Marketing and Communication Professional
Carolien Ottjes is a marketing and communication professional with 20+ years of experience in transformation and brand development. As CMO of Diergaarde Blijdorp, she led the transition to an impact organization for nature restoration, successfully achieving positioning, identity, and growth.
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Carolien Ottjes is a strategic marketing and communication professional with over 20 years of experience in positioning, transformation, and brand development. She helps organizations set their course, sharpen their stories, and realize both internal and external movement.
As CMO of Diergaarde Blijdorp, Carolien is the driving force behind the transformation of a traditional zoo into an impact organization for nature restoration. Under her leadership, Blijdorp developed a new positioning, an integrated content and marketing strategy, a renewed brand identity, and multiple public and B2B campaigns. She also achieved significant team growth (from 5 to 17 FTE), a digital transformation, and new strategic partnerships with, among others, Rabobank, Viessmann, and Dopper.
For this innovative and data-driven approach, Carolien was nominated for CMO of the Year in 2024. The jury praised her vision on brand strategy in a societal context, her leadership style, and her ability to achieve both impact and growth. Under her direction, revenue grew by 18%, the number of subscribers increased by 30%, and customer satisfaction improved significantly. Her work demonstrates how marketing can provide direction, change, and meaning to an organization.
Carolien was also a finalist for Rotterdam Businesswoman 2025 and the founder of OTT Concepts, through which she guides other organizations in strategic change.
Her presentations are strategic, inspiring, and practically applicable. She connects marketing with mission – and shows how to turn vision into change.
Transition is timeless and essential for growth. Carolien demonstrates how brand transition helps organisations maintain course in a changing environment. Not by letting go of everything, but by sharply choosing what remains and what may change.
Result: a brand that provides direction and adapts to the future.
A strong positioning ensures focus and clear choices. Carolien makes it clear why organisations get stuck when their positioning is not sharp enough, and how to return to the core: who you are, for whom you exist, and why.
Result: clarity, distinction, and a consistent story both internally and externally.
Marketing can be much more than execution. Carolien shows how marketing plays a strategic role in innovation and transition. As a connecting link between brand, strategy, and organisation.
Result: marketing as a catalyst for growth and change.
In addition to her lectures, Carolien provides interactive workshops where participants work in groups on their own organisation and issues.
Workshop Setup:
• Working in small groups
• Structured methodology to view things differently
• Deepening on brand, positioning, and direction
• Linking current activities to the desired future
The workshop helps teams to jointly clarify:
• where the organisation currently stands
• what the shared ambition is
• and what choices are needed to get there
Result: shared insight, alignment within the team, and a solid starting point for further strategic steps.
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