Dream Teams: Hannah Waters and Rob Pellow At the Intersection of Tech and Creativity

The industry loves talking about the intersection of tech and creativity, like, a lot. But today in Dream Teams we're taking a look at a duo that actually merges the technical and the creative – Armadillo’s executive creative director Hannah Waters, and their executive technical director, Rob Pellow.

Hannah and Rob met five years ago when the former contracted the company on a pitch, more specifically her first ever CRM focused-project, having come from a purely brand background. Hannah had lots of “relentless,” as she puts it, technical questions, and Rob, as a true tech person, was ready to answer everything with envious enthusiasm. 

“It was such a refreshing experience,” Hannah says. So refreshing, in fact, that it led to her accepting a full-time role at Armadillo only a few months later, which leads us to today. After a mere 45 minutes together, Rob, too, instantly knew that Hannah matched his passion, creative ideation and, importantly, silliness. “It was one of my favourite meetings that I’d had in Armadillo,” he says.

At Armadillo, every digital project requires close collaboration between the creative and the technical, so after the duo got a taste of their impeccable dynamic, they became each other’s go-to. While Rob came to the rescue for all technical CRM knowledge, Hannah brought her brand skills and creativity. In addition, Rob’s user-experience perspective meant he added even more value to Hannah's creative ideas.

“It felt like we’re two parts of a puzzle,” Hannah affirms, “Our conversations always had an energy to them of always building on what was possible. Plus, our similar sense of humour meant talking to each other was always fun.

"I’d never had such a collaborative relationship with a technical director, it had felt previously like magnets repelling each other, like I was always faced with ‘no’s and ‘can’t’s’. Now they became ‘yes’ and ‘if’ and ‘have you thought about this’.

“It was like we were trying to solve the same problem, strengthening the outcome. We are the meeting point of brand and performance. He is the ‘could we’ to my ‘should we’.”

This energy has stayed the same through various crises, from pandemics to difficult projects, and shaped Hannah and Rob's working relationship. The only thing that’s changed now is that Hannah knows when to definitely refrain from making eye contact with Rob because the situation requires them to not burst out laughing.

In turn, Rob sees in Hannah composure and eloquence only fit for a “posh yoga teacher” (which he still calls her some times). “It’s difficult because I know Hannah so well now that it’s hard to think objectively about what’s changed,” he says. “I don’t think I would describe her differently from my first impression on our first project – my favourite sparring partner.”

Speaking of their first project together, this was the P&O Cruises Pre-Cruise journey, where, as Hannah explained above, creativity met technical complexity and Hannah met data-informed trigger journeys for the first time. “Rob felt like my personal guide through the technical complexities, always so generous with his time for anyone who shrouds interest.”

Remembering that same job, Rob says that he wasn’t particularly involved at the start, and with Hannah’s lack of experience in CRM, it “should have meant a really difficult ideation meeting about bringing a brand to life in the CRM world.” Instead, he says, “it was full of ideas, laughing and ‘yes, and’s.”

Now, Hannah and Rob are both on the same page, and believe that too many people in the industry overlook CRM as a way to create meaningful and lasting engagement with audiences. 

“I’m always on the lookout for creative experiences in CRM that surprise and delight customers and so I look for inspiration outside of the channel,” says Hannah. “Rob and his team of developers help us push the boundaries of what is possible in order to create meaningful, enjoyable moments for the customer – where we can build a picture of what would be relevant to each customer.”

At their best, Rob says, the two are now like a Venn diagram with user experience in the middle and lots of complementary skills on either side. One thing that’s definitely not on the diagram? Ego. 

But what else do these two do when strong points clash? According to Hannah, they bring in the specialists – to hear alternative perspectives, and many of them too, until they are sure what the best outcome is and how it can be reached. Both strong believers in challenging what they’re shown or what they think they know, for Hannah and Rob debates are a core part of the creative process – emotions and all.

“We have been known to bring emotion to debates,” says Rob, “but have gotten pretty good at setting context with each other, so we know when we can really push and when we might need to be softer.

“We unblock any creative or directional impasses by going up through the levels of objectives until we do agree, then work back down again to get to the output needed.” They also never debate each other when hungry, so food is regularly the unifier. 

Since the P&O project, many others followed and Hannah and Rob met them with the same energy and rigour. But, internally at Armadillo, both of them worked on something they’re particularly fond of. 

“I’m proudest of how we created clarity of role expectations and redefined career progression for the entire business with the job description and appraisal process overhaul,” explains Hannah. “Seeing individuals identify and action their own growth is the thing I’m proudest of.”

Rob adds: “Creating the framework for how we do performance reviews at Armadillo was a real labour of love. We spent countless hours working on so many facets of it and it has given us a lot back in terms of developing talent.”

When it comes to external projects, interesting creative challenges are never lacking either. From how to create small modules of engagement and data capture into a new clients existing customer journey, to setting ‘start from scratch’ projects up for success, Hannah and Rob aren’t scared of any of it.

Nowadays, the challenges are less about direct client output and more about setting up the teams in a way that allows them to work with each other seamlessly. “Thinking about the people and roles we have, how they complement each other is a current creative challenge, in a way,” says Rob. 

Talking about the benefits of having a creative partner, Hannah says that someone being there to check your thinking is what freshens her own ideas up and makes them as robust as they can be. 

And for him, it’s the knowledge that he’s seen – Hannah knows how he thinks, which helps her get the best out of him, she knows what makes him laugh, and knows when he needs a change of scenery. 

“It’s not just having a work mate,” he explains, “it means you have a place you can go to when you’re excited and need help bringing that excitement to life, somewhere to go when you’re stuck and need a new perspective. And someone who knows all the specifics of how the industry and your business works, so you can just get into the meat of the challenge straight away.”

At Armadillo, every employee is expected to embody the values of challenge, craft and take ownership. So wherever Hannah and Rob look, they see others collaborating in the same harmonious and inspiring way that they do. “It’s motivating to continually see people find new ways to channel these values and bring fresh thinking to a situation. Being open to, and seeking out, feedback and input from others to strengthen your work is what I find most inspiring.”

And what have these two techy creatives learned from each other? In Hannah’s view, what Rob has taught her is that one can feel 100% supported by someone willing to challenge them 100% of the time. “Rob regularly reminds me to bring empathy and perspective to situations I find difficult, by demonstrating these himself.”

“Hannah genuinely made me better at my job,” says Rob. “I’ve learned lots from her. From a ridiculously meticulous approach to note taking, to how to break a problem down before tackling it in a manageable way.”

In turn, what we’ve learned is that with these two, there’s no work challenge that can’t be overcome, and out of difficulty, as Hannah says, comes a greater solution, often with “a side of some hearty, side-splitting laughter.”