The 2023 NADA Show offers a full program of innovative products, emerging trends and networking opportunities for all areas of your dealership.

Will you be in Dallas for the show?  We look forward to meeting with you to explore how our omnichannel marketing solutions can drive more visits to your dealerships! Let’s connect in person!

Lets’s Connect

The post GroundTruth On-Location at NADA appeared first on GroundTruth.

The post GroundTruth Named to Ad Age’s Best Places to Work for 3rd Consecutive Year appeared first on GroundTruth.

Ad Age Best Places to Work annual survey and awards program is designed to identify, recognize, and honor the best employers in the North American marketing industry. The exclusive list is broken into two categories representing the top 25 companies with under 200 employees and the top 25 companies with 201+ employees in which GroundTruth ranks.

“The Ad Age Best Places to Work award underscores the people-first mantra that we work very hard to infuse into our culture every day,” said Stephen McCarthy, Chief Executive Officer, GroundTruth. “Our ability to sustain growth amid the challenges of the past two years reflects the character of the talented team members who are committed to delivering results for our customers. It’s been a part of who we are as a company and will continue to be important to our future success. It is such an honor to be recognized for the culture we have built for the second consecutive year.”

The Ad Age Best Places to Work list identifies and honors the top employers across the marketing and media industry, centered on a written submission from the employer and survey responses directly from their staff. The annual ranking is calculated from responses in six key satisfaction areas: employee benefits, company culture, company environment, employee perks, employee development, and employee engagement.

Since 2009, GroundTruth has grown to hundreds of team members that serve marketers across every industry, including auto, CPG, dining, and retail. The company’s open culture is supported by a flexible, entrepreneurial environment that focuses on giving every team member the opportunity to develop and grow their professional careers. Committed to creating a diverse and inclusive culture, the company’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) programs ensure that everyone on the GroundTruth team has a voice and the opportunity to contribute to their communities through volunteer programs.

“The advertising business saw a healthy comeback and ad tech firms and health care agencies thrived, making 2021 a decidedly strong year for the industry,” said Dan Peres, editor-in-chief and associate publisher, Ad Age. “The pandemic continued to impact—and permanently change—how we work, and this year’s Ad Age Best Places to Work winners created the right culture and opportunities for their teams.”

Dan Peres
Editor in Chief and Associate Publisher at Ad Age

Throughout 2021, GroundTruth’s talent base has continued to grow across several disciplines and practice areas. To check out the company’s job openings, visit: www.groundtruth.com/careers.

For more on GroundTruth’s Ad Age Best Place to Work 2022 ranking, visit the official article here.

---

About GroundTruth

GroundTruth is the leading location-based marketing and advertising technology company. Brands, agencies, small businesses, and non-profits trust their performance-driven solutions to help them reach consumers during moments of intent that generate important business outcomes. GroundTruth’s suite of geo-contextual display and video advertising products and services are available at scale through their self-serve omni-channel advertising platform, managed services, and industry reseller partnerships. GroundTruth’s marketing platform is powered by a unique data set called “visitation data” accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC). Their proprietary cleansing processes combine contextual mapping technology (BlueprintsTM), owned and operated properties, and third-party mobile location data, together yielding over 30 billion visits annually.

Learn more: www.groundtruth.com

Media Contact
Matthew Pennacchio
Sunshine Sachs on behalf of GroundTruth
516-851-4766
groundtruth@sunshinesachs.com

The post GroundTruth Named a 2022 Ad Age Best Places to Work appeared first on GroundTruth.

]]> https://www.groundtruth.com/article/super-bowl-2021-brand-value/ Tue, 09 Feb 2021 22:47:17 +0000 https://www.groundtruthit.wpengine.com/?post_type=article&p=417253 During any other normal year, the days following the Super Bowl would be a time when many of us circle the water cooler to talk about the most creative, amusing ads that were aired during the big game. The challenge, as we all know, is that this is not like any normal year. GroundTruth’s SVP, […]

The post Super Bowl LV Ads Spotlight Brand Value Setting the Stage for 2021 appeared first on GroundTruth.

]]> During any other normal year, the days following the Super Bowl would be a time when many of us circle the water cooler to talk about the most creative, amusing ads that were aired during the big game. The challenge, as we all know, is that this is not like any normal year.

GroundTruth’s SVP, Dan Silver, gives the play-by-play on which ads won at this year’s big game by going all in on brand value and inspiration.

Read the full article.

 

The post Super Bowl LV Ads Spotlight Brand Value Setting the Stage for 2021 appeared first on GroundTruth.

]]> https://www.groundtruth.com/article/adage-best-places-to-work/ Mon, 11 Jan 2021 17:00:36 +0000 https://www.groundtruthit.wpengine.com/?post_type=article&p=415879 Despite the difficulties that 2020 brought, we are so thankful for our team’s efforts to continually propel this company forward and make GroundTruth an amazing environment to be a part of. We believe that innovative technology starts with the best talent and are currently hiring to add to our amazing roster. We are proud of […]

The post GroundTruth Ranked one of Ad Age’s 2021 Best Places to Work appeared first on GroundTruth.

]]> Despite the difficulties that 2020 brought, we are so thankful for our team’s efforts to continually propel this company forward and make GroundTruth an amazing environment to be a part of. We believe that innovative technology starts with the best talent and are currently hiring to add to our amazing roster.

We are proud of this esteemed honor are excited for the great things to come this year.

See the full list of Ad Age’s 2021 Best Places to Work.

The post GroundTruth Ranked one of Ad Age’s 2021 Best Places to Work appeared first on GroundTruth.

]]> https://www.groundtruth.com/insight/suitup-for-the-competition-groundtruth-teams-up-with-an-education-non-profit-to-help-students-build-business-skills/ Wed, 18 Nov 2020 14:00:00 +0000 https://www.groundtruthit.wpengine.com/?p=413974 GroundTruth recently teamed up with SuitUp to host a week-long virtual competition for middle school students. SuitUp is a 501c3 education non-profit that increases college and career awareness and preparedness for students in underserved communities through innovative business competitions. Their goal is to make education more exciting and relevant for students who need it most […]

The post SuitUp for the Competition: GroundTruth Teams Up with an Education Non-Profit to Help Students Build Business Skills appeared first on GroundTruth.

]]>

GroundTruth recently teamed up with SuitUp to host a week-long virtual competition for middle school students. SuitUp is a 501c3 education non-profit that increases college and career awareness and preparedness for students in underserved communities through innovative business competitions. Their goal is to make education more exciting and relevant for students who need it most by aligning the incentives of companies and schools. GroundTruth employees coached SuitUp students in building out a product launch with a focus on the marketing, design, and finance needed to create and present a complete business pitch.

27

Middle School Students

16

GroundTruth Volunteers

Initially, I volunteered with SuitUp while at a prior company. It was Volunteer Day and we had the opportunity to choose from an assortment of different activities. SuitUp stood ahead of the pack in my eyes as a way to truly make an impact on young individuals from an educational standpoint. I was struck by the balance between business, education, and career development that the SuitUp program brought to its students. By participating in a mentor capacity, I could teach concepts to students that they may not have been familiar with in the past. Volunteering with SuitUp was such a rewarding experience that I joined the company as a board member a few years later!

I thought GroundTruth would be an incredible fit to join forces with SuitUp. As a company that prides its focus on social good, it was an easy sell to our leadership team. The team, who had been looking for new ways to promote DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging), jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the program for its similarities in mission and the professional development of others.

The pandemic led to businesses shifting their approaches virtually and SuitUp was no exception. The competition, which was normally hosted in-person, at a school or in an office, benefited from the face to face interaction of volunteers and students. While the shift to an online model raised challenges on both sides of the coin, SuitUp created an incredible learning environment for students and volunteers to deliver amazing presentations.

While some students may not have access to computers or the internet, they were still able to find alternatives to stay involved, triumphantly highlighting that resourcefulness can help to overcome the daily challenges in the business world. It was great to see volunteers from all across our offices at GroundTruth participate with students they may not have otherwise met from Detroit, MI. The benefit of the event being virtual is that it opened the door to working with students in other states and allowed more GroundTruth employees to participate as the company is headquartered in New York but has several remote offices.

Overall, being a coach was extremely rewarding. In the current landscape where the in-person learning environment is uncertain, students can benefit from innovative outlets for growth and development like the competitions that SuitUp produces. In a matter of a few hours within a week, we were able to help students learn about finance, marketing, and design. For some, it was an introduction to the business side of things and it was great to see the impact our team at GroundTruth had in helping these creative, smart students bring their ideas to life.

GroundTruth and SuitUp created an amazing experience for both the students and volunteers. We would love to give a special shout out to Lauren Reilly, Nicole Adams, and Kelsey English on delivering such a memorable event.

GroundTruth Impact

At GroundTruth, we believe it’s our responsibility to lay the groundwork for positive change. GroundTruth Impact is an employee-driven, social good initiative focused on creating sustainable change as individuals, through our partnerships, and within our communities. Collaborations like the one with SuitUp tie back to our goal of building a level-playing field.

How you can get involved: If you are interested in learning more about our social good program, GroundTruth Impact, or want us to connect with you someone at SuitUp to explore becoming a potential corporate sponsor, please fill out the contact form below.

The post SuitUp for the Competition: GroundTruth Teams Up with an Education Non-Profit to Help Students Build Business Skills appeared first on GroundTruth.

To offer some insight, Dan Silver, VP of Marketing for GroundTruth, guides you through some of the major behavior shifts from March to late April to highlight impact from the coronavirus pandemic and shelter-in-place orders. From panic buying to essentials like potato chips and alcohol, find out how people responded in the early days of the pandemic. Be sure to check out our foot tracker dashboard to discover more insightful consumer behavior.

To learn more about how GroundTruth insights can elevate your business, please contact us.

The post The Shifting Landscape of Consumer Behavior appeared first on GroundTruth.

Over the past sixteen months, Women@GroundTruth has been busy with activities like sponsoring Working Mother’s awards; hosting town hall meetings to discuss issues like gender inequality; and coordinating volunteer efforts at local women’s shelters. We also hosted our first-ever formal event, where more than 100 attendees gathered to talk about women as powerhouses in their field. It was such a success that we decided it was time to host another.

For 2019, we assigned the event an uplifting theme: Taking Your Seat at the Table. Held at our One World Trade Center headquarters on November 20th 2019, the pinnacle of the evening was when a panel of women in prominent leadership positions shared stories about their individual experiences working in the tech industry. The panel included:

• Sophie Walker, Industry Manager of Global CPG Accounts, Facebook
• Yolanda Lam, Global Head of Agency and Ads Partners, Pinterest
• Karen Davies, Managing Director, Huntington National Bank
• Mary Callender, P&G Walmart Customer Team, Saatchi Saatchi X Customer Marketing Lead
• Monique Nelson, CEO, UniWorld Group

Moderated by Courtney Packard, GroundTruth’s Director of Sales, these women shared how they “took their seat,” motivating other women to do the same. Questions like: “How do we get to the table? “How do we ensure we’re heard?” “How can men help advocate for and sponsor women?” and “How do you advocate for yourself?” led to a reflective and lively discussion.

Here are a few of our favorite takeaways from this memorable night.

Everyone is welcome at the table. Title, gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity are immaterial, because everyone has the ability to share and champion their ideas.

Find your truth-tellers and advisory board. To successfully take your seat at the table, look for people from different areas of your life to advise you. They will be become the allies you rely on throughout your career.

Use your voice and say the thing. Advocate for yourself and those around you, and don’t be afraid to “say the thing” others may be too hesitant to address.

In keeping with the ongoing theme of mutual support and women’s advocacy, guests at the event were asked to join Women@GroundTruth in donating to WIN, the largest provider of shelter and housing for homeless families in New York City. A donation box stationed at the event was used to collect urgently needed items, which included unused shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and body wash.

Because Women@GroundTruth has a reputation for having the best swag, guests of the event received items that included the Dammit! Doll. We felt these were fitting as the evening fell smack in the middle of the busy — and sometimes stressful — holiday season.

With the ultimate goal of fostering the advancement of women in tech, this Women@GroundTruth event was an important next step for our relatively new yet crucial group. GroundTruth has always been motivated to attract and retain top female talent because we know full well what a positive contribution women in the tech industry can make, and we hope these events will bring even more skilled and insightful women to our organization.

We’re excited to continue the Women@GroundTruth journey — and we hope you’ll come along for the ride. Sign up to stay informed on Women@GroundTruth activities and resources, and see our Careers page if you’re interested in joining us!

The post Women@GroundTruth: Taking Your Seat at the Table appeared first on GroundTruth.

For all of these reasons, many companies are investing in employee resource groups (ERGs). Bentley University reports that about 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies already have ERGs, and these groups or clubs can range in size from a handful of employees to hundreds or even thousands of workers in multiple geographic locations.

ERGs can be a catalyst for bringing together specific groups of like-minded people, or focus on a hobby or personal interest. At GroundTruth, for example, our employee resource groups include Financial Investment and New Parents, while our clubs range from Poker Club and Video Game Club.

Groups like these are all about making connections — and in the workplace that’s crucial. Why? Connected employees are engaged employees, and engaged employees are more likely to be productive and bring energy and motivation to your company. ERGs can:

• Foster a connected and engaged workforce
• Promote diversity and inclusion with your company culture
• Give employees a sense of belonging
• Create connections beyond the work itself

Structuring ERGs for Success

While there are many ways to structure an employee resource group or internal club, we’ve found that following some basic ground rules can increase the odds of success. For starters, ERGs should be completely voluntary, and employees should feel no pressure to join. It’s also preferable for employees to start new groups themselves rather than having your company set them up, as this ensures they reflect employees’ interests and needs rather than being dictated by leadership or HR.

All employee resource group and clubs should have a designated leader, along with defined goals and a cadence for meeting up. They should be celebrated and promoted at company meetings to encourage other employees to get involved in similar ways. We’ve also found it’s crucial that managers and leaders support employee participation, as this lends credibility and value to the groups themselves.

The GroundTruth Approach

For a company like ours, which endeavors to foster a community environment for employees to connect and collaborate both personally and professionally, ERGs make perfect sense. We want our employees to know colleagues outside of their direct teams, and we don’t want them to feel chained to their desks or unable to socialize and decompress.

At the beginning of this year, GroundTruth’s leadership team made a decision to better support employees who want to create their own internal clubs and ERGs. Here’s a small sample of what we’ve done so far.

Women@GroundTruth

In 2018, several female employees came together to create an employee resource group for women at GroundTruth. Their goal? To provide networking and mentorship opportunities both internally and externally, educational and professional development, and community to all employees — not just women — within the company.

The initiative kicked off with a panel discussion called Becoming a Powerhouse, hosted at our One World Trade Center headquarters. The group has also hosted Imposter Syndrome training using improv techniques and a Girl Geek Dinner at our Mountain View, CA office, as well as sponsored the She Runs It Awards.

“Women@GroundTruth began from a need to empower our female colleagues to embrace their power, purpose, and value,” explains Courtney Packard, GroundTruth’s director of national sales. “Through this community, we strive to impact positive change here at GroundTruth and beyond.”

Wine Club

Each month, GroundTruth hosts a wine club where employees can taste wines from different regions. The group began with wines from Bordeaux before moving on to Tuscany.

This group brings people together who wouldn’t typically interact. The connections made in this employee club and others can carry over into the day-to-day work life, which can improve collaboration and teamwork. What’s more, clubs like our Wine Club provide employees with opportunities to take a turn at the helm by planning and organizing events, even if that’s not a part of their day jobs.

Operating in a startup environment as we do, we often work fast and pivot to new projects quickly. Sometimes that means we’re so focused on the product that we forget to take a moment to collaborate with one another. When a workforce is connected, not only is a company more valuable, but its employees are more successful as individuals.

Interested in learning more? Read about what it’s like to work at GroundTruth and explore current opportunities here.

The post How Connected Are Your Employees? Exploring the Value of Employee Resource Groups appeared first on GroundTruth.

Meet Carol Chen, our Senior Director of Engineering at GroundTruth! Carol started her career in Architecture and made the jump to Computer Science after moving to the United States. Today, Carol Chen leads a team of front end, back end, and application engineers in our Mountain View, CA office, in which they’ve helped to nurture our culture—organizing hikes, movie outings, and badminton competitions. In this interview, Carol shares a glimpse into life at GroundTruth and what it’s like being a woman in engineering.

When did you realize you wanted to pursue a career in Computer Science?

I was born and raised in China and received all of my education there. But I wanted to see more; I wanted to see the world outside of China. That led me to Singapore, which is where I met my husband and got married. My husband was then offered a job in the U.S. and that’s how we made our way to the states. For my undergrad in China, I received a B.A. in Architecture. When I got to the U.S., I spoke to a few firms and they were all focused on residential design and expansion, which wasn’t exciting to me. At the same time, in 2001, the dot com bubble burst. Companies were shutting down and going out of business, but to me, the Internet was still an exciting industry. I saw it as the future. I also liked math—I liked using algorithms and data structures to solve problems, so I decided to go back to school to get my masters in Computer Science. And that’s how I got into engineering.

According to a recent study, boys outnumber girls 4:1 in computer science exams. What would you say to that after going through your experience?

I’d say that women are just as good in STEM roles as men! And that we need to do a better job encouraging young girls, early on in their education, to get into these roles. In my experience at school, women were definitely more intimidated getting into engineering because it was mostly male-dominated. A few of my classmates even left to pursue new opportunities, feeling as if they weren’t good enough. For me, I always knew that I was interested in math and problem solving and that that would help me succeed in Computer Engineering too. So, I think it starts first with early education.

What advice would you give to other people looking to switch careers?

I read a stat once that 27% of the college graduates work in the area that directly relates to their undergraduate degrees. So what I would say to that person is, “it’s okay and normal to switch career paths.” I encourage people to focus on their strengths and interests to find something they really like to do for work. If you’re not sure, there are thousands of online courses, clubs, and meetups out there. If you’re interested, try it first. Talk to people who work in those areas. She what they like and don’t like about their jobs. Also ask yourself, “when I close my eyes, I know this is something I’d enjoy doing in the next 10 to 15 years.”

I encourage people to focus on their strengths and interests to find something they really like to do for work. If you’re not sure, there are thousands of online courses, clubs, and meetups out there.

After graduating, tell us a bit more about your first job. What did you learn there and how did it eventually lead you to GroundTruth?

After graduating I got into software engineering in various different industries. However, my first role was working for an e-commerce company that sells computer equipment and accessories online. The first challenge I had was in interviewing. The company I was interested in, and would eventually work for, was using a programming language I didn’t know from college. I told my future employer, “give me a month and I’ll learn it quickly!” My manager let me do the test in Java instead of PHP. I appreciated them giving me a shot, and I made sure I learned it after.

After that, I moved onto roles in digital, computing, and now mobile media. During that time, I got into management roles naturally. A few roles ago, someone left my company. They were looking for an outside role to backfill it, but during that time our work still needed to be done. I started taking on those responsibilities. I started working with marketing and sales to get the product requirements together, and then worked with engineering to build the final results. During that time, I started mentoring more junior roles. And my company promoted me a year later.

I realized I liked management roles. I like to work with people. I like to get an understanding of what people want from the product. But I still loved working with engineers. As an engineer myself, I knew their frustrations and what things can make their workload easier. It’s these desires that led me to GroundTruth. I still like managing teams and talking to people to understand what their challenges are and to see where I can help. It’s an area that I continue to learn about.

Describe your job as an Engineer at GroundTruth. What projects do you and your team oversee?

I’m the Senior Director of Engineering and I oversee a team of front end, back end, and application engineers. We’re working on exciting technology here! For example, we have auto-mapping tool called Blueprints. We using image processing to automatically find out the polygon for a store or POI, which is how we’re able to serve geo-precise ads for the companies we work with. We also use machine learning to understand user visitation patterns so we can forecast in-store visitation to optimize bid price to improve our win rate. My team works on several of our user-facing applications, such as Ads Manager, which is one of the first self-serve platforms for location targeting to drive visits.

My whole team is passionate about the product. Late last year, two of my team members came to me and said that we needed to improve our front end code, and then let me know that they did it already. They are proactive! What more can you ask for in a team? Another direct report of mine, who was away on vacation in Europe, came back from his trip at 7:30 am in the morning to fix an issue on the platform. They all work hard 24/7. They care about the product! That’s how passionate we are. That’s a place you really want to work at.

They all work hard 24/7. They care about the product! That’s how passionate we are. That’s a place you really want to work at.

What excites you about location marketing?

I love the technical challenges around getting the location data and how to make sure our data is accurate. As an engineer, you want to look into complex problems and try to rebuild it.

What is it like to be a woman in engineering? Do you feel that your gender gives you a different perspective and experience from your male counterparts?

Being a woman in engineering is not as intimidating as some people may imagine. Diversity can energize a team! Traditionally, you think of engineering as boring. If you have different backgrounds, it makes things exciting. Right now, my team is 50-50 men and women, which creates a very dynamic team. And we have lots of fun! We participate in various events together whether it be playing badminton, going to the movies, or enjoying a hike. Diversity fosters positive thinking and a strong culture.

Do you have any closing advice for women interested in engineering or computer science?

Don’t be afraid! If you are interested in STEM, go for it.

The post Meet the #GTeam: An Interview with Senior Director of Engineering, Carol Chen appeared first on GroundTruth.

As we kick-off 2019, what are some of the goals for GroundTruth’s Product & Technology team that you’ll be focusing on?

One of the things that excited me most about GroundTruth is its unique position in location marketing and advertising. GroundTruth has built some powerful products in the last couple of years, such as our Discovery and Brand Insights platforms, which allow brands to analyze foot traffic patterns and trends. Ads Manager, our self-serve platform, is another great product as it’s the first of its kind to allow visitation-driven location and audience targeting. We’ve also created other products that are lesser known to the public, such as Location Manager, which allows advertisers to request polygon geometry (in-store, on-lot and on the retail block) around their store locations.

One of my immediate goals for 2019 is to integrate these products and offer them as part of a bigger platform that can be used by big agencies as well as the small to mid-sized market. This will require us to focus on scaling our infrastructure and building a formidable team that can continue to scale for the next couple of years.

In your opinion, what differentiates GroundTruth from other companies in the location advertising space?

We differentiate ourselves by offering location and audience targeting built from our mapping technology called Blueprints, which offer much better visitation quality than rudimentary radial-based geofences. We also allow buyers to set visits as a campaign objective and offer disruptive business models like Cost Per Visit (CPV). Over the last couple of years, we have also tweaked our platform to optimize media buys for the lowest effective Cost Per Visit.

How do you see Cost Per Visit evolving?

Cost Per Visit is a disruptive concept that allows brands to optimize their ads based on observed visits to their brick-and-mortar location. Since 90% of retail transactions still happen offline, we believe location is the strongest signal of intent. For example, a very famous fast food brand sees almost 100M consumers walking into their stores, but they only see 10M searches for their brand online. That said, we see almost 19M unique in-person visits for that brand. In cases like restaurant, retail, and shopper marketing, CPV is an effective performance model that can capture consumers’ intent based on their location signal and then use online media to influence their behavior. While we’ve seen a lot of success with CPV, we have barely scratched the surface. There’s a lot more we want to do here, and we have big plans in 2019.

AI, Machine Learning, Blockchain, and Voice Tech are big buzzwords in our industry right now. What’s your perspective on how these technologies will play into location?

We’re heavily invested in machine learning. Today we see millions of monthly users on our platform globally and have built a mapping technology that allows us to enrich the data we receive. This data forms the core for building various location and audience segmentation and allows us to move to more predictive modeling. Machine learning is central to the success of GroundTruth and we continue to hire the best available talent to solve the toughest problems in this space.

Machine learning is central to the success of GroundTruth and we continue to hire the best available talent to solve the toughest problems in this space.

We’re also watching blockchain very closely. It has the potential to disrupt the ecosystem in a manner similar to what real-time bidding did a couple of years ago. Centralized and democratized records of transactions can be extremely valuable for a supply chain that sells digital goods. Our industry is fraught with fraudulent traffic, discrepancies in numbers among various players of the supply chain, etc. Blockchain can help weed out the noise in the digital ad tech system.

Finally, voice tech is a powerful human to machine interface concept, and may one day overshadow search as the primary gateway for the Internet. Eventually, location advertising could work with voice-enabled applications as another way for providers to reach new or existing users.

In your opinion, what does the future of location marketing look like? What will be the next big thing in 5 years?

Location marketing has a huge potential to offer effective marketing solutions for brands and retailers. Many of the buyers in these segments are beginning to realize the potential of visitation-based performance. However, more work still needs to be done to mature this solution. For example, unlike Cost Per Click or other online standards of measurement, Cost Per Visit is more complex, since the time between delivering impressions and measuring visits as an action is longer. Again, We strongly believe in the potential of location marketing and as a result, we’re continuing to invest in all aspects of the platform to strengthen our geomarketing solutions.

What excites you the most about working at GroundTruth?

One of the most exciting things about GroundTruth are the people who work here. Each office has its own unique culture but we are united by common goals. We also are a very data-driven company and although we are aiming to build location as a category, our data-driven culture keeps us pragmatic. I enjoy interacting with company stakeholders and learning from their experience.

One of the most exciting things about GroundTruth are the people who work here. Each office has its own unique culture but we are united by common goals.

What separates the engineering team at GroundTruth from previous teams you have worked on?

At GroundTruth, we have a combination of senior members, who are strong stewards of GroundTruth’s vision, and newbies, who are fresh out of college and are willing to work hard to improve their skills. We also offer a wide variety of tech stacks for engineers to augment their skills – including mobile development, machine learning, big data engineering, full stack web application, and large-scale high-frequency low-latency transaction systems. Our proposition is to allow talent to come and work on any of these technologies from any of our engineering locations – Mountain View, New York, Vancouver, Germantown, Shanghai, New Delhi, and London. These dispersed locations help us attract and cultivate talent from various parts of the world. This creates an interesting challenge in building a cohesive culture while maintaining a unique identity at each of these offices.

Interested in joining our product & technology team? View open positions!

The post Q&A with GroundTruth’s Head of Engineering: The Future of Location and More appeared first on GroundTruth.

Most companies, like GroundTruth, probably grapple with this question. For us, we know that attracting and retaining top talent requires a comprehensive employment offering, including benefits that positively impact our team members’ lives. From an ROI perspective, when done well, benefits also pay for themselves. From hiring and retention to increased productivity, a good benefits program not only helps us acquire the right talent but keep existing employees happy.

Today, perks can vary from trendy to traditional. Daily catered lunches and fully stocked kitchens are great, and as with other tech companies, you’ll find this in our offices. But you’ll also find robust health coverage, including 100% covered premiums and a 401k employer match — and that’s something we’re especially proud of.

Working with us has its benefits

At a time when health care costs are on the rise, this kind of health coverage counts for a lot. Industry research shows that in 2019, American workers can expect higher premiums and higher deductibles; both increased this year to take a bigger bite of employees’ paychecks.

With the welfare and financial health of our employees in mind, GroundTruth pays 100% of employee medical, dental, and vision premiums. Not only do we provide all regular full-time employees with health coverage options at no additional premium cost, but we also pay 75% of the premium cost for your eligible dependents. Employees in New York and California also receive a free membership to a concierge-style primary care provider, One Medical.

We support our staff in this way for one simple reason: Employees are our most valuable asset. We want employees to be focused on creating value, not administrative things like filing insurance claims. These benefits allow us to remove some friction from their daily routine. Which allows us to create an environment where people feel free and comfortable to build and create, and not be stressed about things like paying medical bills.

Trendy and traditional: Striking a balance with our perks

Not all companies share this outlook, as Lindsay Pryor, our HR Generalist, pointed out to me. “The benefits at GroundTruth are more well-rounded than other companies where I’ve worked,” she says. “It’s amazing that we offer fully paid-for health insurance and all other perks like free lunches, tuition reimbursement, and a flexible vacation policy. At other companies you usually see the traditional benefits or the trendier ones, but not both.”

It’s amazing that we offer fully paid-for health insurance and all other perks like free lunches, tuition reimbursement, and a flexible vacation policy.

Since joining the company in 2011 as CFO, I’ve made it my mission to prioritize both. In my opinion, providing a comprehensive benefits plan increases loyalty and retention, while improving productivity. It also shows our employees and prospective candidates that we’re invested in their health — whether physical, emotional, or financial.

Another major advantage of this approach is that it allows us to support our employees throughout every stage of their lives. Game rooms and in-house baristas certainly have appeal, but there comes a time when maternity leave is much more important. We recently expanded from a 12-week to a 16-week maternity policy, and according to our Managing Director, Catherine Fanone, those extra four weeks can make a world of difference to a new mom. “In addition to more time with my daughter, I also felt supported by the leadership team. I was able to fully unplug and give my family my undivided attention during this special time,” Catherine says.

The bottom line? Benefits matter

Not only do these perks provide job candidates and existing employees with a clear career path, but they also deliver a better quality of life and create a mutually beneficial relationship between us and our future employees. Elina Greenstein, VP of Channel Partnerships, agrees. “They say you never know how good your company’s benefits coverage is until you need it,” she says, “and they’re right. After a successful and healthy delivery, we learned our then 6-week old son needed a minor yet emergency surgery. After a few days in the hospital and a week of recovery, our little boy was back to his old self and stronger than ever. Thanks to the benefits program at GroundTruth, my husband and I were able to focus all of our energy on our son’s recovery instead of worrying about paying the hospital bill.”

To keep everything running smoothly, we employ a Benefits Manager who evaluates what’s most important to our staff and informs our employees of our offerings, which include:

• Flexible Vacation Policy
• 401K match
• Catered Lunch and Snacks
• Employee Referral Program
• Gym Reimbursement
• Cell Phone Reimbursement
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Generous Paid Leave Policies

Throughout the years, we’ve tried to eliminate as much confusion and headache around benefits for our employees as possible. That’s because the perks we provide are essential to creating a thriving workplace, one in which our employees feel satisfied both inside and outside the office. At GroundTruth, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

The post How Providing Better Benefits Strengthens Our Team appeared first on GroundTruth.