ŠPELA MAKOVŠEK

Key Achievements:

• Revenue Growth: Achieved 28% year-over-year revenue growth.
• Email & CRM Channel Expansion: Recruited a team, which drove 120% revenue growth in the email marketing channel YOY and established CRM programme.

Core Responsibilities:

• Selected partners to conduct audits of paid media channels, spearheaded audience sizing, media strategy, and optimisations of Meta and Google accounts. Defined overarching e-commerce growth measurement plan, KPIs, and objectives for all channels, and audited reporting and attribution tools to establish single source of truth for reporting.
• Defined and implemented comprehensive growth strategies combining paid and organic channels.
• Defined commercial and content calendar, ensuring consistent and strategic content production.
• Organized and prioritized marketing and eCommerce activities to improve processes.
• Coordinated with teams to execute marketing campaigns, optimize website (Shopify Plus), and manage agency relationships.
• Conducted data analysis and user testing to understand user behavior and market trends, driving user acquisition, retention, and engagement. Lead focus groups to define key brand pillars and USPs
• Managed Creative, Marketing, and Web Dev & Administration teams, ensuring alignment with Customer Service, New Product Development and Production teams.

Key Achievements:

• Successfully pitched projects exceeding €1 million during tenure .
• Established new business lines & partnerships (Umbraco, Klaviyo, Adobe, Storyblok).
• Decreased OPEX (-19% YTD) by discontinuing unprofitable services, by optimizing processes and by establishing new near-sourcing. Result: increased EBITDA by more than 100% (Y2020).
• Increased revenues by 14% (2021)

Core Responsibilities

• Team Management: Led a team of 30+ digital experts, including web developers, UX/UI designers, digital analytics consultants, and more.
• Strategic Planning: Set business strategy priorities for 6-12 months, analyzing market conditions and auditing internal resources.
• Operations Management: Defined project management processes for effective resource planning and streamlined workflows to enhance performance.
• Optimization: Reorganized teams to prevent churn, optimized headcount, and discontinued non-ROI R&D investments.
• Client Relationships: Built and maintained strong client relationships, ensuring satisfaction and repeat business.
• Financial Oversight: Managed agency's financial performance, including budgeting, forecasting, and reporting.

• Managed process of defining key media audiences and key campaign messages for new Renault models, based on insights, derived from 1st, 2nd & 3rd party data (data management platforms, market research, digital analytics, social media listening etc.).
• Initiated & lead agile always-on content planning & production (SEO, social media, On-site content, YouTube content).
• Consulted on CRM/emailing to Renault EU markets.

• Spearheaded global digital transformation of Procter & Gamble's largest digital asset - CRM program (20+ markets).
• Managed conception of industry leading CRM strategy, rooted in data insights, delivering best in class AI driven personalization and recommendation tool (based on purchase propensity scores).
• Led multi-functional, multi-sites project team (20+ subordinates and dotted lines globally).
• Acted as agency counterpart of client's core strategic and project's expansion team (global commercial program's leadership, global IT & project management leadership), owning product strategy, defining measures of success, orchestrating end-to-end system integration (+20 API-s), executing beta launch, assigning resources and investments, and leading project's mass expansion.

• Conducted competitive benchmarking, creating forecasting and financial models to size current and future UK and MENA markets.
• Devised growth and expansion recommendations for these markets & presented recommendations to senior management. Company expanded its operations based on my recommendations.

• Acquired an array of prominent clients such as Microsoft, VMWare, Danone, Sandoz/Novartis.
• Led pitches, account management & client servicing operations of agency's flagship client from telecoms sector .
• Increased accounts profitability by 30%.
• Spearheaded cross-functional projects, with teams consisting of digital & strategic planners, account managers, event planners, media planners, content marketing managers, management consultants, production managers and creative resources to create and deliver integrated and omni-channel marketing campaigns.
• Performed rigorous market study and co-developed marketing strategy for no-thrills telecommunications offer, resulting in 9 p.p. market share and 12 p.p. brand position surge.
• Co-created and led 6-months repositioning advertising campaign for leading telecommunications provider, achieving 12% increase in sales, 3-fold higher brand preference and 68% higher social media engagement levels
• Gained numerous industry awards (Effie, Gold Quill, Sempl, Sof etc). References upon request.

• Worked with product management team to develop product proposition, market positioning, go-to-market (GTM) strategies and marketing campaigns for new products (Vodafone Live, Mobile Internet, Pre-paid segment).
• Executed campaigns with internal & partnering agencies.
• Lead campaign & brand management of a youth segment proposition, spinning it off into independent brand. Achieved 37% increase in brand preference & 25% increase in customer acquisition.
• Gained numerous industry awards (Effie, Sof, Sempl etc). References upon request.

Developed partnership strategy, linking with brands and events focused on 18-30 age group. Co-created and managed series of music events for Marlboro Light. Music event series was expanded to SE Europe region.

Increased brand awareness of telecom start-up with innovative, low-spend marketing campaigns using digital, flash marketing events and face-to-face promotions. Market share increased by 55%.