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When Dalton Dorné joined performance marketing agency Tinuiti as CMO in 2018, she brought four companies – Elite SEM and its freshly acquired agencies CPC Strategy, Email Aptitude and OrionCKB – together under a single brand name by 2019.
Dorné had three previous rebrands under her belt. But creating a completely new company name proved eye-opening.
“I learned there were over 8 billion trademarks in our area alone,” Dorné said. (Most existing words were already trademarked.) “Tinuiti” draws inspiration from continuity, ingenuity and acuity – like the continuation of an in-house team.
Tinuiti is preparing for an updated repositioning later this year in light of its rapid growth and acquisitions of Ampush, Bliss Point Media and The Ortega Group. The agency has “outgrown” its positioning of accelerating brand performance across Google, Facebook and Amazon, according to Dorné.
“The way our business and offering has evolved, the way we’re talking about signal loss and measurement and the types of problems we’re solving for clients these days are much more than those three platforms,” she said.
Dorné, a 2022 Top Women honoree in the Change-Makers category, spoke with AdExchanger.
AdExchanger: What did you learn from beginning your career in Asia?
DALTON DORNÉ: I spent the first half of my career in Asia. I was in Beijing for 10 years, Singapore for two years, in New York in global roles. Being able to work with different cultures, different languages and adapt and connect with people is important at any level of an organization. That was valuable for me early in my career and made me the type of leader I am.
The pace of change in Asia, and particularly in China, at that time was warp speed, and so I was used to moving very fast and things getting done very fast. I was used to very senior women in all positions of the business, and I had a lot of good role models.
Did you experience reverse culture shock upon returning to the US?
When I came back to the US 12 years later, I felt like we were moving very slow. The other thing I noticed when I came back is there weren’t as many women in leadership positions as I was used to seeing in China. I got very involved in women and leadership initiatives because we have so much work to do here.
I also learned I needed to work for a digital agency because that was the side of business in the US that was innovating and moving at the pace I was used to in Asia. It transitioned me from more of an advertising background into the digital and performance marketing world.
Did you ever have to translate, culturally or linguistically, while living abroad?
I do speak Chinese, and, a lot of times, I think the reason I ended up becoming a CMO is because all these global CMOs were coming to Beijing.
I had no business as a 25-year-old spending time with global CMOs. But because I spoke the language and because I was there, I was able to be a bridge for these executives when they were having meetings in Beijing. I had a lot of exposure to really senior executives at a young age. It showed me that’s what I wanted to be when I grew up.
What are your secrets to being productive at work?
I’m very thoughtful about blocking time on my calendar in advance if I need to work on something because I need 30 minutes to get my brain into it and then an hour to work on the thing.
I like to work on the weekends. I love the quiet and not being interrupted by a Slack message, an email or a meeting.
Sometimes I need to trick myself into doing things. I started out as a journalist; I worked for CCTV, and so I used to do a lot of writing and editing. My favorite thing is to write. If I do a little personal writing project for 20-30 minutes, then I’m in the zone, and I can do any project.
If I carve out four to eight hours to work on a weekend, I have the ability to say, “I’m going to start at 10:30 on that [week]day because I’m going to play a tennis match on a Tuesday morning,” or “I’m playing a Tuesday night match, so I want to leave work at 4 that day.” There’s a give-and-take flexibility in the week. It gets rid of the Sunday scaries a little bit, too.
Who supports your success at work and outside it?
I have had mentors in positions of power in organizations that I worked in who were able to flip from being mentors to being advocates. If you’re having roadblocks in your career, you’re not getting included in meetings or you’re not getting a seat at the table, have those people in those positions that you can ask to open those doors for you.
At home, it’s having the right kind of partner. I have kids [a daughter, 15, and a son, eight]. Having that support system at home enables you to do the things at work you want to do. Our nanny’s also been with us since our first daughter was born. I can go on a business trip and not be filled with anxiety.
That ability to not worry frees up so much mental space. If you’re still in charge of what’s going on when you’re not there, you’re not getting that mental time back to focus on where you are. It’s important to have that true hand-off. And when I am home, I want to be fully present.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
