PulsePoint's Trader Hall of Fame: Alexandra Farber (Spring & Bond)

We are proud to partner with hardworking clients who are pushing the boundaries of programmatic and putting the right medications in front of HCPs and patients at the right time. PulsePoint established the Trader Hall of Fame to highlight their efforts and give others a closer look at the individuals shaping this quickly evolving industry. This month’s inductee in the Trader Hall of Fame is Alexandra Farber, Head of Client Services at Spring & Bond.

Alexandra’s Path to Programmatic Health

Many people working in programmatic found themselves there unexpectedly or by chance—but Alexandra had a particularly circuitous route. After graduating from the University of Arizona with a degree in retail and consumer sciences, she moved to Chicago and then to New York to work in fashion design. She left fashion after a few years and fell into investment management real estate, which is where she got her first brush with marketing and media.

A few more years passed and she left to go into retail PR, getting back to her fashion roots while becoming familiar with fintech and B2B marketing. Not long after, she connected with a friend (Elizabeth Beringer, a former PulsePointer) about a programmatic position at a new company she was starting: Spring & Bond.

Alexandra at Spring & Bond

Alexandra was the first hire at Spring & Bond, but the team has since grown in leaps and bounds. “In less than three full years we are kicking butt and taking names in terms of our growth,” she said.

She said working with Elizabeth has been a highlight of the job. “I've had the luxury of being able to learn from someone who knows ad tech so intimately,” Alexandra said. “Her mentorship has been absolutely paramount for my career, and she’s been such a strong, kind, and knowledgeable leader.”

When setting up new campaigns for clients, Alexandra enjoys being able to fall back on her past retail and PR experience. “It allows me to approach purchasing digital media through a very well-rounded lens,” she said. “I definitely try to say, ‘Hey, well I know this kind of worked in PR. How would it work in digital media for this client? How can we translate this idea into something actionable through paid media?’”

A self-professed project manager type, Alexandra said, “I really love working with our clients and figuring out the secret sauce for that client … There’s no magic bullet that’s gonna be the one-size-fits-all campaign that will run and be great for every client.”

She added, “Understanding what those KPIs are and how I can best strategically leverage programmatic tools and tactics to efficiently and effectively meet those needs is actually one of my favorite parts of the job.”

Alexandra’s Words of Wisdom

For new programmatic professionals, Alexandra recommends, first and foremost, “Taking a moment to familiarize yourself with the platform that you’re working in.”

“PulsePoint was new to me not that long ago. I found that poking around, understanding what the capabilities were, what levers I had at my disposal, and how I could adjust targeting and settings was the first step to figuring out a strategy for how to implement media for each client,” she said.

Secondly, she stressed the importance of not being afraid to ask your team for help. “Sometimes you have to know what you need and how to get there,” she said while praising the collaborative nature of her team at Spring & Bond.

Her third tip was to focus on quality control. “QA is my favorite two-letter acronym,” she said. “Quality checks are just so, so important … not having enough eyes on something can definitely lead to some very easy mistakes.”

But she said her best advice, both personal and professional, is just to believe in yourself. “Regardless of what you’re doing or where you are, believe in yourself and the purpose that you have because, without that, nothing else can happen,” she said. “That’s your first step toward bringing something into reality.”

Alexandra & PulsePoint

Alexandra gave a special shoutout to the “excellent tag team” of Casey and Zach, her main contacts at PulsePoint. “They understand who we are and what we need,” she said. 

She said that as a startup, Spring & Bond has to be flexible and able to face any new problems that pop up at a moment’s notice—a unique challenge for their PulsePoint support team. “We’re always moving, we’re always driving new initiatives and campaigns, and we’re not afraid to ask questions,” she said. “So the amount of support that Casey and Zach have been able to give us has been something very special.”

Alexandra also said that they’ve been able to build campaigns themselves, staying ahead of new features in the platform—such as the new dashboards and roll-up tables—thanks to Casey and Zach’s help. 

And while many of PulsePoint’s Trader Hall of Fame inductees have mentioned the platform’s dancing cow, Alexandra might be its biggest fan. “I love the dancing cow,” she said. “I love the five new dancing positions. I love it all. The cow has been a staple of my existence.”

Alexandra Outside of the Office

Before joining Spring & Bond, Alexandra took a short break from her retail PR work to learn Pure Barre and become an instructor. Since then, she said teaching the boutique exercise has become one of her favorite hobbies. “It’s definitely a place where I can go and work out with people that I enjoy,” she said. “And I really have a great community of friends that I’ve built here through it.”

And when she’s not working or exercising, she likes to spend her time knitting—a throwback to her days working in fashion design. “I still knit from time to time. Not as frequently as I’d like, but that’s just because we're a little busy these days.”