Spitzenfingers
Process improver, client manager, communications strategist and brand marketer. More than 20 years in advertising and communications, freelance since 2011.
Freelance, for agencies and clients.
About me
Hello, I'm Vanessa Smit. I have worked in advertising and communications for more than 20 years, and I love organisations in transition.
I am purposeful, decisive and a problem solver, without losing sight of the stakeholders involved. I am analytical, thorough and inquisitive, and I only really want to leave once I have made an impactful contribution to solving a communications or organisational problem.
Since 2011 I have done this as a freelancer for a wide range of clients: national & international advertising agencies, digital agencies, content producers and activation agencies, but also (financial) service providers, healthcare providers, e-tailers and educational institutions.
What I do
Want to know what you can hire me for?
MarCom & Advertising
Broad experience in advertising: Client Services on the agency side and campaign management at brands. I have worked on large, complex accounts such as KPN, Rabobank, bol and ABN AMRO, and have just as much affinity with smaller brands and new client relationships. What I love: building and growing client-agency relationships and brands. From pitch to ongoing partnership, from one-person job to full team, with traditional media as well as digital & content forms of communication.
Internal & Change Communications
I have contributed to several larger reorganisations with a targeted change communications plan. I have worked closely with business consultants, HR advisers, lean experts and operational excellence advisers in transformations. Scrum & Agile ways of working are familiar to me too.
Vision & strategy programmes
For a number of clients I worked closely with different business units to develop a long-term organisational vision and the communication that goes with it. My strength lies in translating a business strategy into a pragmatic communications strategy.
Process optimisation
In several roles I have been responsible for setting up or optimising operational processes & ways of working: improving work processes and structures, clarifying tasks and responsibilities, and making collaboration within teams and with clients more efficient.
What clients say
I worked for
Dec ’24 – Feb ’25
Campaign Marketeer a.i.
- 8 full funnel campaigns in the Netherlands and Belgium, including Opstart and Black Friday. The Opstart campaign for two fundamentally different audiences: 6 agencies, a large group of stakeholders, all channels. Also improved collaboration within the cross-disciplinary team and put creator content to better structural use in the campaign funnel.
Feb ’25 – Apr ’26
KPN · Account Director a.i.
- Temporary support for campaign management, KPN
Oct ’23 – Sept ’24
MarCom Consultant
- Campaign management & consultancy, including putting together a freelance team, setting up and briefing the team, briefing and guiding the media agency, and developing the campaign.
Oct ’23 – Sept ’24
Business Director a.i.
- KPN “stukje van mij”, pitch support & onboarding Rabobank.
Jul ’23 – Oct ’23
Marketing Consultant
- Developing & implementing a marketing plan, including agency selection & setting up a marketing department.
Mar ’23 – May ’23
KLM Global · Account Director a.i.
Aug ’22 – Jan ’23
JDE Global (Tassimo, l’Or, JDE Professional) · Account Director a.i.
Apr ’22 – Jul ’22
Randstad, Nationale Nederlanden · Account Director a.i.
Jan ’22 – Apr ’22
Head of Delivery/ MT member a.i.
- Setting up a new department, optimising collaboration between account/ creative/ strategy, integrating WoW, training account
Aug ’21 – Dec ’21
NS · Account Director a.i.
- Process optimisation, internal training of the account floor
Dec ’20 – Jul ’21
ABN Amro, PwC, Becel, Blue Band · Account Director a.i.
Aug ’20 – Oct ’20
Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare & Sport · Account Director a.i.
- COVID-19 campaigns
Dec ’19 – Jan ’20
Albert Heijn · Account Director a.i.
May – Jul 2019 / Sept – Nov 2019
Volvo, Center Parcs, Enexis, Kinderhulp, Prorail · Account Director a.i.
Feb – May 2019 / Aug – Nov 2019
Evean, Prorail, Eigen Haard · Account Director/ organisational advice a.i.
- Organisational advice & process optimisation
2010 to 2018
KPN, Telfort, ABN AMRO, Marktplaats, Rijksoverheid, Mercedes Benz, LOI, FBTO, Amstel, Vodafone, Volkswagen, Miratorg Russia, Loyens & Loeff, Noord/Zuidlijn, G-Star, Comedy Central, Southern Comfort, Squarewise, Van Riet Advocaten, Diesel, Vifit, Greenpeace, CJP, Ziggo Dome, Ben · Account Director a.i. and Communications Adviser a.i.
- As a communications adviser, 2012 to 2016: internal communications during reorganisations and the introduction of an Operational Excellence way of working, guiding a vision programme and the introduction of a new product form.
2003 to 2009
KPN, Connexxion, RVS, Insinger de Beaufort, Nestle, AEGON, UPC, Bronx Shoes, Volkskrant Banen, Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst, RWE, Max Havelaar, Heineken, Leica, MINI, NS, BMW, Shell · Account Director/ Strategist and Project Manager (permanent position)
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Get in touch
You can always call or email. You can also schedule an appointment directly, or find me on LinkedIn.