Perhaps the word "lead" has become worn out. It's been relegated to the category of picturesBut every now and then, somewhere, someone comes along who dusts it off and gives it new meaning: they give it a real, living significance. Wanda is one of them.
What makes her a leader, we might wonder? Was it betting on an unknown startup that is now one of Argentina's five unicorns? Perhaps. Is it considering her team the best part of her job? Probably. Is it balancing her role as Chief Brand Officer with her family life and showing it off without hesitation? Undoubtedly. Is it still dreaming of making the brand she helped create known? Also yes.
Thus, with 16 years of experience at Globant and being the mother of three daughters, she leads the Marketing and Communication area of a company with more than 20.000 globers in 18 countries, and part of an industry in which 80% are men.
Wanda Weigert, Bachelor of Arts in Social media From our Faculty and leader of a booming brand, nice to meet you.
-Every story has a beginning. What was yours like at Globant?
When I was finishing my fourth year, I started working as an intern at a publishing house owned by Gerardo López Alonso and Jimena Gómez Ilari. There were many people from the Universidad AustralInés Casares, who was also part of the publishing house, went to work at Globant, at that time a little-known company with 100 employees. And she was the one who brought me to work with her.
We all knew each other; there were very few of us. The spirit was very startup-like, very entrepreneurial, a spirit of wanting to conquer the world and of "we're all pushing in the same direction." And that's how the story began. That's how I got to know the company, without really knowing it.
Today, Globant is undergoing what is called digital transformation. This includes everything from software development to developing experiences for audiences, clients, or consumers.
But at that time—we're talking about 2005—the technologies were completely different. Back then, we framed all audience outreach within Internet Marketing, which involved sending emails or newslettersIt was a fairly basic version of what is now known as Digital Marketing. And I started doing this for one of Globant's first clients.
After a year or two, I proposed to Martín Migoya that we set up the Communications department… I had already started doing some things, in my free time, putting something together newsletter internal affairs and so on. And she told me, "Of course, go ahead, put it together." And that's how it started.
-In those early years, faced with the challenge of consolidating the brand, what successes and failures did you have?
First and foremost, Globant was a startup… If it has the spirit of a startup now, back then it was 100% a startup. That means trying to do what you can with what you have, which wasn't much. We were always trying to innovate and find creative ways to solve problems we couldn't solve on a large scale.
With that spirit of trying to build a different brand, we made do with actions that would lead to good results with a small budget. For example, at job fairs, since we didn't have money to buy merchandising or gifts, we would bring crates of green apples (the color of our brand) and hand them out with a sticker from Globant. And we managed to get people walking all over the fair with Globant apples. With this type of strategy, we started to build and develop the brand. And that marked the starting point for taking action through different and alternative channels to try to achieve the same result.
There's a high demand for talent in the technology market. So, one of the challenges we faced was finding a way to differentiate ourselves and make people choose to work for us.
-What other actions of cWhat disruptive communication strategies did your team implement?
I remember one we did to launch our first offices...
From the beginning, the founders wanted to promote the idea that people shouldn't have to leave their hometown to find quality jobs. First, we opened offices in Tandil, and a couple of years later, we decided to open one in La Plata.
To promote this opening, we placed Globant business cards on La Costera, the bus that runs between Buenos Aires and La Plata. The back of the card read: “Hi, I’m Pablo. I’m looking for María because we became good friends while traveling between La Plata and Buenos Aires. But now that Globant has opened offices in La Plata, I no longer travel there, and I’d like to reconnect with her.”
We did a lot of these kinds of guerrilla marketing tactics!
-What challenges did you encounter when expanding to other countries? How did the company's communication evolve?
Globant is in 18 countries, so yes, the challenges were many.
Last year, with the pandemic, there was also exponential growth. It took us 16 years to reach 10.000 employees, our Globers. And only two to reach 20.000, which we achieved a few months ago. And we experienced this change also in the Communications and Marketing area, which we built little by little.
Currently, in this area we have three regions: Latin America, Europe, and the United States, which work on all local strategies. And we also have a global area.
From the global and regional levels, we manage everything related to the brand, including communication, marketing, press, content, social media, and sustainability initiatives. Everything that impacts the brand image.
-While gaining a presence in public opinion is always beneficial, it is a business Business to BusinessAimed at businesses, how do they reach their customers?
It depends a lot on the location and what we want to achieve. For us, expanding our customer base is just as important as expanding our talent pool. And those are two completely different strategies.
So you have to divide the markets… The largest percentage of our customer base is in the US and Europe. But the largest base of our talent is in Latin America and Asia. So, you have to start developing different strategies for each region.
-How did the brand evolve?
Our customer base is growing a lot in the US and Europe, but due to the very inertia of where we were born, the brand grew with the values of entrepreneurship, focusing heavily on the founders.
We grew through recommendations. A client who was working with us at one company would go to another company and recommend us… And that's how we grew.
Now, we're at a scale where we no longer have to rely solely on word-of-mouth. So we're placing a lot of emphasis on digital marketing, campaign personalization, content… trying to start building more personalized relationships with audiences on a larger scale.
-Where is communication headed today?
I believe that what's being worked on now, and what will continue to be reinforced, is the generation and personalization of content. The pandemic exploded in everything related to digital channels, and at the same time, we began to be able to generate more personalized strategies. We have access to data and the technology to activate the appropriate personalization in a timely manner, and to keep pace with the technology industry. Because technology is a machine for generating trends and forging new paths.
Now we're talking about blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Until last year we were talking about artificial intelligence… Everything is changing rapidly, and I think a fundamental value is being able to bring that content to wider audiences and make it more accessible.
-How did the identity campaign come about, and what was the behind-the-scenes process like? Be One of a Kind ?
Actually, the thing about Be One of a Kind It arose because our culture has always been something that identifies us and sets us all apart as globers.
As we grew, we began to see that we had our sustainability goals, we had the work we were doing in diversity, but we weren't able to see it in a new holistic way, in an integrated way.
So, what we created was the concept of Be Kind which, basically, is how to work on culture and how to envision a positive long-term impact on each of the stakeholders with whom we work.
It was more a process of evolution and internal reflection on how we wanted to have, or what impact we wanted to have, from the company on the communities. That was the evolutionary process of Be KindThen, we tried to communicate it to the outside world, obviously trying to build communities. And it was in that process of building communities that it was born. Be One of a Kind, is our community for the Be Kind program.
For us, working on diversity is very important: we operate in 18 countries. But beyond that, we're in an industry where 80% of the workforce is male. So, there's a huge amount of work to be done in raising awareness and trying to change the reality to promote inclusion. So the Be One of a Kind That was it: understanding where the industry was, understanding where we wanted to go, and starting to work on raising awareness.
-Did you encounter any obstacles in your professional performance because you are a woman?
The truth is, no, not at all. At least, in my experience, when I suggested something, I always got a "do it" as a response.
I am a mother of three daughters: four-year-old twins and a two-year-old… Along the way I had to take two maternity leaves, leave twice and, fortunately, I always found the greatest flexibility and openness to be able to find that balance that at least in me was necessary and wanted.
So I can't talk about any obstacles to my performance at all. The truth is, that's also what it's about… Leading by example. It's not just "because we're going to work with women," but really having examples that show it's possible to balance a professional life with a family life.
-What skills do you think were necessary and what skills did your career give you to become Chief Brand Officer?
I think that, for me, critical analysis of reality was key. And having this generalist education was fundamental in allowing me to try to understand how to solve a problem from different angles. That, I believe, is what helped me the most and gave me the tools to participate in discussions on various topics, contribute ideas, and try to offer solutions.
The most fun times were the third-year short film and radio projects. We had formed a very close-knit group with Majo and Juanjo. I remember staying up all night working at the Faculty, sleeping at the Faculty—something I don't think happens anymore. But back then, there was a passion for making things happen that was truly motivating.
Another one I remember… When we edited the first documentary that Gabi Fabbro made us make on an analog linear editor, cutting the recording. Things that are now totally obsolete, but they were super enriching and a lot of fun.
I think the best advice is to try it out, because there really is so much you can do with a degree in Communication… I have classmates who are directing films, others who are journalists, and others who are working in companies. The range of career paths is very broad, and they are all exciting.
So, I advise you to try it out. Because it's also possible that you might start working at a newspaper, and then perhaps find greater passion working for a company or a communications agency. This general training gives you the tools to find enrichment in any career path. So, give it a try, and if it doesn't work out, change course—you can always do that.
The truth is that for me it's about being able to build a brand - which is what we're working towards - that is recognized worldwide, and that's my dream and our dream.
The team I work with, without a doubt. The founders, the whole team top management and, of course, My whole Brand team… The truth is, you really feel like you're part of a family… I've been at Globant since 2005 and I can't even count anymore… 16 years… I'm here because I truly feel like I'm part of a family.
And then, I also want to highlight the vision of growth and long-term impact on the world, a positive impact that means all of us working here share the same dream and push to make it a reality. That motivates me every day to connect now that I'm not going to the office as much and to keep going.
It was 2006, and we needed to start recruiting talent. Nobody knew us, and we had to be more original to get anyone to pay attention to us.
So, what we did was put together a campaign in the newspaper. At that time, they were still hiring there. We published some large ads that didn't include the company name. They said, “We're looking for talent. Solve this problem and find X. If you find it, send your CV to X.com.” To submit their resume, they had to solve a math or logic problem.
We did this for five Sundays in a row and received an impressive flood of resumes. And in the last announcement, we said we were Globant and thanked everyone who participated.
It was so successful that Romina, one of the women who's now a manager on my team, told me that she was finishing college at the time, saw those ads, cut them out, and said, "I want to work here." Years later, she started working at Globant. So that was the level of impact that campaign had.
