#Newsmaker: Roan Mackintosh is Incubeta SA's new MD

Roan Mackintosh has been appointed as managing director of Incubeta South Africa. Image supplied.

Mackintosh has spent some time as the commercial director at technology specialist DQ&A, which is part of the Incubeta Group. His technology background made his shift into the leadership role a logical one after his predecessor, Adriaan Strydom, moved into a senior position within the group.

“Growth within the group generally, and South Africa in particular, means we need to shift our organisational structure to ensure we are optimally positioned to support our clients and continue with our expansion strategy. Roan’s experience and vision align perfectly with our strategy of being a tech-first company. We have no doubt that this will benefit both local and international clients,” explains Jonathan Gluckman, Incubeta director and CEO of NMPi Asiapac and Africa.

Here, Mackintosh elaborates on his new role, his career so far and how he plans to multiply growth opportunities within the business.

Congrats on your appointment. How do you feel about it?

Thank you. I'm really excited about the challenge. Incubeta is moving towards a single consolidated market offering across the three operating brands – i.e. DQ&A, NMPi and Joystick.

The timing is also pretty great as more and more clients are looking for an integrated services approach across tech, media and creative. So, I really think things are aligning and this will allow me to make a large contribution to my new role.

"Integrated agency" is on SA's marketing minds, finds Agency Scope 2019 study (so far)

13 Aug 2019

When is/was the effective date?

This appointment was effective on 2 September 2019.

What excites you most about the agency and where it’s going?

I think the marketing technology space is a fascinating one right now. We've all seen the trend of consolidation through acquisition amongst the tech giants (i.e. Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Salesforce etc.). Each of them has a marketing technology stack offering that is maturing to the point of actually allowing clients to finally get to that 'single version of truth' across multiple activation channels.

The silos are finally breaking down and, as one of only two certified Google Partners in the region, Incubeta is well-positioned to be at the forefront of leveraging these tech advancements and building capability within enterprise organisations to take full advantage of the possibilities afforded by the technology. And Google... well, is Google and they build some pretty amazing platforms – it's then up to us to make sure this is all utilised properly by our clients.

What do you love most about your career in technology in general?

Never a dull day! The pace of change is relentless and, although it can sometimes feel a little overwhelming staying on top of it all, there is also something immensely satisfying when you take time to look back on where you've come from and recognise that the work we are delivering today is streaks ahead of where we were even six to 12 months ago. I'm also a bit of a closet nerd who really enjoys where technology is taking us as a civilisation.

The road to marketing redemption is paved in data

Roan Mackintosh  16 Jul 2019

From Elon Musk's lofty space exploration goals to augmented reality, the internet of things and even my connected fridge that can tell me today's weather. For example, how amazing is that someone's just invented a "smart cane" to help visually impaired people navigate their surroundings!

Any career highlights you’re particularly proud of?

I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with some really amazing brands over the years. Across Naspers (various divisions from Kalahari to Multichoice to 24.com) Absa, Emirates, Woolworths, Clickatell, Takealot and now Sanlam, Clicks, Outsurance, DirectAxis, Shoprite, Loot and Rain.

I've really been at the coal-face of enterprise business in the MEA markets and, although the nature of our work tends to be more on the technology back-end side of things, it doesn't necessarily afford us the ability to be entering and winning advertising industry awards (the likes of Loeries, Assegais or Bookmarks).

I have helped deliver technical solutions to clients that deliver real business value, and that's something to be proud of. In one instance, we took an existing automated email communication stream with three pre-defined touchpoints and revised this to include eight potential touchpoints across the journey with customised content at each point – the net increase in booked revenue was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars!

Tell us a bit about your experience and how this has equipped you for your new position.

I've been in the digital marketing industry for over 11 years now. Prior to that, I spent two and a half years in a more traditional advertising agency focusing on experiential marketing. I moved across to Acceleration in 2008, a South African startup that went on to be acquired by leading advertising conglomerate, WPP. I've seen how local talent can shine on an international stage.

South Africans can be guilty of shying away from acknowledging our achievements. We are globally recognised for our innovation and have many world firsts we should be proudly showcasing.

What are you most looking forward to/enjoying so far?

One of Incubeta's differentiators are the people that work here. We have some amazingly talented professionals who pride themselves on delivering excellent work. There is a real team mentality in the office, and we've proven this in delivering global projects through inter-office collaboration. I'm really enjoying the can-do attitude that many of my initial initiatives have been met with and cannot wait to see what we can achieve in 2020.

@RoanMack13 @DQnA kicks off today with his key note speech on The Competitive Advantage through the Power of Technology, Data and People #AdTech #Martech #Matchmakers #TLA #IABInsights pic.twitter.com/g7N5hVZ2ow

— IAB South Africa (@iab_sa) June 27, 2019

Budgets. Money makes the world go round, right? In all seriousness though, Incubeta currently finds itself in the enviable position of multiple growth opportunities. Our main challenge will, I think, be focus. We need to be clinical in terms of how we translate these opportunities into sustainable long-term growth.

Clicks2Customers rebranded to NMPi as part of global growth strategy

Incubeta  28 Jun 2017

What are you currently reading/watching/listening to for work?

I regularly attend Google webinars on the latest happenings on GMP (Google Marketing Platform).