Advertising News South Africa

#Newsmaker: Glen Bo joins Conversion Science

Glen Bo recently joined Conversion Science as head of Performance & Strategy. He has experience in the data-implementation and -strategy fields, and has worked with agencies such as Quirk, Neo@Ogilvy, M&CSaatchi and LKDA Strategic Creative.
Glen Botha
Glen Botha

Here, Bo tells us that he plans to keep the momentum in terms of excellent work, be a part of the agency’s culture evolution and exceed all expectations…

BizcommunityHow do you feel about your appointment?

Having cut my teeth in large agencies and with startups, I found myself building foundations, fixing or performing emergency surgery on ‘digital’ for agency clients, in many cases. I'm elated to be surrounded by best-in-breed in performance campaign managers who built their foundations already. So, I can do what I'm here to do, drive everything forward.
The culture is also somewhat un-agency as Ariel Sumeruk (MD) not only trained for Google but is a Bookmarks judge, has a masters in applied Mathematics and a PhD in Physics – so the team that has been built are sharper than ninjas on 24 cappuccinos. The conversations are not boring.
BizcommunityWhat do you love most about your career and the data-implementation and -strategy fields in particular?

I've worked on some of SA's and Africa's largest brands in banking, automotive, FMCG and entertainment, so I've learnt a lot from the people in those businesses, to understand how they tick and what they need. I love how what we do solves business problems. It actually makes a difference to their bottom line and grows revenue. I love how the numbers prove a strong strategy is working.

What I learnt in the dark arts in online casinos and recently, working with talented UX/UI folks, is that data is also creative.

There's art in the maths. My advice to any CD is to get closer to your quants; data scientists and campaign managers – they have insights for you.

BizcommunityTell us a bit about your experience / what you bring to the agency / what you hope to achieve at the agency in your new position.
My experience is on LinkedIn, feel free to engage! :) It's evolved from starting as a copywriter, running my own startups, winning, failing, learning and listening. What I will bring to Conversion Science is what I said to the team at our first Friday social session, when I took them through some past work in my agency career ,as well what I learnt from standing on stages around the world telling funny stories to rooms full of stages: Get straight to the point and DBK. (Don't be kak.)

In terms of plans for Conversion Science and moving to Cape Town is keep the momentum in terms of excellent work, be a part of the culture evolution here and exceed all expectations.

BizcommunityAny career highlights you’re particularly proud of?
I'm proud of working at Quirk before they were evolved. I'm also proud of surviving Jozi traffic to Ogilvy. Launching a few startups, which made a difference and grew industries, specifically entertainment, as well as not listening to bad management in previous lives, about ‘conforming’.

BizcommunityWhat are you most looking forward to working on?
Conversion Science has excellent e-commerce clients in retail; which is always fun, the Graduate School of Business, Cape Town working on their BI, data and feeding their excellent team insights; and definitely working on SA's largest online property, careers and automotive sites, which are all clients.

BizcommunityWhat’s at the top of your to-do list (at work)?
Diving into all the search accounts, absorbing data from analytics for each brand, doing my audits on their platforms, competitors and finding the gaps to drive towards.

BizcommunityWhat are you currently reading/watching/listening to for work?
I listen to Gary Vee often, love LinkedIn for its content and checking out what cool South African digital unicorns like Mike Stopforth (Cerebra), Mike Sharman (Retroviral), Simon Lloyd (Algorithm), Marius Greef (LinkedIn) and Mia Scholtz (Neo@Ogilvy) are doing, saying and sharing. And they’re all witty as hell.

BizcommunityTell us something about yourself not generally known?
That I work in data and strategy in advertising and performance, because I tend to be known as a stand-up comedian.

Oh, and I box. I love it. Check out the next white-collar event later this year!

About Jessica Tennant

Jess is Senior Editor: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com. She is also a contributing writer. moc.ytinummoczib@swengnitekram
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