Turner's Nick Johnson on Digital's Intimate Relationship Between the Brand and the Consumer

Years ago when Nick Johnson, Senior Vice President of Digital Ad Sales Strategy for Turner Ad Sales, launched into a career in advertising right out of college, he soon came to the conclusion that "media was not the right place for me."  His lack of enthusiasm for agency buying led to a complete change in lifestyle -- a return to Asia where he spent his formative years.  Leaving the agency in the early 1990s and moving to Japan, he joined a joint venture between Grey Advertising and Daiko.  "That in itself was fun, but what became my career epiphany ultimately was the launch of Netscape," Johnson recalls, noting that it allowed him a greater choice of English language content in real time in Japan.  "I didn't know what that would become, but I knew that I wanted to get involved in digital," he says.  The rest is history: He was hired as one of the first digital account executives at CNN almost 20 years ago.