Who: Simcha Snell, media supervisor, Genesis Media, Toronto

Claim to fame: Snell is one half of the team working on the Live Nation (formerly Clear Channel Entertainment) concert and theatre business. This fast-paced account gives them days rather than weeks of lead time to put together campaigns that are unique to each concert, directed to different audiences and planned around budgets that vary depending on the artist.

For instance, working with a limited budget, they promoted the Shakira concert through events and targeted media reaching Toronto’s Latin and club-hopping concertgoers. This included Shakira videos on TV screens near clubs spinning her songs; sponsorship of the outdoor festival Salsa on St. Clair; radio spots on Latin and other stations playing Shakira songs; and a pre-sale ticket offer for those watching the Latin Billboard Awards broadcast. As a result, 85% of the tickets sold early and nearly all of the 15,000 seats at the Air Canada Centre sold out before the concert date.

Background: Snell has a B.Sc. (H) in biology from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., and didn’t decide on a career in media until after graduating. Her first job was at Grey Advertising. Then she moved on to Echo Advertising on the Live Nation account, going to Genesis with the account 18 months ago, when Echo closed.

What industry belief do you think should be trashed? ‘People should be more concerned about targeting than what their cost per point is. We can buy radio on a cost-per-point basis and it could be horrible if it’s not on the right station, regardless of where it ranks in the market.’

Which media tactic is going to be the next big thing – and why? ‘Brands trying to interact with consumers, whether it’s consumer-generated content, MySpace or Facebook. You want them to seek you out, have a conversation with you and engage with something you offer them. People don’t want to be advertised to; they want to be in control.’