As an interim professional, it is always a surprise who you end up working for next. This is also what I love about my job. I get to experience different industries, different companies, and different teams every time I am sent on a new assignment. It keeps me on my edge, as I learn new things and meet new people on the go.

In August 2019, I was excited to start my assignment as Marketing & Communications Manager for Instatrust, one of DNV GL’s new energy ventures. Headquartered in Norway, DNV GL is the independent expert in risk management and quality assurance. As much as 70% of its activities are related to providing testing, certification and independent advisory services to the energy industry worldwide.

“Smarter, greener, safer” is what you will read on most of DNV GL’s marketing materials. Unlike many companies out there, DNV GL really puts their money where their mouth is when it comes to making a difference. With their own internal incubator program, DNV GL stimulates innovative ideas that contribute to a safer future based on clean energy. Instatrust is a good example of this: a digital marketplace for efficient and transparent trade of renewable power. In short: making it easier for businesses to go green.

With the existing workload of the marketing & communications department did the promising ventures could not be properly served – resulting from this program – require to kickstart their operations. For Instatrust, especially, DNV GL needed an external marketing professional with focus and dedication to get this innovative product to market quickly. In fact, speed and effective insights were going to be key to gaining a foothold in a new highly competitive market.

That is why for an interim position like this, it is crucial to be able to grasp the essentials of the market in a blink of an eye. The venture’s need for quick growth means there is no time to waste, demanding to be operational from the very start while shaping the strategy and translating that into a yearly plan that includes all relevant marketing activities.

Getting myself up to speed required a lot of reading, but more importantly, identifying the key stakeholders in the game and asking them the right questions. This can be a challenge when the team members are spread out over 4 different countries, which implied plenty of conference calls and frequent traveling – I especially enjoyed the latter.

Even though this may seem challenging, working in a start-up or scale-up environment is really what many marketeers dream of. Working in a high-pace environment allows you to take decisions quickly. You mostly find yourself working with motivated people, and you’re able to see results of your work almost instantly. I can tell from experience that this is not always the case when working for big corporations.

However, being part of the DNV GL group also brought many advantages. For instance, I had access to a wide range of existing materials and industry experts that helped me work more efficiently. I could create thought leadership content by interviewing colleagues or opening up existing repositories from which I could re-use existing pieces. As outsourcing some activities was unavoidable, I also had access to their suppliers, to which I was not limited to. In fact, I had the freedom to outsource some activities to my talented colleagues from Tech to Market in Eindhoven.

Last but not least, I want to mention that I came to admire DNV GL’s ambition for a greener tomorrow. Speeding up the energy transition is something that I believe is fundamental to ensure proper living conditions for future generations, and DNV GL’s contribution to it cannot be underestimated.

Are you curious to read more on how I approached this task and what I managed to achieve? Click here to read the full case study.