Transcript
Sonja Kamper: Servus and welcome to the World of Marketing Jobs podcast, where I'm taking you on a marketing journey of job awareness, consideration and application.
Sonja Kamper: And in this episode, we will talk about someone who I've been working with over the almost past two years, and also someone who has a very interesting job for me.
Sonja Kamper: Welcome, Vanessa, to my podcast.
Vanessa: Thank you so much, Sonja. I'm really happy to be here today.
Sonja Kamper: I'm really happy to have you too. So you are senior marketing and brand specialist. Is that a right?
Vanessa: Yes, that's right.
Sonja Kamper: Perfect. So let's jump right into it and cover some this or that question. So I'm always going to give you two options and you choose the one that fits your job better.
Vanessa: Okay, let's go.
Sonja Kamper: Perfect. So B2B B2C? or b to c
Vanessa: So it's currently a job in B2B.
Sonja Kamper: SME or large corporation?
Vanessa: I would say a large corporation.
Sonja Kamper: Local or international?
Vanessa: ah Definitely international.
Sonja Kamper: Are you a agency or do you work in-house?
Vanessa: So I have to decide. So I say agency, but I would also say it depends.
Sonja Kamper: Why would you say that?
Vanessa: Because sometimes you have things you can do in-house, but also you need agencies for input from, yeah someone who is not that deep into your specific topic. So I would also always say, have a look at the topic and then decide if it's more in-house or if you need an agency for it.
Sonja Kamper: very clear. So are you a full stack marketer or would you consider yourself more like a specialist?
Vanessa: I would say specialist.
Sonja Kamper: Senior marketing and brand specialist. I think I would have guessed that myself.
Sonja Kamper: Do you work in a small or a big team?
Vanessa: So have a small team, but we're a bigger department. So I would say both.
Sonja Kamper: And when you look at your day-to-day work, are you more structured or flexible?
Vanessa: So I think these are hard questions, because I can't say both for everything.
Sonja Kamper: system
Vanessa: So I would go with a more flexible.
Sonja Kamper: Very clear. So now we've got a little idea where you are in the this or that sphere. And i would be super curious to know how job slogan would sound like.
Sonja Kamper: So you are a senior marketing and brand specialist. What's your catchy phrase?
Vanessa: So I always say that I'm creating brand experience in the energy market.
Sonja Kamper: Very interesting. So you... are really towards, okay, I'm creating something and you also are in a specific field, which can make it more or less difficult to create this brand experience, right?
Vanessa: Yes, definitely, because the field is something completely different and especially B2C, but also the energy market. You have a totally different audience. The target group is different to what maybe most of us know.
Vanessa: And so that's why it's very special to have a role in marketing and branding there.
Sonja Kamper: Super interesting. So what would you say are your daily tasks? How does a day in the life of Vanessa Bienbaum look like?
Vanessa: And so my job covers two different or not completely different, but has two roads, I would say, or two perspectives.
Vanessa: One is the branding perspective. And this really covers everything from top to tail, I would say, from the brand strategy, which includes developing corporate design, a brand architecture, brand tonality.
Vanessa: How does the brand feel and is recognized by the outside world, but also internally. But of course you also have a lot of operational work like creating templates, graphic design, design checks, platform design, like all of these really more operational tasks.
Vanessa: And so I have days where I only do the smaller things, but of course in the long term we have a look at the strategy and how brand develops.
Vanessa: And then I also have the marketing part which covers more communication campaigns, corporate campaigns, product marketing, like more classical marketing stuff.
Sonja Kamper: And so I know from her firsthand experience that last year you led brand refresh. You were the spokesperson for that for an entire group.
Sonja Kamper: So can you little bit tell me what your tasks were there? did your involvement there look like?
Vanessa: Yeah, I was, I would say, kind of a project manager, but also gave, of course, a lot of input. And the goal was not to do a whole rebranding because after an interview phase, we noticed, okay, we are in general happy with how the brand is recognized, but we need to adapt to new standards that we have. We came from a world where we printed a lot and now we are in a very digital world where the formats change and where we just have different requirements and then we adapted to that and my role was
Vanessa: mainly to bring everyone together to have a look at what are the needs of the different group companies that we have of the different stakeholders. But of course, also ever every time having in mind, how do we want the brand to be recognized? Because you always have to see what is a personal opinion and what is the expertise that we have and how we want to be perceived when someone um has has a look on the website or on social media.
Sonja Kamper: And would you say that this is particularly difficult in the energy field or in a field where there are a lot of technical experts and the did it point of view is not particularly directed towards a good branding, more towards the message itself?
Vanessa: I'm not sure if it's only in the energy market. I would say the field is ah ah more special because the topic is very special and it's nothing that you can touch or that has a strong emotional value. I think this makes it much easier if you have something like this.
Vanessa: But still, we know how we want to be perceived. We are professional, we are close to our customers. And this is something that I would say is very kind of easy to yeah then put into a brand.
Vanessa: So I'm not sure if I can say that it's difficult because of the sector that I'm in, but I would say it makes a difference definitely when developing a brand and also the tonality and everything that comes with it.
Sonja Kamper: super interesting and super clear. So when we go back to your day-to-day work, what tools do you particularly use? Yeah.
Sonja Kamper: yeah
Vanessa: I would say one of the most important tools is the Adobe Suite. course, you do a lot of graphic design and is what I use on most of the days.
Vanessa: And other than that, I have to be honest, there are not that many tools. Maybe I'm sometimes a bit behind when it comes to checklists and so on. I'm and more a OneNote and...
Vanessa: Yeah, doing everything in Lists Girl. But yeah, I would say it still works. Of course, you work a lot with also the office programs, but I would say this is something that most of us do. Maybe we do it a bit differently because we have a different view on it.
Sonja Kamper: What is that particular view?
Vanessa: Hmm. I always notice it when I show someone something that you can, for example, do in PowerPoint that some people just don't know because they use it for creating presentations.
Vanessa: And we use it more for creating creating the experience that you have with a presentation. How does it look like? Because it's not only how a brand is perceived like on the website or on social media, it starts with like the small things. How does your presentation look? Do use your templates right? This might sound a bit picky for some, but it's being consistent over the different tools, applications that you have.
Vanessa: And so that's why you just have a different view and you use it differently, create stuff in Zyukajan Vizepojarvii PowerPoint, for example, differently, it's not a fancy cool task, but still it's something that I think is important.
Sonja Kamper: ah
Sonja Kamper: And we particularly see it. I think when when sometimes there are presentations and there is a ah bright green color
Vanessa: Yes.
Sonja Kamper: almost highlighted and you you're like, Oh, okay, maybe we use our corporate color here and then always instantly looks more put together and more like it's part of our company. It's part of our identity.
Vanessa: Yes, definitely. And it's all of the small parts that in the end make the whole company look professional. And I know I love doing like the real marketing stuff, but it's also making it available for all the other colleagues that they are also able to a presentation in the, for us, correct way to represent the brand because in the end, everyone who talks to the outside world is kind of a brand ambassador and it starts in these small pieces and then goes up to big marketing campaigns and so on.
Sonja Kamper: Very clear. So when I come to you, to your desk, and i have a big list of tasks for you, which one would you say are but part of your scope?
Sonja Kamper: And would you say happily refer to a colleague of yours?
Vanessa: So maybe it's not something I refer to a colleague, but sometimes it's things I say you can do yourself because we are not there there um when you have a presentation, to change colors or to change a font, for example.
Vanessa: We check the presentation, but you can do the small stuff yourself. This is something that I would to definitely say. and other than that i mean my focus is mainly on brand and marketing so it's not that much communication related because i think this also gets mixed up sometimes that you have the communications part and the marketing part i would say for these
Vanessa: you can talk to the colleagues in communication and I more have a look at how the brand appears and how right tonality is. This is something or the tone of voice. This is something um then, for example, the content specialists can do.
Sonja Kamper: super clear. So if I were to apply for your job, how could a good job persona look like? What do I need to do to do your job essentially?
Vanessa: what I think is most important have both to be creative but also to to be structured.
Vanessa: And what I mean by saying this is I think when it comes to marketing um or especially branding, a lot of people think, oh, I can be creative, I can create graphics and so on. And this is something, of course, which is a big part of the job, but you always have a framework that is given.
Vanessa: And you have, for example, a branding guideline. And you have to split between your personal opinion and what you think would look good and how the brand would be perceived.
Vanessa: I think finding someone who can be both can sometimes be a bit difficult. And it's also sometimes difficult for me, to be honest, because of course you have to see, okay, the brand should look like this.
Vanessa: And then i have requirements for a platform, for a design, for an event. And I'm completely free, but I still need to stick to the framework.
Vanessa: And I think this is something that the person should bring. And then you have to, or you need to have this view a I think not everyone, as not everyone can write texts, not everyone can really see how a brand looks like to the outside world. You need to have a feeling for it.
Vanessa: How we want a brand to yeah be recognized? So this is definitely something. And... Yeah, you also need to be a bit in love with details when it comes to yeah creating graphics or also checking presentations.
Vanessa: It's, as I said, the consistency starts in the details. Is it the right copyright? Is the date right? I know for some this may sound, yeah, this is something small, just a small detail, but I think it's important for the whole professional look.
Vanessa: of a company. So I would say this sums it up quite well.
Sonja Kamper: So it's all about having in the right character, being the right person and the skills like being good at Adobe Express or Photoshop can be something that can be learned on the job.
Vanessa: Yes, definitely. So there are so many things that you can learn. And that's also when we are looking for someone, example, for a working student, and they say they've never worked with Adobe, we're like, okay, you can learn that as long as if you have a look on the website and can tell me how you see the brand, then everything else you can learn.
Sonja Kamper: very clear. So let's dive into the job value proposition, where I will give you like a little fill in the gaps exercise to, and would say, summarize your job a little bit and make a little more graspable for our fellow listeners.
Sonja Kamper: So a senior marketing and brand specialist helps.
Vanessa: who
Sonja Kamper: who want to
Vanessa: want to build a strong and consistent identity of a brand.
Sonja Kamper: by reducing
Vanessa: new
Vanessa: Now I have to have a think about it by reducing.
Sonja Kamper: but
Vanessa: Yeah, that's hard because you never think what you really reduce. It's more you think about what you create for the company.
Sonja Kamper: who
Vanessa: And so I would say
Vanessa: I'm not sure if I can find something now.
Sonja Kamper: Maybe something in the lines of by reducing graphical inconsistencies or by bye
Vanessa: yeah. ah That's a good point. Yeah. i Maybe it's not only graphical inconsistencies, but the whole brand recognition inconsistencies.
Sonja Kamper: so And now it's your time to shine by increasing.
Vanessa: by increasing the brand awareness and a professional look and feel the right target group.
Sonja Kamper: very clear. So it's it's all about making sure everything is aligned, everything is consistent across all the channels you can think of. This starts with a social media post and ends at the web website.
Vanessa: Yes, so it's all communication assets that you can think of and also it's digital and print. It's also how an employee, for example, represents the company the outside world. So if you have a sales colleague who talks to customers of course you also want him to represent the brand so it's not only how you in the marketing world use it for all of the communication channels but it's also creating framework for everyone in the company and yeah how do we want to
Vanessa: yeah, show ourselves to the outside world.
Sonja Kamper: And what golden nuggets will you give me on my way and also on the listeners and use if they watch with video on the way to do the job as good or maybe even better in the future?
Vanessa: So as I said, it's we have a framework and we are quite structured, but don't stay in your box. So we notice it with the brand refresh.
Vanessa: So we have a given framework and we have a design principle. We have a system for it, but the needs and the requirements always change. And, you know,
Vanessa: A few years ago, we used to print our annual report and we had 30 or 50 pages that were printed. And now over time, it changed.
Vanessa: We are creating PDFs or that's also maybe three years ago already. We are more interactive now. We have tools that we use. And so, of course,
Vanessa: you don't want to change the whole brand identity every two years or whatever, but you need to stay flexible with changing requirements and with the industry changing.
Vanessa: Also, if you have AI, for example, now, is this something um that we can use for us and that develops our brand system even more do we have yeah new requirements that come in the future and i think this is something because we like to stay where we are we like to stay in the comfort first zone and say okay We've always done it like that, you know how it can be sometimes, especially when you work in companies who have been there for such a long time.
Vanessa: But always drive for something new and try it to bring together the framework that you have with the changes that you also have in the world and also in the industry.
Sonja Kamper: Very clear. And you mentioned ai you have maybe an example for me how AI shifted your design, your brand identity?
Vanessa: I would say also there we are still at the beginning, but I think you can use it quite well. You can train it with how your brand should be perceived and then let the AI help the colleagues, for example, creating presentations, finding, I mean, that's not,
Vanessa: only branding related, but also the right tone of voice and it can create graphics for you. I mean, this is something that can help you a lot, but of course you need to put work in it.
Vanessa: And maybe also you notice, okay, my design system might not work with the way that AI works, maybe i can adapt to it. And maybe there are changes that can be made to make the system even more flexible. I mean, this is, a I think we are still at the beginning with the whole AI topic. So we have to see what is coming. But I would say this is something that can really help us and help
Vanessa: the brand to be perceived even better because it's more professional and it's easier to be perceived professional if everyone's able to do it.
Sonja Kamper: very, very clear. so now it's already time for the question from my previous guest. My previous guest was Luka Novowska.
Sonja Kamper: She is my associate professor, so my marketing professor in my master's and the academic director for all the master's programs.
Sonja Kamper: So it was very interesting to talk to her about school systems and how that works. impacts her job on a day-to-day basis. And she left a wonderful question for you, which is, if you are about to change your profession radically, what would that be and why?
Vanessa: That's a very good question. So i would say if I could change like everything that I do now, i would maybe go more into sports because it's where my hobbies lay.
Sonja Kamper: Sure.
Vanessa: And think there's so much, so many interesting jobs in sports, not marketing related, but when it comes to, maybe I would be a professional athlete, but I think also like the whole analyzing systems or, you know,
Vanessa: Yeah, I think it's a completely different world. So this would be maybe something that I would do instead, because that's where kind of my passion and besides marketing and communication is.
Vanessa: Yes, maybe that's not the craziest answer, but yeah, that's what I would go with.
Sonja Kamper: Maybe to to tie into that, what are your tips to relax with sports after you work, to have this work-life balance? What do you do?
Sonja Kamper: you have tips? Curious to know.
Vanessa: Yes. So i would say find something that really brings you down. And I love running. I love cycling. I know that you also have a lot of trends and that sometimes you do sports because you think, okay, everybody's doing it.
Vanessa: And it's not about everybody's doing it. It's about what makes you really calm em down and where when you do the sports, you remember when you were a child and could play for hours and you didn't notice that the time was running up. You just...
Vanessa: you are just in your own world and I think this is what sports should do for you and so this would be my tip to find something that you can feel like this again if it's not sports maybe it's reading maybe it's painting something like this
Sonja Kamper: I will definitely be now, oh like bring a new hobby in my, uh, life and find something that calms me down or, that also excites me maybe, uh, more than just for 30 minutes. So definitely a good tip, uh, for everyone out there to, to find something, to find a passion outside work to, to start a project, et cetera.
Sonja Kamper: so. Now we're really at the end of the interview and the only thing left on my little list is the question for the next guest.
Sonja Kamper: do you have one with you here today?
Vanessa: and Mm-hmm. So I hope this question um didn't get asked before, but I would like to know one tip the person would give someone who wants to do something completely new in their job.
Vanessa: So if they would change jobs or if they want to try something new, what is a tip? that they would say, okay, this is something you should follow and then you would succeed.
Vanessa: Maybe it depends on the person that comes, but I think this could be interesting.
Sonja Kamper: very good like follow question a little bit to the question you had to get like okay I don't want to change radically but maybe I'm ready to change a little bit what tips do you have for me and I think it's super relevant because
Vanessa: Yes.
Sonja Kamper: we're constantly adapting our scopes change and maybe are ready for it but don't know yet how to communicate it or how to get started to to bring that shift into our lives so definitely an interesting question and makes me little bit excited for the next episode to see what the answer will be and uh Thank you so much for your time here to- today. it was a pleasure to get to know what you do as a senior marketing and brand specialist.
Sonja Kamper: And yeah, I hope you enjoyed it too.
Vanessa: Yes, thank you so much for having me and for letting me talk about my job, what I do every day and what i love to do. And I hope I could give some insights to it. And it was really great.
Vanessa: Thank you.
Sonja Kamper: Definitely super interesting. And to those listeners who made it to the end, thank you so much for listening or watching if you watch it with video. And we'll see. Bye bye.
