Rafiq Phillips

My journey in the digital world started with a simple, personal frustration: seeing compelling ideas and projects, including my own early venture, improving driver education through technology, struggle to capture attention amidst the growing online noise. This initial drive to understand how digital presence works led me to explore the fundamentals of web accessibility and Google search. Back in 2007, this early work earned me recognition as a TED Fellow, a program that changed my life and validated my belief in the potential of the web for communication and influence. Through platforms like my personal blog and early talks, including my WordCamp presentation on SEO, I focused on the evolving relationship between users, content, and search engines. I realised that the real challenge wasn't just getting online, but consistently ensuring that valuable messages cut through the clutter and resonated with people. This felt like a persistent 'broken promise' of the digital age. This core insight naturally drew me towards digital advertising technology, where the battle for attention is most acute. Seeing the disconnect between ad spend and genuine engagement, I co-founded Nat1ve Adtech. As CTO, I lead the development of Adtech specifically engineered to solve this challenge. We build technology focused entirely on capturing and measuring true human attention. I'm proud that our platform has independently demonstrated the highest attention recall compared to industry standards, proving that it's possible to turn digital complexity into tangible impact. Being a TED Fellow is an incredible honour that validates this mission. It reinforces my commitment to sharing insights on how technology, design, and strategic communication must work together. My passion lies in empowering people and organisations to navigate the digital landscape effectively, ensuring their important ideas are not just seen, but remembered. From helping early bloggers make their mark to leading innovation in the Adtech space, my focus remains on building the tools and strategies needed to connect and make a lasting impact in our rapidly evolving digital wwworld 👐