Lara van Otterlo
Cape Town
Summary
Uniquely skilled with over 20 years of strategic marketing and creative design experience, focusing on brand development with through the line advertising and marketing communication strategies. I integrate the marketing plan and design key creative deliverables. Encompassing international experience in Canada, Europe and Africa, I execute exceptional 360 marketing plans with a multi-channel strategy. I'm a high-energy team builder who believes in driving the best in teams by encouraging and leading with passion and compassion. I believe in setting achievable but challenging goals and setting myself apart as a motivator that brings the best out of every team member.
Overview
5
5
Languages
35
35
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Marketing Consultant
Old Mutual
Cape Town, South Africa
2018.07 - Current
- Client relationship management across multiple internal business units.
- Develop above-the-line and below-the-line marketing strategies and design all related creative and execute.
- Supporting training and mentoring of team to reach personal and professional goals and KPI's.
- Drive business processes and implement improvements at every opportunity.
- Brand Management and Corporate Identity development, ideation and creative execution with related channel execution strategy.
- Art direction and physical design of BTL projects and development of Corporate Identity guielines.
- Develop new service offerings, present and get shareholder buy-in.
- Lead and created prominent projects and continue to make significant impact, with my most recent internal award for High Performance where I led a team to successfully deliver phase 1 of a comprehensive branding overhaul for Old Mutual Africa & Old Mutual Bank.
- Drive projects and meet deadlines within budget and on time.
Senior Consultant: Creative & Graphic Design
Old Mutual
Cape Town, South Africa
2015.10 - 2018.07
- Creative Head of Design: Managed a team, responsible for creative output, team production and performance.
- Managed the staff recruitment process.
- Developed relationships with above and below-the-line advertising agencies, freelancers and suppliers.
- Project managed with multidisciplinary teams.
- Developed a thought leadership process to anticipate industry trends.
- Led creative design: Implemented overarching strategies and worked within brand frameworks - also inputed into the development.
- Developed creative solutions to marketing challenges
- Created proposals for new client markets
Senior Art Director
Young & Rubicam (Y&R)
Cape Town, South Africa
2010.12 - 2011.12
- Lead a design team to bring the Pick 'n Pay SmartShopper rewards program to market together with Landor (international branding company).
- Directed multi-million Rand design projects through entire creative lifecycles
- Directed design and product streams, set goals and deliverables, achieving project completion consistently to deadline
Brand Rebrand Specialist
Old Mutual
Cape Town, South Africa
2009.11 - 2010.11
- Creative lead in freelance capacity, to develop and create all processes and deliverables to bring the below-the-line rollout of the new corporate identity for Old Mutual
- Direct and manage the full project and be the main liaison between Old Mutual and all outsourced agencies that helped execute the new corporate identity.
Corporate Rebranding Manager
Sappi
Dortmund, Germany
2009.01 - 2009.08
- Project managed Sappi Europe in four new paper mills acquisition and rebranding
- Managed the change management process to ensure alignment of acquisition staff to Sappi's brand standards
- Evaluated market conditions in the four countries and monitored competitor activity
- Established goals for the European market's marketing teams
Freelance Designer
Various
Johannesburg, South Africa
2002.01 - 2009.07
- Developed marketing strategies and executed in combination with the designed visual branding solutions for various types of clients. NGO clients: The Mvula Trust / the Nelson Mandela Foundation / Zazen Marketing and Consulting / Birdlife SA. Corporates: ABSA / ABSA Private Bank / SARS / Sappi / Liberty Life. Retail: Pick 'n Pay - head office, Universities: Wits / Stellenbosch / UCT.
Art Director
Cognicase
Montreal, Canada
1999.09 - 2001.08
- Client relations management with international clients, articulating their marketing needs to teams in French Canada and executing on their needs.
- Developed creative stratetegy and directed the Cognicase brand corporate identity.
- Project management of international projects leading design and developer teams to meet marketing and creative objectives.
Senior Art Director
Young & Rubicam (Y&R)
Johannesburg, South Africa
1992.01 - 1996.12
- Creative team leader, focussing on developing and executing creative design solutions for main retail client Pick 'n Pay.
- Developed marketing objectives and translated into executable plans over multiple communication channels.
- Designed creative storytelling to implement in compelling retail campaigns, incl. TV storyboards and digital content editing.
- Lead a team in creating the new Pick n Pay rebrand.
Education
Training Courses - Social Media / Marketing Strategy / Digital Marketing / Project Management
Red & Yellow - online
2019-01
Contributing credits - IMM Marketing (101) / IMM Business Management / IMM Financial Management
International Marketing Management (IMM)
Cape Town, WC2019-01
Training Course - UX design course
Deliotte (FLOW)
Cape Town, WC2015-01
Degree - Graphic and Multimedia Design
Concordia University
Montreal, Canada2001-01
Higher National Diploma - Graphic Design
The Art Foundation
Johannesburg, South Africa1992-01
Matric - General
Randpark High School
Johannesburg, South Africa1990-01
Skills
KNOWLEDGE OF:
- Client relationship management
- Project management
- Marketing strategy development
- Business process alignment
- Content creation
- Brand identity development
- Team collaboration
- Adaptive problem solving
- Creative storytelling
- Training and mentoring
- Campaign execution
- Customer service excellence
- Creative thinking
- Strategy visual interpretation
- Time-management
- Decision making
- Team Leadership
- Client relationship building
- Effective communication
- Technical troubleshooting
- Relationship-building
- Product knowledge
- Customer engagement
- Sales and marketing strategy
- Computer literacy
- Communication proficiency
- Creativity and originality
- Adobe Creative Suite 2024: InDesign / Photoshop / Illustrator / After Effects
- Microsoft: Word / PowerPoint / Excel
- Project management systems: Traffic / Chase
- Google: Workspace / Project Management
PERSONAL SKILLS:
- Creative: Strong: extensive experience leading teams of designers
- Project Management: Strong: leadership of large high profile events and projects (locally and international)
- Leadership: Inclusive team leader (empathetic) and firm when needed
- Communication: Clear and targeted
- Teamwork: Good motivator, strong focus on "we" and not "I" Active listener
- Visual interpretation: Skilled at unpacking complex high-level strategies
- Organisational ability: Able to multitask, quickly problem solve and find solutions
- Self-motivated: Hard worker with a strong work ethic
- Consumer behaviour understanding
- Stress tolerance
- Public speaking
- Self-motivation
- Strategic planning
- Digital and social media marketing
- Critical-thinking
- Project coordination
- Customer service orientation
- Strategic thinking
- Project leadership
- Brand development
- Conflict Resolution
- Email Marketing
- Budget management
- Copywriting
- Mobile marketing strategies
- Brand awareness development
- Copywriting abilities
Languages
English
First Language
French
Elementary
A2
German
Intermediate
B1
Afrikaans
Elementary
A2
Dutch
Elementary
A2
Hobbies and interests
Active outdoor enthusiast / painting, drawing, crafts / adventure travel
References
REFER TO MY LINKEDIN REFERENCES
www.linkedin.com/in/lara-van-otterlo-794b6216
Reference letters and details are available on request.
Timeline
Senior Marketing Consultant
Old Mutual
2018.07 - Current
Senior Consultant: Creative & Graphic Design
Old Mutual
2015.10 - 2018.07
Senior Art Director
Young & Rubicam (Y&R)
2010.12 - 2011.12
Brand Rebrand Specialist
Old Mutual
2009.11 - 2010.11
Corporate Rebranding Manager
Sappi
2009.01 - 2009.08
Freelance Designer
Various
2002.01 - 2009.07
Art Director
Cognicase
1999.09 - 2001.08
Senior Art Director
Young & Rubicam (Y&R)
1992.01 - 1996.12
Matric - General
Randpark High School
Higher National Diploma - Graphic Design
The Art Foundation
Degree - Graphic and Multimedia Design
Concordia University
Training Course - UX design course
Deliotte (FLOW)
Contributing credits - IMM Marketing (101) / IMM Business Management / IMM Financial Management
International Marketing Management (IMM)
Training Courses - Social Media / Marketing Strategy / Digital Marketing / Project Management
Red & Yellow - online