Rob Leathern

Rob Leathern

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Rob founded Optimal in early 2008. Recognized as an expert in the field of online advertising and e-commerce, Rob has built scalable technology-based media businesses and advised Fortune 500 companies and startup firms alike on their online revenue-generating strategies. Rob was previously chief operating officer for Consorte Media, an online advertising company focused on the Hispanic market. Before that, Rob was vice president of business development for Root Markets and general manager of advertising at LinkedIn. Before LinkedIn, Rob was at NexTag where he built up NexTag’s display advertising lead generation and media business, propelling the firm to a position as a top 5 US online advertiser according to Nielsen//NetRatings. He led the creation of the firm’s advertising server systems, yield management, media buying and creative creation tools, which enabled an unprecedented automation of media buying and management. Rob began his professional career as an investment banking analyst in New York with ING Barings/Furman Selz, and then in 1999 joined Jupiter Communications as an e-commerce research analyst. Rob left Jupiter in 2003 and joined Nielsen//NetRatings as the company’s director of commerce analytics, where he delivered custom analysis and led strategic engagements for Nielsen’s financial services, retail and Internet clients. Rob holds an AB degree in computer science and economics from Dartmouth College, and received the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst®) designation in 2003.

Blog Entries by Rob Leathern

Why Platform Apps like Pinterest, Socialcam and Viddy Will Help Facebook Grab More Ad Dollars

(1) Comments | Posted May 17, 2012 | 5:25 PM

Risk Factors for Funding the Next Social App Gold Rush


Pinterest is an amazing viral growth story, having grown to more than 18.7 million monthly U.S. visitors in March 2012 according to comScore. We're already seeing other crazy growth numbers from cross desktop/mobile apps like Viddy...

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Just-in-Time Advertising: Why Immediacy Wins

(3) Comments | Posted January 5, 2012 | 10:18 AM

Just-in-time manufacturing has earned companies billions of incremental dollars of profit. Driven by now-CEO Tim Cook shutting down its own manufacturing and outsourcing to more agile suppliers, Apple reduced its inventory on hand from 90 days to five days over several years by switching to "just-in-time"...

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800MM and Counting... Where's Your Brand?

(0) Comments | Posted October 7, 2011 | 1:34 PM

Let's say you're a brand manager or a newly-minted social media director of a mid-to large-sized brand. You sit down one day to look at your Facebook presence. Or more importantly, to start analyzing your engagement levels across social media. Chances are, you're going to fit into one of these...

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