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Growth Labs: The Science Behind Our Strategy

Science of experimentation that fuels the art of media innovation.

A Future-Focused Strategy and Holistic Approach to Media and Measurement.

Growth Labs is 3Q/DEPT’s internal research and development powerhouse, and leads our clients into the next generation of digital marketing. They are exclusively dedicated to promoting innovative practices, providing ongoing education and knowledge sharing for our internal teams, and methodically experimenting and testing.

Growth Labs shapes our holistic strategy and fosters a culture of collaboration to ensure our clients receive the maximum return on their digital media investments and become industry leaders.

Meet the Growth Labs Team

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Joe Kerschbaum

SVP, Search & Growth Labs

An alumnus of Indiana University at Bloomington, Joseph joined 3Q/DEPT in April of 2013. Although he’s been working on SEM campaigns for more than 10 years and has experience with hundreds of clients in almost every vertical imaginable, Joseph loves that he learns something new in this industry every day. Joseph is a regular contributor to Search Engine Watch, Hero Conf, and the SMX series. What’s more, he’s the coauthor of the Sybex book, Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing: An Hour a Day, and he’s also a published poet and spoken word artist.

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Sam Huston

CSO

Sam joined 3Q/DEPT in July 2020 as chief strategy officer after holding the same position at iProspect since 2014. At iProspect, he was instrumental in building strategy to shape the agency through the development of new service lines and acquisition targets. Sam has deep experience across media, creative, and entertainment, working with clients across a number of verticals including technology, retail, hospitality, and CPG. Sam has the unique ability to predict consumer and digital trends, and he believes the key to the future is in the strategic amplification of holistic digital performance marketing. Sam earned a bachelor of arts in English language and literature from Colorado State University. He lives in Denver and enjoys spending time with his family outdoors.

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Lyndsey Garza

VP, Programmatic Strategy & Solutions

Lyndsey joined 3Q/DEPT in January 2023 and focuses on best-in-class programmatic strategy, operations, and innovation. Before 3Q/DEPT, she led global programmatic strategy across B2B and B2C, with SMB, growth, and enterprise clients like Capital One, Amazon Web Services, and Wayfair, managing over $1B in media cumulatively. She’s passionate about consulting clients to ensure their media investment is hyper-tailored, brand safe/suitable, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable. Lyndsey earned a dual bachelor’s in Strategic Communication (Advertising) and Psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Outside of work, Lyndsey loves kayaking and international travel.

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Chris Brook

VP, GMP

Chris joined 3Q/DEPT in December 2022 and oversees partnerships, sales, and strategic consulting services for our clients’ Google Marketing Platform initiatives. Prior to 3Q/DEPT, he was an original employee of MightyHive (now Media.Monks/S4 Capital), where he opened the NYC office and led strategy across data & digital media, creative, content, and technology for clients like LG, Goldman Sachs Bank, TIAA, Caesars Entertainment, and Nationwide Insurance. Chris lives with his wife and bulldog in Southern Vermont behind a defunct ski resort and he is passionate about back-country splitboarding, adaptive sports, road biking, gardening, and cooking.

Proactive, Holistic Media Strategy Within an Evolving Digital Media Ecosystem.

The status quo is never enough for our clients. They’re always looking for new strategies, new ideas, and new advantages over the competition – and that’s why they come to us.

Our experts collaborate across numerous channels to bring a unified approach to media buying and optimization. Clients benefit from having senior expert resources dedicated to creating innovative strategies for their campaigns.

Growth Labs cross-pollinates across channels to bring new, creative thinking to media. We develop audience strategies, creative best practices, and durable measurement solutions that support all clients, whatever their needs may be.

Constant Experimentation, Collaboration, and Knowledge-Sharing.

Our Growth Labs experts are intensely focused on innovation and pushing the limits of what’s possible.

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We work tirelessly to ensure our teams are always up to date on the latest best practices within the industry. By nurturing a culture of curiosity, we experiment and test until we know for certain we’ve got the perfect solution for every client’s unique situation.

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We share all new learnings across the agency so every client can receive benefits of the research, even if it’s not tied to their specific account or campaigns.

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We stay on the cutting edge of the digital marketing industry, constantly identifying emerging media expansion opportunities and uncovering new ways to innovate across all channels.

Deep Industry Partnerships and Preferred Access.

Over the years, we’ve worked hard to cultivate long-standing, trusted partnerships with major industry players – and we’re constantly adding to that list. Because of this, we are able to give our clients a competitive advantage and ensure they’re always ahead of the game. We receive earlier access to important new betas and products, enabling our teams to proactively adapt to changes and optimize client campaigns and projects in time for the official launch.

Additionally, our partnerships and connections help us tap into thought leaders and experts at these companies, positioning our teams to take full advantage of the best tools and technologies available in the digital marketing industry.

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Advancing the Next Generation of Search.

Search engine marketing is a critical channel that brands need to take advantage of to attract and convert consumers across the entire marketing funnel. Recognizing this, we’ve designed a brand new SEM methodology to help us harness the power of automation and data, better integrate audiences, and optimize campaign performance.

1 S Wacker Drive
Suite 2250

Chicago, IL 60606(650) 539-4124

(PART OF DEPT®)

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