Account Director, Connections Planning

GroupM; London; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job description

Role: Account Director

Department/Team: Connections Planning

Role Objective

We are recruiting for an Account Director who is an exceptional and driven media planner to join our Connections Planning team.

You will be working on the Ford account in the UK – the biggest auto advertiser and one of the biggest accounts at Mindshare. We work in a unique ‘full service’ model meaning that the media teams collaborate closely with creative and account management teams within the Ford agency structure (primarily working with VMLYR).

Therefore, we foster a fully integrated team approach across media, creative, and client, working together across the 3 team locations - 2 days (Mon-Tue) at Ford’s Dunton office (a short taxi from Shenfield on the Elizabeth Line- Travel costs are covered), 1 day (Wed) at VML Sea Containers House, and 1 day (Thu) at Mindshare Rose Court.

About the Role:

In terms of your day to day, the bulk of your time will be spent on planning exciting, award-winning campaigns as well as working with channel specialists to make sure the plans deliver. This involves everything from helping to define the approach to audience and the connections plan, as well as managing plans/budgets and helping with creative delivery.

More detailed information below:

• Ford is laser focused on driving sales, so there is a strong focus on the performance of our plans, and all teams are responsible for making sure they are delivering as planned.
• Specify how to build and target audiences in addressable and non-addressable media and validate the approach to ensure that the defined audience can be reached at the scale required.
• Help design an approach that outlines how and where we will connect with defined audiences in media.
• Support the team in designing the connections ecosystem & plan, working closely and collaboratively with channel specialists.
• Day to day management of campaigns as a key liaison between clients and channel specialists.
• Designing measurement & testing framework to inform as well as measure and optimise the campaigns.

You will be expected to demonstrate experience and knowledge in:

• Great stakeholder management with both clients and agency alike (across both junior and senior levels).
• Ability to work with clients to ensure the brief is right with clear and measurable objectives in place.
• An ability to think and work ‘audience first’, translating audience insight into actionable audiences using a host of planning tools and partner data.
• Designing the connections ecosystem & plan, working closely and collaboratively with channel specialists.
• Day to day management of campaigns as a key liaison between clients and channel specialists.
• Designing measurement & testing frameworks to inform as well as measure and optimise the campaigns.
• Line management of junior members of the planning team.
• Contribution to the wider planning department driving collaboration and knowledge sharing.

SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS:

• You show a passion for media and the industry with knowledge of the main trends that help to inform your thinking and output.
• You show a breadth of understanding of all media channels and can confidently discuss the role they play within a comms strategy as well as understanding how they are evolving in an increasingly complex and fragmented media landscape.
• You can create a holistic measurement framework that is relevant for the brand and every campaign (setting KPIs, methods i.e., which tool/system, necessary tracking) and plans for adaptation/optimisation).
• You are confident in presenting with passion and conviction, building and nurturing senior client relationships, running all agency team sessions/workshops, and collaboratively leading client projects and tackling challenging conversations.
• You are an excellent team player taking the responsibility for working in a collaborative, inclusive way to allow specialists to contribute.
• You demonstrate great attention to detail and a high degree of organisation that leads to successfully managing workflow for self and more junior members of the team.
• You are open-minded, flexible and embracing of agile ways of working.

About the planning department

The Connections Planning team plays a crucial role in designing the audiences, connections, content, and measurement that deliver the most innovative and effective solutions to clients. To do this requires a team of people with a high degree of knowledge of the UK media market and a deep understanding of the role of technology in driving opportunities to target audiences, its impact on the connections and content that will engage people, and how media can be measured and optimised.

Members of the team understand consumer trends and are able to translate insights and strategic direction into actionable media solutions. They interact with a wide range of other teams including Intelligence and Strategic Planning, the specialist channel teams that execute the media, and the Live Planning team that optimises across all media channels.

What we can offer you

• A strong salary commensurate and in-line with relevant experience.
• 25 days annual leave and your birthday day off.
• Ongoing internal and external training opportunities.
• Flexible working.
• The opportunity to attend industry conferences and awards nights.
• Career and personal progression.
• Private Healthcare.
• Excellent pension matching structure.

About Mindshare

Mindshare is a leading global marketing and media services network with billings in excess of £23 billion worldwide. We work with some of the most famous businesses and brands in the UK – such as Unilever, Ford, KFC, Nike, Marks & Spencer and TK Maxx. The Mindshare network consists of 116 offices across 86 countries throughout the USA, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific; each dedicated to forging competitive marketing advantage for businesses and their brands.

Our approach

Our ambition is to drive Good Growth for our clients. Good Growth is about delivering growth that is enduring and is considerate of people and planet. Media is a powerful force, and we need to be mindful of the responsibility that it brings. We help our clients make better decisions by ensuring we use media in a trusted, inclusive and sustainable way. We recognise that in order to drive Good Growth, we need to place people at the heart of everything we do. Understanding people, not demographics allows us to place media meaningfully into their lives.

Good Growth is a big ambition – one which inspires change for the industry but also for our agency and we achieve this through our values of Energy, Empathy, and Impact.

Working for Mindshare

Our brilliant people allow us to deliver our ambition. We invest heavily in their development to ensure they are progressing and thriving wherever they work in our business. We also think inspiration for our staff is key and our pinnacle and flagship event of the year, Huddle, connects people, opinions and perspectives across borders and is all about learning something new and participating.

Committed to Diversity & Inclusion

We have a big dream at Mindshare, to become the most inclusive place to work in the country! This will take time but the whole agency is passionate about making it a reality. To support this, we currently have 8 Employee Resource Groups available for our people to join and be a part of including, Roots, PrideM, Women in Business, Enable, Declassify, 0Borders, ADAM, and Working Parents. These groups hold the agency to account for making progress and, along with our Mental Health Allies, design and lead events and initiatives that help us create a welcoming environment to all and a place where everyone can be their most confident self.

(Please note this is a UK based role and requires individuals to have the right to work in this location) #LI-Promoted