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Lara Rice
Research Manager, Global Distribution, EMEA at BBC Studios
Professional Background
Lara Rice is an accomplished broadcast, television, and media researcher with a rich background in both quantitative and qualitative project management. With extensive experience in strategic planning and a deep understanding of audience and consumer behavior, Lara excels in ethnography, segmentation, and tracking methodologies. Her specialized research expertise covers dynamic regions such as Africa, the Middle East, and Turkey, where her insights have significantly impacted media strategies.
Throughout her career, Lara has held several pivotal roles in the media landscape, particularly with the BBC. As the current Research Manager for Global Distribution in the EMEA region at BBC Studios, she plays a vital role in driving data-informed decisions that enhance the content distribution strategy across diverse markets. Lara's prior position as Research Manager for Global Markets in CEMA at BBC Studios allowed her to expand her influence in audience analytics and market research, establishing her as a trusted expert in understanding complex media landscapes.
Her dedication to audience insights is further highlighted through her tenure at BBC Worldwide, where Lara advanced from an Analyst to a Senior Analyst in the Audiences department. Here, she honed her analytical skills, contributing to groundbreaking audience intelligence that informed programming and marketing efforts. Lara's experience also includes positions as a Freelance Researcher with Thomson Reuters, where she provided critical research insights that shaped media narratives.
Her earlier career in research saw her hold various positions at NATIONAL MAGAZINE COMPANY LIMITED and M-Net, where she developed her foundational skills in research analytics, audience behavior understanding, and video editing. Each of these roles helped Lara cultivate her robust skill set that she applies in her present-day research endeavors.
Education and Achievements
Lara Rice earned her BA (Hons) degree in Dramatic Arts with a focus on Directing and Film & Television from the esteemed University of the Witwatersrand. This foundation in the arts significantly influences her current research by providing her with an artistic perspective on audience engagement and media production. Her academic background complements her professional skills, enabling her to bridge the gap between creative content and audience analytics effectively.
Among her notable achievements, Lara's work has played a crucial role in aiding media organizations to adapt their strategies in response to changing consumer behavior, particularly in regions still developing in digital consumption. This includes her instrumental input at BBC Studios which has led to innovative audience engagement strategies tailored to various demographics across Africa, the Middle East, and Turkey.
Achievements
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Leadership in Research Management: As a Research Manager at BBC Studios, Lara has continually demonstrated her capacity to lead strategic initiatives that align with the company's objectives and audience demands. This leadership is evidenced by successful projects she has overseen that introduced key insights into viewer preferences and trends.
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Expertise in Diverse Regions: Lara's focus on the African, Middle Eastern, and Turkish markets brings invaluable insights to global media assessments, making her a key asset as organizations seek to navigate these evolving landscapes.
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Impactful Ethnographic Studies: Utilizing her expertise in ethnography, Lara has conducted in-depth studies that illuminate the various cultural contexts of viewership, allowing media companies to develop localized content that resonates more deeply with audiences.
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Propelling Audience Engagement: Her contributions have significantly increased audience engagement metrics, translating data insights into action plans that help inform content strategy and marketing decisions.
Conclusion
Lara Rice is a highly skilled broadcast and media researcher with a permanent footprint in the evolving landscape of global media research. Her extensive experience at prominent organizations like the BBC has empowered her to develop into a strategic thinker with a profound understanding of audience behavior across various regions. With her qualifications and hands-on experience, Lara continues to innovate in her field, harnessing her skills to shape research practices that lead to enhanced audience engagement and content strategy effectiveness.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.