aliah achilles

I am an ever-curious, passionate learner & creative with 6 years of experience in strategy in the marketing industry, working with wonderful clients and industries, spanning from FMCG, medical, financial and fashion. I have a genuine obsession with understanding people, cultures and discovering ways in which to create value in the world, thus my clients.

Starting my professional journey at Proctor and Gamble, I worked with many cross functional teams to manage the Vicks, Pampers and Merck brands. From strategic planning, to project management, I held responsibilities in creating all encompassing brand managing plans, and ensuring consistent implementation. I crafted and managed briefs with creative agencies to ensure it meets the global objectives and resonate with local target demographic. One  example being an incredible campaign named “Touch of Care”; to drive brand affinity, and deepen brand equity, awareness and loyalty. Beyond this I worked with retailers to ensure presence and share of voice in-stores, aligning to the strategic vision of the brand.

I had the incredible opportunity to return home to Cape Town, and work for the Consumer Insights Agency, where I enhanced my skillset in drafting proposals, formulating and interrogating briefs, creating full project plans, and strategic reports based on real world consumer insights. Building strong relationships with clients across, Woolworths, RFG Foods, Nedbank, Mondale and TFG, to aid in strategic direction and recommendations on product launches, rebranding, campaigns, reshaping brand identity and reputation. My biggest takeaway being building curiosity in understanding consumer insights, various segments and demographics to resonate in the best way with the appropriate audience for the objective at hand.

Prior to being part of a large scale global retrenchment, I had the privilege of working for 2u (previously known as Get Smarter) as a Strategic Data Analyst. I oversaw brand equity, profitability, and performance for prestigious universities, utilising CRM tools, Google Analytics, and Tableau for performance monitoring and analysis. My role emphasised digital analytics excellence, digital performance tracking, and target achievement, contributing to insightful quarterly reviews. I compiled and presented strategic reports utilising data insights to guide optimisations.

Currently I lead up many marketing engagements at Mastercard, as the Marketing Specialist, working in strategy and project management. My role involves managing multiple cross functional teams across Africa, the Middle East and India, namely analytics, finance and creative teams. I have further cultivated my organisational skills to manage projects from the original briefing session, project kick offs, checkin and final measurements throughout execution phases. Formulating, proposing and implementing strategies to meet clients objectives and measuring the impact to access the value delivered.

I have ticked off a few buckets in my journey, that makes me further equipped for this role; holding an Honours degree in Business Science Marketing; a certificate from Red and Yellow in graphic design (indicating my eye for creative assets, and understanding of the full development process), as well as coming first for visual design in Matric.