How long have you been with Ole!Connect and what professional moments have stood out for you during your time here?  

I have been with Ole!Connect for just over 3 years now and it has been a wild ride. Growing the Fidelity ADT, Medihelp and WesBank accounts to what it is now - from a bitty account with a high cost per acquisition to a well-oiled account which produces some of the lowest acquisition costs I have seen. This is a testament to the work our team is doing. Another achievement is taking a team who were channel specialists to pros on every channel. 

What do you believe to be the foundation of successful media buying campaigns and what insights do you always look for? 

A successful media buying campaign is a combination of a few elements: 

• Technical skills to set up a campaign in the correct way which allows for optimisation. 

• Agility to change things when necessary. 

• Testing… lots and lots of testing. Channels, creative and audiences. 

• Time. The most underrated of all elements. 

In terms of what we look for it really depends on the campaign and the KPIs. Our ability to adapt to different campaigns is what allows us to succeed. 

In your opinion, why is big data and real-time reporting essential for digital marketers? 

Without it, there is just no way to see the big picture. When you look at channels, audiences and creative in isolation of each other it can have an adverse effect on the campaigns. That is why when we create reporting we can look at the entire campaign, focusing on attribution with real-time accuracy. 

With big data, we can also crunch large amounts of data whether it's online or offline at speed. This is very important in a fast-moving environment. 

In terms of attribution and reporting, what tools do you and your team use and why?  

We are Google oriented. We use Google’s BigQuery and DataStudio. Why? Because they are the best in the market and are cost-effective. We also use Hevo to integrate different sources into our database. 

What’s the most important outcome of a project for you?  

Genuinely and this may sound fluffy but not everything comes down to numbers. Working well with a client and being flexible helps to form a great working relationship. You can get the best performance for the client but if you are a nightmare to work with, no one will be having fun and feel satisfied at the end of the day. 

What key challenges and/or opportunities has your team faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic?  

There have been moments where our client’s performance has dropped due to economic strains but that hump, we have all overcome. We also had to adapt to working remotely which we have never done before. We have done so admirably, and I want to give kudos to my team.