Snr Digital Strategist: CRM/WhatsApp Specialist

Ogilvy, part of WPP, has been creating impact for brands through iconic, culture-changing, value-driving ideas since the company was founded by David Ogilvy 75 years ago. It builds on that rich legacy through Borderless Creativity – innovating at the intersections of its advertising, public relations, relationship design, consulting, and health capabilities with experts collaborating seamlessly across over 120 offices in nearly 90 countries. Ogilvy currently ranks as the #1 global agency network for creative excellence and effectiveness by WARC, signifying its ability to deliver creative solutions that drive unreasonable impact for clients and communities. Ogilvy is a WPP company (NYSE: WPP). For more information, visit Ogilvy.com, and follow us on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and Facebook.

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth. For more information, visit WPP.com.

We are seeking an experienced Senior Digital Strategist: CRM/WhatsApp Specialist to join our Africa Operating Unit to coordinate the integrated delivery of ground-breaking work.

As a Senior Digital Strategist, you will help define how CRM, 1st party data, and conversational platforms show up strategically for our client's brands represented across Africa. This will be a role that sits at the strategic heart of our Africa-level campaigns.

Owned channels, CRM, and WhatsApp sit at the forefront of our client's business. You will play a pivotal role in translating our client’s business challenges and objectives into fully integrated direct-to-consumer strategies, elevating consumer engagement, loyalty, and brand advocacy

• →Be the voice of CRM and direct-to-consumer strategy for our client's brands you represent for continental Africa, supporting the leadership team, end-to-end teams and client services in delivering groundbreaking and effective consumer engagement strategy.
• →Elevate our client's consumer engagement and loyalty by developing and executing advanced CRM strategies, leveraging owned platforms and WhatsApp as core direct-to-consumer channels.
• →Drive strategies powered by strategic first-party data collection, advanced audience planning, and the use of Open Intelligence (AI tool).
• →Design highly personalised customer journeys, implementing innovative conversational marketing and loyalty programs that foster long-term brand advocacy.
• →Partner with integrators, media partners, and broader capability teams to proactively identify digital engagement opportunities and ensure seamless CRM integration across all brand touchpoints.
• →Assemble strategy into presentation materials and be comfortable presenting complex CRM, data, and communication flows to senior level clients.
• →Conduct on-site and remote workshops for category clients to optimise their CRM, loyalty, and conversational marketing strategies.
• →Flex in your strategic approach, covering the following core competencies:
  • →CRM & Lifecycle Strategy
  • →Conversational Marketing (specifically WhatsApp ecosystem & chatbots)
  • →First-Party Data & Audience Strategy
  • →Loyalty & Advocacy Program Design
• →Work with the end-to-end, data, and insights teams to utilise data analytics to optimise performance, measure conversion metrics, and add a strategic, data-driven layer to monthly reports for key clients.
• →Inform CRM KPIs and define measurement and attribution solutions for clients.
• →Work with client services and creative teams to inspire and guide ideation, ensuring creative assets and conversational copy are optimised for direct-to-consumer platforms and in line with approved strategy.
• →Work with the broader digital and social team across the continent to ensure CRM strategies are implementable, unearth additional insights, and optimise customer journeys in real-time.
• →Demonstrate what ‘good’ looks like for CRM and conversational strategy, ensuring we have a solid range of strategy frameworks and learning to drive our work and defining best practices and best-in-class case studies.

• 5+ years of proven strategy experience in a digital agency, CRM/direct marketing agency, or working internally for a well-known platform or brand.
• Deep, proven specialisation in designing and executing CRM strategies, loyalty programs, and conversational marketing (specifically utilising WhatsApp Business Platform/APIs).
• Experience with first-party data strategies, audience segmentation, and leveraging data/insights tools (experience with Open Intelligence or equivalent enterprise CDPs/DMPs is a plus).
• Experience working for top drawer brands and with senior stakeholders or in a senior client-facing role.
• Strong experience working alongside other teams (creative, media, tech) delivering fully integrated marketing solutions.
• A passion for CRM, conversational commerce, and emerging direct-to-consumer technology trends.
• Solid experience with quantitative performance metrics, CRM analytics, and data-driven optimisation.