Matej Podobnik

Fractional Communications & PR Lead (CCO-level) | Senior comms strategy without the full-time hire | Public speaking coach | Less blah, more ta-da | ex–P&G, Huawei, Outfit7

Limassol Municipality, Limassol, Cyprus

About

For 20+ years I helped big companies talk: Procter & Gamble, Huawei, Outfit7. Consumer goods, tech, and a cartoon cat game with a few billion downloads. Different worlds, same lesson learned over and over: most communication problems usually aren't communication problems. Companies can usually get their message out fine. The trouble is nobody asks what the message actually is, who it is for, or what comms is meant to do for the business in the first place. So everyone skips to the fun part (the tagline, the press release, the "we should post more on LinkedIn"), and wonders why none of it actually gets heard. So I start one step back: with a diagnosis. Slower, less glamorous, and somehow still the whole game. These days I do this as a fractional communications lead, which is just a fancy way of saying you get someone who's run comms at a senior level, without putting them on payroll and buying them a chair. Sometimes that's a scaling company that's outgrown winging it; other times it's a well-established one whose comms somehow never had an actual owner. They all have the same problem underneath: comms got treated as an afterthought, and those don't really land. The work goes in two stages. First, a focused diagnostic: what your communication is actually trying to accomplish, who you're really talking to, and what you should be saying — and, just as often, what you should stop. Then, if it makes sense, I stick around and lead it. If your communication feels busy but never quite works, the foundation was probably never set. That's fixable. Let's talk. — Matej aka Hooman (Shorthand for all of the above: "less blah, more ta-da.")

Experience

  • Founder & Chief Communicator at Hooman Communications
    Mar 2024 - Present · 2 yrs 5 mos

  • Chief Marketing Officer at TENNI
    Feb 2025 - Present · 1 yr 6 mos

  • Senior Communications and Brand Director at Outfit7
    Mar 2019 - Mar 2024 · 5 yrs 1 mo

  • Huawei Consumer Business Group ()
    • Communications Director for CEE, Nordic, Turkey, Israel, Ukraine and Canada
      Jul 2018 - Feb 2019 · 8 mos

    • Communications Director for CEE & Nordics
      Oct 2017 - Jul 2018 · 10 mos

  • Procter & Gamble (12 yrs 9 mos)
    • Company Communications Leader for Central Europe South
      Apr 2015 - Sep 2017 · 2 yrs 6 mos

      Responsibilities: • Build P&G's reputation that translates into business results • Build winning culture and inspiration among employees • Issues and Crisis Management Personal achievements: • development of global standards on how Communications can help drive business through reputation • co-development and execution of regional charitable project "For Kids with Love" -- already in 2nd year of execution and being expanded to other countries across Europe • leading and coordinating the project of 25th anniversary of P&G in Hungary -- external and internal • establishment, coordination and execution of Habitat for Humanity partnership in Hungary -- helping underprivileged families get a home with the help of P&G volunteer work

    • Communications Manager, Grooming, Central and South East Europe, Turkey and Caucasian Republics
      Jul 2014 - Apr 2015 · 10 mos

      Role: Brand PR Manager Responsibilities: • Set the long term targets (based on company’s goals and marketing targets), preparation and execution of the annual PR strategy • Definition of target groups for PR communication, setting country and brand priorities • Coordination of PR agencies work • Issues and Crisis Management Personal achievements: • Improving ROI of PR projects - increased PR results versus previous year (with lowered budget) across the region(s) • Best-in-class launch of Gillette Venus Classic initiative with Polish celebrity Anna Lewandowska, resulting in best ever PR results in the region on the brand • Best-in-class launch/preparation of the biggest innovation from Gillette as of late - Gillette Flexball in Greece, Poland and Turkey

    • Brand PR for Beauty & Grooming and Oral Care for Central Europe region
      Apr 2012 - Jun 2014 · 2 yrs 3 mos

      Role: Brand PR Manager Responsibilities: • Set the long term targets (based on company’s goals and marketing targets), preparation of the annual PR and social media strategy • Definition target groups for PR communication, set priorities among company’s brands • Brand Protection SPOC (representative) for Central Europe for all P&G brands • Coordination of PR agencies work Personal achievements: • Best-in-class launch of Gillette Venus & Olay initiative, resulting in best ever PR results in the region on the brand, recognized by an internal yearly award from both marketing and PR department • Best-in-class launch of Oral-B Triumph 5000 initiative, recognized by an internal yearly award from both marketing and shared globally for potential re-application worldwide due to its innovative use of branded entertainment and social media • Regionally led PR project with global Old Spice ambassador Isaiah Mustafa that delivered highest ever results on the brand in online and social media • All the brands reaching leading share of voice in their respective categories, with increased PR results versus previous year (with lowered budget)