Rens Pels
We're delighted to kick off our "In Conversation With....." series by talking with Rens - a marketer, a digital transformationist, passionate about classic cars, architecture, technology, arts and media.
2AL: Hi Rens, could you tell us a bit about your career to date, your current role and company?
Rens: Of course! I started as a Copywriter after studying Commercial Economics. A dream become reality when I became a managing partner in a Dutch advertising agency at 22 and then I moved to the customer side some years later. I was head of Philishave/Norelco Global advertising for five years and then Head of Global Marketing Operations at Philips for another six. I started my own company in 2008 which was then sold to SDL in 2015. SDL is the global innovator in language translation technology, services and content management, allowing companies to optimise their customers’ experience by delivering engaging and contextual experiences across languages, cultures, channels and devices. I'm now the VP of Solution Design & Strategy at SDL Marketing Solutions working with customers like Fujitsu, Philips, Jaguar Land Rover, Huawei and Wolters Kluwer.
2AL: Where do you think Marketing is heading in the next 3 to 5 years?
Rens: I believe we're at the beginning of a new era where information relevant to a customer will present itself based on a customer profile and up to what level a prospect choses to expose that in a certain context or to a specific brand. The personal dialogue between a brand and a customer will be largely AI driven and enabled by virtual digital assistants that will filter information and prepare for decision making. Thus allowing people to cope with the ever growing magnitude of digital data, knowledge and information.
2AL: What does a normal work day look like for you
Rens: it's usually a dynamic mixture of online and personal meetings, regular travel and writing proposals or propositions for customers as part of multidisciplinary teams.
I'm often visiting and presenting to customers. All whilst trying to find some time to keep up to speed with the rapidly changing digital space.
2AL: What does a normal work day look like for you
Rens: it's usually a dynamic mixture of online and personal meetings, regular travel and writing proposals and propositions for customers as part of multidisciplinary teams.
I'm often visiting and presenting to customers. All whilst trying to find some time to keep up to speed with the rapidly changing digital space.
“We’re at the beginning of a new era where information relevant to a customer will present itself based on a customer profile”
2AL: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Rens: It has to be the role of digital in peoples' lives over the last two decades.
2AL: Which Brand do you admire the most and why?
Rens: It has to be Leica. While rooted in heritage, obsessed by technical quality and design based on very conservative, traditional values they managed to reinvent themselves and create timeless products that are leading the pack in a segment normally defined by rapidly ageing digital innovations and short lifecycles. The Porsche 911 of cameras (my other favourite!).
2AL. If there was one event you could go to anywhere in the world, what would it be?
Rens: It would have to be TED’s main convention in California.
2AL - Thanks Rens, we really enjoyed working with you on projects at Philips and then when you had your own business - always offering great insight and a different perspective on the issue at hand. We're sure SDL are now benefitting from your expertise and humour! Thank you for kicking off our "In Conversation With....." series and we look forward to speaking with you again soon.
