Alanna Glicksman, 29, is currently putting her social media savvy to use at Snapchat as a senior account manager, but it was at MasterCard Canada she earned the nickname “Tweets.”
Glicksman joined the financial brand in 2012 as its first-ever community manager and set the groundwork for its approach to social media. Over her tenure, she grew MasterCard’s Facebook audience by 2,000% and maintained 86% positive sentiment across the brand’s social channels.
But, after four years and two major promotions at MasterCard, Glicksman proved her marketing skills extend far beyond crafting the tweets that inspired her nickname. By July 2015, she’d taken the lead on the brand’s consumer marketing and steered some outstanding interpretations of MasterCard’s global “Priceless Surprises” campaign in the Canadian market. First were “contextual” surprises that leveraged MasterCard sponsorships including ticket giveaways to sporting events. Then she used social listening to identify smaller opportunities such as buying ice cream for a mom and her kids.
And knowing global spokesperson Justin Timberlake would be in Montreal for a concert, she arranged for him to surprise a cardholding superfan. That campaign, which also included a video with former NHL star Doug Gilmour, earned more than 28 million views and won two Gold Clios.
MasterCard Canada’s head of marketing, Milos Vranesevic, says Glicksman is the kind of employee you can trust to take on any challenge. “If there was a hill we needed to get over, there’s a couple people I’d turn to that have the wherewithal and experience to get us there, and she was one of them,” he says.
At MasterCard, Glicksman hosted “reverse mentoring” sessions where she’d teach social media to executives including the heads of sales, IT, marketing and the company’s president. But soon enough, Vranesevic imagines her outgrowing that tech ingénue role.
“She’s got a very strong sense of marketing fundamentals, but a very strong business mind as well,” Vranesevic says. “I can see, in the right time, long-term, running an entire marketing department.”
There are insights and anecdotes aplenty in our 30 Under 30 editorial package. To get the scoop on our finalists visit 30U30.ca and read full profiles of Canada’s next set of marketing leaders.
