks simpler and faster to achieve. The Truescope platform is the most powerful platform I have used in my industry experience, and what PR and communications professionals need for the most comprehensive media data presented quickly and intuitively, to calculate quantitative and qualitative success for their organization.
Q: What are you excited about achieving in your role as Truescope North America’s Senior Vice President of Media Intelligence?
A: Most of all, I’m excited to bring the platform to the communications and PR world. My experience with having worked for several organizations in the industry already means my perspective of what competitors offer, and what customers want, is highly tuned. I feel very fortunate right now to be in an organization that’s leading the way by combining leading technology and a strong customer-centric approach to service. I believe this makes Truescope a truly unique proposition for communicators in North America, and something they’ve been missing for a long time.
Q: You’ve worked in media intelligence for a long time and have seen a lot of change, with exponential change in recent years. What is the future of media intelligence platforms in, say, two and five years?
A: Media intelligence will always need to quickly access and interpret messages. Without access to the platforms, machine reading or listening and any insights are lost. We need to continue to look at every source in aggregate and provide the metadata that tells a story, represented in visual analytics. In two years I see consolidation of services and providers and in five years I see new tools looking at new platforms and media to keep pace with truly measuring impact and evaluating successful messages/campaigns.
Q: What do you enjoy doing when you’re not deep in data? Are you prolific on socials and what are some apps you can’t live without?
A: When I am not working, I love to travel with my family. I also tend (love!) to argue ideas, semantics and logic with friends and family - on social and in person. Social media is part of life, and really it just provides new ways to exchange ideas. I use ALL the current platforms and right now I am getting a lot out of +Babbel which I’m using to learn a new language, fast. Spotify keeps me up-to-speed with my kids' music, and I’m using Ancestry to keep track of where my family came from and add newfound documents and pictures. I would have to add that as a family we’ve had some fun making some very creative rap songs in ChatGPT, and extremely odd concepts on DALL·E.
