SILVANA BOTTEGA

CEO

Silvana Bottega gained an Honours degree in History of Art and English Language from the University of Cape Town, where she was awarded class prize in Media Studies. She then read a trilingual Masters in European Politics and Policy, from the University of Siena, Sciences-Po in Paris and the University of Bath with her dissertation focused on ‘The Branding of Nations’. Directly after her studies, she secured a place on the sought after WPP fellowship programme designed to cultivate high-calibre management talent.

In order to broaden her understanding of the full marketing mix, Silvana completed a marketing course at London Business School, qualified as an Art Director from The Red & Yellow School and received a post graduate diploma in Account Management at the Association of Advertising Agencies. Silvana then spent five years in Asia Pacific based in Hong Kong and additionally in Shanghai and Beijing. Her initial secondment was with WPP at Enterprise IG and Bates 141 where she was a regional business manager (Asia Pacific) working on Harley Davidson, Motorola, Unilever and Coca-Cola. During this time, she was twice internalised within client offices for Harley Davidson and Motorola to assist on operations management and market entry strategies across first and second tier cities in China.

Silvana was also involved in global knowledge management and delivered training sessions within Asia Pacific on brand strategy processes.
After a few years with WPP, Silvana joined Lowe Worldwide in China, as channel planning director creating brand activation and strategic planning disciplines for clients including Johnson & Johnson, Nestea (Coca-Cola), Ovaltine, Dumex and Unilever, before returning to South Africa.

Silvana has the ability to deliver on many aspects of brand strategy, from brand discovery, strategy formulation, product development, brand engagement, retail analysis and brand experience. This broad know-how and her cross-sector, international exposure means that she can contribute to a broad range of client needs. She has worked in financial services (DBS in Singapore, HSBC Asia Pacific), FMCG (Coca-Cola, Masterfoods, Unilever), and telecommunications (China Mobile, Nokia and Motorola).

In her spare time, Silvana runs Stylistaguide.com, an online review site for luxury in South Africa and regularly shares news on the SA luxury news site, luxurynews.co.za. She is passionate about wine and also holds the post of Marketing Director across her family vineyards where she promotes a portfolio of four wine brands including The Idiom Collection of Fine Wines. She writes for numerous local publications including Prestige Magazine, Live Out Loud and is regularly quoted in broad publications. She has recently launched a distinctive Idiom Parfum du Vin which is a wine inspired scent with Frazer Parfum as an eau de parfum at Harrods and in a distinctive solid format for the South African market.