Hello, I'm Sam!

I am a well-rounded Digital Marketer, Product Owner with a background in Web Development (including eCommerce), Graphic Design, UX/UI, Customer Journeys and Agile Methodologies to name a few.

I hold a Masters Degree in Digital Marketing, have a strategic mindset coupled with a high attention to detail.

I bring an entrepreneurial aspect into every role I take on, which greatly benefits the company as I approach the role as if it were my own business. I’m able to look at the bigger picture and make strategic decisions accordingly.

personal information

Full Name
Samantha Jansen
D.o.b.
20 November 1981
address
Phuket, Thailand
e-mail
sj@samantha-jansen.com
phone
+66 82 914 0345
freelance
Available

languages

English native

Professional Skills

AI Prompt Engineering
User-Centered Design Processes
Analytical skills
Collaboration & Communication
User validation
Jira
Confluence
Rally

Additional Skills

Strategic Thinking
Cross-Functional Leadership
Creative Problem-Solving
Agile / Scrum Methodologies
Product Roadmap & Backlog
Design Quality Standards

work experience

Jan 2023 - Oct 2023

Strategic Account Manager

Inska - Australia (Fully Remote)

As a Strategic Account Manager at Inska, my primary responsibilities are to develop and maintain relationships with key clients to drive revenue growth and ensure customer satisfaction.

In this role, I act as a liaison between the client and the agency, providing strategic guidance, managing project timelines and oversee the execution of digital marketing campaigns, website development, branding and creative projects.

Jul 2019 - Feb 2021

Regional Product Director

GTB - Bangkok, Thailand

As the Regional Product Director for the Website Platform across 9 markets, I evangelized the product vision, strategy, roadmap and budgets for Ford IMG, and managed the integration with cross-functional teams (engineering, operations, analytics, marketing, sales).  

I planned and managed new product development with a focus on mobile-first user experience improvement, using Agile methodologies and facilitated the use of rapid prototyping and customer feedback within every iteration.

Dec 2017 - Feb 2019

Head Of Marketing

HotelQuickly - Bangkok, Thailand

As the Head of Digital Marketing at HotelQuickly, an international travel booking platform (OTA), I led a team responsible for all digital marketing initiatives including eCommerce, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, email marketing, campaign landing page development, retargeting and marketing automation, branding, design and UX/UI design across the business.

My team worked closely with the cross-functional teams in the business, including the development team for the website and mobile application, where we continuously made recommendations for functional improvements. 

Jan 2007 - Apr 2016

CEO, Founder & Web Developer

Creative Designs - Johannesburg, South Africa

Being the CEO and Founder of Creative Designs, I was responsible for all aspects of the day-to-day running of the business. For the purposes of this resume, I have grouped these functions into 3 main categories – Marketing, Management and Client Consulting and Advisory. The responsibilities and duties are discussed within my full resume. 

The business started with me building CMS-based web and eCommerce sites for clients, ensuring total mobile responsiveness.

The process included taking requirements, UX/UI design, user flow, development of the site, QA and testing and assisting with hosting requirements before deployment.  

Within 2 years, I hired a team to take over the UX/UI design and develop the websites, while I focused more on the growth of the business, and project management (timelines, budgets etc.) 

Mar 2001 - Jan 2007

Prior Experience

For all prior experience, please view my complete LinkedIn Profile.

Education

Sep 2007 - Oct 2019

Digital Marketing Institute

Master's in Digital Marketing
Jan 2013 - Dec 2013

Stellenbosch University

Digital Marketing Diploma
Feb 2010 - Dec 2010

AAA School of Advertising

Graphic Design Diploma
Jan 2005 - Oct 2009

UNISA

BCom Marketing Management (Did Not Complete)

Industry Experience

Advertising
eCommerce
Automototive
Travel & Hospitality
Coaching
OTA (Online Travel Agency)
Publishing
Entrepreneurship

References

Marisa Engel GTB

Half way through our first interview, I knew I wanted to hire Samantha. She is whip smart, dedicated, has the ability to seamlessly go from talking product development with the tech team to strategic vision with marketing clients all while keeping a smile on her face, motivating her team and meeting deadlines. She thinks ahead to avoid (or plan for) obstacles. Sam gives each portion of the product development cycle focus and attention to detail while keeping a holistic view to ensure product objectives are met. She’s all in. And she is an absolute joy to work with!

Neerja Nawani GTB

Sam makes work easy with her leadership, client servicing, tech, and product management skills.
She has empathetic thinking for the team, customers, and clients.
It was a delight working with her.

Nathan Reoch Inska

Sam is an excellent account manager, always going above and beyond to help articulate our requirements into realities. Very much enjoyed working with her.

Elodie Badoul HotelQuickly

Sam was part of my team in my function as General Manager of Products at HotelQuickly in 2017-2018. Sam is a committed manager who always genuinely gives her time and energy to her team and projects. She has remarkable strategic thinking and excels in building and managing projects cross-functional teams. She is a joy to work with and I highly recommend her to any company.

Jaimin Bhatt GTB

Sam and I worked together at GTB (now VMLY&R) as part of WPP@Ford organization. She joined as the Product Director and was responsible for managing the team of product managers and helping 9+ international markets within the group with their platform product and content needs.

Sam joined when our regional HQ moved from Shanghai to Bangkok. Due to the nature of the transition, Sam not only had to build the foundation and client relationships but also had to create and nurture a new team. It was a really challenging time, but Sam hit the ground running from Day 1 and managed to establish a steady state of operations within less than 3 months itself.

Her continuous demonstration of taking up every challenge with a positive attitude, the tenacity to solve business problems with effective measures and the can-do attitude is highly commendable.

Sam is a true champion when it comes to leading with a strong vision and passion, and an asset to any organization. I wish her best in her future endeavors.

Ankit Mathur Wunderman Thompson MSC

Samantha or Sam as we’d call her entered the leadership of GTB like a breath of fresh air, and we in Wunderman Thompson noticeably started feeling as if these two agencies were part of something bigger for Ford. Sam really made these two agencies work together in a very synchronised synergy- the way it was designed to work. Together, GTB and WT managed all of Ford’s websites across APAC and the work neatly started taking direction but more than that, I felt it took meaning. The reason? Sam tapped into Subject Matter Experts and we were able to suggest dozens of changes that required development effort, which until then we had made peace with.

Always punctual and alert, Sam also made sure that the meetings we ran together with Ford were run tightly and to the point with never a point being missed and at the same time fun and quippy (she is great with idioms!)- wonderful client handling.

Another thing I noticed about her was how she never hesitated to reach out to the right people for the right job.

Robyn Francis UpRise

Samantha and I have worked on a number of projects together over the years I have known her. She has been a key driver of strategic marketing planning, and integral in the execution of various campaigns which she conceptualized.

She is an asset to any marketing team and brings with her deep knowledge, keen insights, fine-tuned skills and the enthusiasm to make any project a success.

Gugu Dladla Legacy Hotels & Resorts

Samantha is a Creative and multi talented Graphic Designer. She is a great Webmaster, with experience in marketing and print design. Exceptional collaborative and interpersonal skills; dynamic team player with well-developed written and verbal communication abilities.

She’s a passionate and inventive creator of innovative marketing strategies and campaigns; accustomed to performing in deadline-driven environments with an emphasis on working within budget requirements.

Samantha would be a great asset to any team/company she joins!
It was an absolute pleasure working with her!

Waseef Gool Wingman Communications

Being a start up means that many of your visions live within the confines of your head, it can also prove to be quite a difficult task to get someone to understand those visions.
This was NOT the case with Samantha and the team of Creative Designs.

Sam “got us” during the first meeting and understood exactly what we were needed and how we wanted it done.

She and her team brought their invaluable expertise to the table to create an online store for Man-i-fest that exceeded our expectations.

Most impressive has been that our website still looks fresh and relevant 2 years after it’s creation!

Thanks again Sam & Co for the amazing job you guys did!!!

Peter Schlebusch Creative Landscaping

Having not had online presence , I approached Creative designs namely Samantha Jansen. O and what a positive journey it’s been , she took me from no online presence to number 1 on google and in no to time I was receiving calls , which ultimately turned into very good business. Sam and her company saved my company and put me on the map. I’ll always be indebted to her. Thanks Sam.

Portfolio

Locate A Dealer

Improvements were made to this existing functionality to filter dealerships taking cashless payments, sanitizing vehicles and had remote showrooms amidst the pandemic.

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Locate A Dealer

Product Owner /

Project
Locate A Dealer
Client
Ford IMG
Delivered
Mar 2020

Covid forced improvements to be made to this existing functionality whereby users were looking for dealerships that were taking cashless payments, sanitizing vehicles and had remote showrooms amidst the pandemic.

Within all 9 markets, dealerships had to be onboarded, databases had to be updated with the updated services they were providing (not all dealerships chose to partake in the variety of services).

The user makes the selection using the filter and is provided with the dealership contact details and address within their radius.

Additionally, we implemented a Dealer rating tool whereby clients give the dealership a star rating and leave a review. Dealers are able to respond to the comments on the tool.

View Live: https://www.ford.co.za/locate-a-dealer

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Build & Price

An intuitive way for users to configure their vehicle prior to going into a dealership.

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Build & Price

Product Owner /

Project
Build & Price
Client
Ford IMG
Delivered
Jan 2021

It was discovered that users to the Ford website wanted a way to configure their vehicle prior to going into a dealership, so that they could understand the costs of all the additions to their vehicle.

For markets that had legal requirements, users were required to enter their Postal code – costs of vehicles were updated according to the region.

The user would select the basic vehicle they were interested in, and then begin to configure the vehicle accordingly. Options were body style, colour, interior, exterior, accessories.

Once configuration is complete, they are taken to a summary page, displaying the estimated drive away price, as well as an option to Reserve the vehicle.

A refundable reservation fee is paid online. The user information is sent on to the closest dealership based on the location. The dealership contacts the client and finalizes the sale onsite.

This feature led to a 2x increase of users completing their Build & Price experience.

View Figma prototype video (left).

View Live: https://www.ford.com.au/buy/build-and-price.html#/model?catalogId=WAPAB-TRA-2021-RangerAUS202200

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Cross Carline Model Compare

A user-friendly and dynamic way to compare cars across the wide-range of vehicles available.

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Cross Carline Model Compare

Product Owner /

Project
Cross Carline Model Compare
Client
Ford IMG
Delivered
Sep 2020

From data research, it was found that users to the Ford websites were looking for an easier way to compare vehicle models – but not only across one range of vehicle, but over the entire Ford range.

The functionality included in-depth comparison of various features of the vehicles and also included a dynamic filter for the user to decide which specific features they want to compare.

Once the user has completed their comparison, they have the option to take it to the next level and build out their dream vehicle, using the Build & Price feature.

View InVision prototype video (left).

Click here to view live: https://www.ford.co.za/commercial/tourneo-custom-2018/

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Pick Up Where You Left Off

An improvement to the customer journey for users returning to the site and wanting to re-view a vehicle they had already checked out.

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Pick Up Where You Left Off

Product Owner /

Project
Pick Up Where You Left Off
Client
Ford IMG
Delivered
August 2020

We found that with the outdated version of the Build & Price feature, many users were getting frustrated and were dropping off midway through a build.

The Pick Up Where You Left Off feature was built in an effort to recapture a user coming back to the site, to encourage them to complete the build.

Additionally, for the users that simply came to the site to browse, they would have the opportunity of jumping right back to the vehicle they had been searching before, thus improving the user journey.

They are provided with options as to how they would like to continue their journey. The ordering of each feature within this build was structured based on how valuable a specific feature was to the user.

View Live here: https://www.ford.co.za/
* Please note that this feature will pop up on the homepage only after you have already viewed a vehicle on the site.

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Help Me Choose

Helping a user to determine a selection of vehicles to choose from based on their inputted requirements.

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Help Me Choose

Product Owner /

Project
Help Me Choose
Client
Ford IMG
Delivered
Aug 2020

Due to the vast range of vehicles in the Ford ecosystem, some clients were having trouble deciding what the most suitable vehicle was for them and/or their family.

We took the approach of creating this functionality, asking the user some pertinent questions, which would output in suggested vehicle options matching their requirements.

The database structure was a complex one with many variables.

View InVision prototype video (left).

View Live: https://www.ford.com.au/suv/

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Service Price Calculator

A feature for clients asking for a way to be able to anticipate their service costs for each particular scheduled service.

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Service Price Calculator

Product Owner /

Project
Service Price Calculator
Client
Ford IMG
Delivered
Sep 2020

Users were asking for a way to be able to anticipate their service costs for each particular scheduled service.

We created a service price calculator where the customer would be able to enter all the details of their vehicle, the dealership they intended to take the vehicle to be serviced, as well as details about the service itself and any replacement parts they may require.

This outputted a cost, detailing the labour, parts and taxes.

The client is then prompted to book a service or download the calculation as a PDF.

View Live: https://www.ford.co.th/en/owner/service-price-calculator/

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Interests

  • Animals
  • Travel
  • Coffee

Contact Me


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