About us
Illuma was founded in London in 2016 by a team of data scientists and media experts who wanted to develop better ad targeting, which delivers real-world results.
What we do
Illuma is AI-powered contextual ad targeting that works without relying on cookies or identifiers. Illuma is guided instead by insights from live audience browsing behaviour, expanding in real time to find relevant new audiences at scale. Find out more in the video below.
Targeting the unpredictable
We know the content a person is viewing the moment an ad is served can influence their mindset. In turn, this effects how likely they are to be open to campaign messaging. Yet traditional approaches to online ad targeting are based on static assumptions about audience and contextual relevance, set before a campaign starts. They can often miss these live, unpredictable contextual moments.
Keeping up with these fleeting shifts in audience mindset – and acting on them in real time – has simply never been possible. Until now.
The Illuma difference
Illuma is contextual technology powered by live user behaviour. If one type of content is working well for a campaign, we immediately expand into similar quality content, in real time. In this way, we find relevant new users, at scale, when they are most likely to be open to brand messaging.
For advertisers, this means the best of contextual targeting with the best of behavioural. It means no cookies or identifiers, no guesswork and no inaccurate predictions based on past data or keywords. Instead, Illuma provides live optimisation and better results, at scale.
Meet the team
The Illuma team is made up of smart, curious people who are passionate about shaping the future of privacy-friendly advertising.
Sonia Pham
Product
Sonia has outstanding industry knowledge on both buy and sell sides; she leads product development, business analysis and Illuma operations from London.
Dr Yu Liu
Technology
Yu is a machine learning and data scientist supremo and holds a PhD from Imperial College, London. He specialises in applying data engineering to advertising.
Maitane Torca
Client Success
Mai leads global client success from Illuma HQ in London. She is a contextual expert and helped launched Europe’s first contextual ad network in 2008.
Rayhaan Al-Marzuq
Technology
Rayhaan has a Masters in Engineering
from Queen Mary University and
specialises in front end development. He works on Illuma’s tools and platforms.
Kevin McElroy
Business Development
Kevin leads Illuma operations in the US from his base in New York. He’s the former SVP of Grapeshot and is a specialist in contextual advertising solutions.
Malik Ogungbo
Client Success
Malik looks after UK and EMEA accounts, working with clients at brands and agencies to run their campaigns and provide ongoing strategic support.
Rong Gu
Platforms
Rong has an MSc in Advance Computing Science from the University of St Andrews. He looks after data processing, product development and platform integrations.
Peter Mason
Product
Peter is a media specialist who has spent his career advancing contextual solutions which benefit publishers and brands. He co-founded Illuma with the data science team in 2015.
Prabdit Suri
Technology
Prabdit has an MSc from Imperial College, London. He works with the technology and client success teams providing data analysis and insights.
Javier Mazon Echevarria
Technology
Javier is one of Illuma’s data analysts. He specialises in statistics, data science and economics and has an MSc in Statistics from the London School of Economics.
Allison Hartnett
Client Success
Allison offers strategic support to US clients, working closely with them to set up campaigns, leverage tools and share best practice. She has a wealth of experience, both buy and sell-side.
Alby Skrelji
Business Development
Alby offers strategic development to Illuma clients in the US. As former Programmatic Lead at Pernod Ricard, he brings a strong understanding of brand and agency needs.
Nigel Ponder
Global Partnerships
Nigel is a retail media expert and former founder of Triad Retail Media, Europe. Nigel supports retailers and other first-party data owners with real-time audience modelling.
David Evans
Business Development
David leads agency and brand relationships across EMEA from London. He is highly experienced in adtech solutions, and in supporting client business growth.