• by Tyler Loechner  @mp_tyler, January 27, 2014

AudienceScience, a digital ad technology company that works directly with brands, on Monday announced the appointment of Natalie Mazer as vice president of strategy and product development -- a new position at the company. She will be based in New York City.

Mazer has over 10 years of data analysis and digital advertising experience. She has held senior roles at MediaMath and American Express and was most recently vice president of product management at Videology.

Mazer spoke with RTM Daily and said she realized her desire to be involved in the ad technology space while at American Express. Shortly after, the MediaMath position materialized, and she jumped at the opportunity.

She said it was there that she truly “discovered [her] passion for the space. It’s so interesting; there’s so much technology and so much data. The struggle is not so much the lack of data, it’s that we need to be very efficient and actually do something with the data. The challenge is making sense of it and applying it.”

Mazer relishes that challenge and will be dealing with data in her new role. She calls the AudienceScience platform “an advertiser’s in-house alternative to a trading desk,” as it has a data management platform (DMP) and allows advertisers to buy media via real-time bidding (RTB).

While advertisers working directly with technology platforms appears to be a trend, Mazer believes there is still room for agencies.

“Agencies are our partners,” she says. “Our ultimate client is the advertiser, but agencies are in the same room with us and the advertisers when planning. They are there to provide the consultation -- the planning, advice, market research, creative, etc. There is so much value there. What we are providing is a technology that aims to simplify the space.”

Although Mazer acknowledges the importance of agencies, she believes advertisers will use AudienceScience to build in-house solutions, with her team's help. She maintains that advertisers are looking for “transparency and control” above all else, bringing more of the media-buying process in-house gives them both.

Mazer is banking on this trend continuing. “I would not have left my old job unless I thought that this was game-changing,” she remarked.