As head of Meta in Ireland and former chief executive of Vodafone Ireland, Anne O’Leary is a powerhouse in Irish business. Her career trajectory reflects the phenomenal changes that have taken place across the business landscape over the past three decades.
That’s because she started out in advertising in the Golden Pages. Hard to believe now but the hard copy business directory was once a staple of every household.
From there she segued into telecommunications, working with Denis O’Brien’s start up ESAT Telecom, before moving to BT and then Vodafone, before ultimately joining Meta, in 2022.
It’s a career path that combined her interest in both start-ups, and technology.
No stranger to disruption, she joined the telco sector at a time when mobile start-ups were taking on incumbents in the fixed line business. She oversaw the roll out 4G and 5G technologies, as well as the extension of fibre broadband into the home.
As chief executive of Vodafone, she undertook a big IT transformation to enable the company move to omnichannel sales, combining retail and digital. When the opportunity to join Meta arose two years ago, it was the prospect of working on artificial intelligence and digital advertising that excited her.
“I saw the growth opportunity. I could see us spending more money on digital advertising and how well that was going. Then this wonderful opportunity came up to be VP of Europe, Middle East and Africa at Meta, looking after large clients right across the region, and looking after their digital needs,” she explains.
That was in September 2022, and by the following May, O’Leary was appointed head of Meta in Ireland too, home to Meta’s International HQ, which is located in Ballsbridge. She is also responsible for Meta’s Data Centre in Clonee, Meath, and its Reality Labs in Cork.
Meta employs more than 2,000 people in Ireland, spanning 80 different teams and more than 110 nationalities.
In a world of tech bros, O’Leary spent years being the only woman in many rooms. That is changing, but she recognises her value as a role model for young women and girls even now.
“I’m very aware of my role, of my leadership shadow, and the platform I have, and to use it for good,” says O’Leary.
Whether it’s speaking in schools or being involved in the 30% Club, which campaigns to increase gender diversity at board and executive committee level, trying to inspire the next generation of women leaders is something she takes seriously.
Regardless of gender, for those starting their career in marketing and advertising, there are certain key skills she believes need fostering.
All change
That includes an ability to embrace change and ambiguity. Even in her current role, she is constantly learning, she points out. “Even with all the experience in the world you have to be open, every day, to the fact that the world is changing. Everything is moving at pace and to be successful you need to embrace learning and embrace change,” she says.
Resilience is vital too. “There are good and bad times and every business goes through cycles, whether they are growing or cutting back. You have to realise this is just a cycle and learn through it. I often say to my teams that there’s a lot of stuff going on in companies, and in the world, so what do we own? What can we control? And how can we drive success from that?” she explains.
Right now Meta is going through an up cycle, with a user base continuing to grow across all of the apps, Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp. Its Meta Advantage suite of ad products, powered by AI, is also growing. “All I see is growth and opportunity for the next 10 years,” she says.
The cycle from the desktop, to web, to phones has taken place. The next one will be the shift from mobile to the metaverse. “That’s really going to drive a whole new future for social technology”, she says.
Meta has 10 million advertisers on its platform and 200 million businesses.
Behind the scenes, AI-powered tools and automation have long been helping businesses run better campaigns to drive results on its platforms.
“In 2022, we consolidated all of our AI-powered ad automation tools under the Meta Advantage Suite. It helps advertisers run more efficient and better performing ad campaigns and can automate one part, or all, of an advertiser’s campaign,” she explains.
She points to one example, where Marks & Spencer tripled sales by using Meta’s Advantage+ Shopping Campaign tools, lowering costs and boosting return on investment. “If you want to grow your business, this is where you need to be,” she says.
AI will save marketing and advertising teams time. It will also enable agencies to shift focus to more impactful work like creative ideation, strategising and business insights, ultimately improving ad performance and driving down the cost of conversions, she suggests.
“In a survey of advertisers testing our GenAI ad features, half estimated that generative AI will save them five or more hours a week – the equivalent of one month per year,” she points out.
Love/hate
Coming from an agency background, Winterlich knows the sector has long had a “love/hate” relationship with Meta and Google, with long-standing fears of disintermediation.
Meta building tools enable businesses to self-serve their digital advertising needs. The challenge for agencies trying to service their own clients is to keep up to date on all the latest products emerging, including AI, suggests O’Leary.
“We have very good relationships with our agencies. We feel they are a key partner for us, and for our businesses to grow, because not all businesses have the time or energy to do it directly, or to build their own expertise,” she says.
Yet as a brand, Meta doesn’t itself much rely on traditional advertising. “With 3.2 billion users using Meta every day, I don’t know if you could put it on a poster everywhere, right? But every business uses different mediums at different times,” says O’Leary.
“Just like Vodafone, Meta also uses TV and radio and newspapers, depending on the campaign, or what message they’re getting across. But I think, from a Meta perspective, people will spend some part of their media budget on digital advertising because that’s where the audiences are.”
That goes for even the smallest of businesses.
“If, for example, I’m going to America tomorrow to sell necklaces, I probably can’t afford TV or outdoor, but with Meta Advantage Suite, I probably can find an audience, at a cost per conversion that I can figure out and afford.”
Ultimately advertisers are always going to advertise where they get a strong performance.
“Every euro spent on our ads drives, on average, €3.79 in revenues for advertisers. The return on investment that businesses get from advertising on our apps is the reason they continue to do so,” says O’Leary.
“Moreover, most businesses are looking at marketing efficiency for their spend and the data and measurement to show it – and we can do that.”
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