#Newsmaker: Craig Hannabus appointed as strategy director at Rogerwilco

Charlie Stewart, Rogerwilco CEO, says: “Craig’s experience marries creativity with performance marketing and his mandate is to work alongside our creative, business intelligence and performance marketing teams to identify insights that’ll enable our clients to better connect with their customers.”

[Behind the Selfie] with... Charlie Stewart

Leigh Andrews  13 Apr 2016

Prior to joining Rogerwilco, Hannabus was head of digital at Havas Boondoggle where he worked with clients in the finance, auto, hospitality and airline sectors. As part of the management team, he built digital capabilities within the agency to ensure digital profitability and led team management, developing ways to attract and retain top talent.

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Craig Hannabus, Havas Johannesburg  15 Mar 2018

Craig Hannabus was recently appointed to the role of strategy director for Rogerwilco. Image supplied.

We caught up with Hannabus who explained that the widespread adoption of martech (or marketing technology) is creating a new breed of advertising agency. “It’s no longer good enough to only be a creative agency or just to specialise in performance marketing - to succeed in today’s landscape, agencies need a blended team of strategists, creatives and data scientists. Rogerwilco has been working towards this for a while and I’m delighted to join them on the next step of their journey.”

Congrats on your appointment. How do you feel about it?

I'm excited. I think I've gone through a lot of emotions in the months leading up to this – ranging from apprehension to anxiety. But I seem to have settled on excitement.

When is/was the effective date?

1 July.

What excites you most about the agency and where it’s going?

I think that Rogerwilco is in the perfect position to take the industry by storm. We have top-notch performance tools, highly-skilled people and talented creatives. I think that while most agencies talk the talk, Rogerwilco can walk the walk.

What, specifically, do you love most about your career in marketing?

For me, marketing has always presented the opportunity to cultivate a deeper understanding of human nature. Each client brings with them new people/audiences to understand and I find it fascinating.

Any career highlights you’re particularly proud of?

There have been a handful of awards, but I think my proudest moments have come from solving a business problem on budget and with a degree of elegance. There is nothing more satisfying than presenting results that shot the lights out.

Tell us a bit about your experience and how this has equipped you for your new position.

I started my marketing career fairly late in life (coming from a freight and logistics background). I joined one of South Africa's first social media agencies as a community manager and content writer, moved into dev, then to UX, then to social strategy, digital strategy, eventually heading up digital at a more traditional agency. Seeing how agencies and clients work from a few different perspectives has helped me get a deeper understanding of where my strengths lie and how I can add value.

What are you most looking forward to/enjoying so far?

I've been delighted at the amount of technical skill and the wealth of knowledge my colleagues possess. It's really satisfying to have an answer for almost every question, be just a short conversation away.

What’s at the top of your to-do list (at work)?

I'm focused on making sure that we're aligned to the overarching brand strategies that our clients have in place. I think that while technology is great for getting the message out there, I'm really here to make sure that the message itself is right.

What are you currently reading/watching/listening to for work?

Not sure if these are great for work:
Data Science: What the Best Data Scientists Know About Data Analytics by Herbert Jones.
Crushing It by Gary Vaynerchuk (don't judge me!).
The Creative's Curse by Todd Brison.

Tell us something about yourself not generally known?

I wrote and illustrated a webcomic for two months before I realised that I'm about as funny as a tin of paint.

 

 

 

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