Client Director

Company Overview:

The Specialist Works is an independent media and marketing services agency. With an evidence-based approach, we provide media planning and buying, data science, brand partnerships, and creative solutions.

Our independence gives us the freedom to keep challenging the status quo to achieve even better results. Everything we do – from the people we hire to the tools we build – is about future proofing our clients. Our capabilities have been built and shaped by their needs.

Our ‘what’s possible?’ methodology is grounded in curiosity and naturally leads to better solutions. It means, when presented with a challenge, we look beyond the standard answer to see if there’s a better way. It’s a way of thinking that keeps us on our toes and focused on exceeding expectations.

Happy TSW clients are now our greatest advocates. We’ve grown with them – operating in offices across 3 continents by adding innovative, high-impact services at a purposeful pace. We believe in being bold. TSW’s mission is to define and create the agency of choice for high-growth brands worldwide.

Department Purpose:

The Client Team provides strategic planning support and coordination across all media to guide clients along their growth journey.

We are the ‘front of house’ team that represents the TSW business for all clients. We are the fulcrum that enables our clients to navigate through our agency services and the wider media landscape.

We deliver best-in-class strategic recommendations in multiple territories and outstanding account management to facilitate our clients meeting their business goals, ensuring they always have the right resource at the right time from across the agency.

Position Title: Client Director

You will be directing the business of 3/4 agency clients, free from the shackles of network agency deals to lead best-in-class planning recommendations.

You’ll also be a leader of people, managing and developing other TSW’ers, like a guiding light; your attitude and positive behaviour will filter through the rest of the team. You’ll have a can-do attitude and an infectious ‘What’s Possible’ approach to delivering the best work our clients have seen. You’ll get the best work out of a willing team.

Reports to: Group Client Director

Reporting Staff: Client Manager/ Senior Client Exec / Client Exec

Main Accountabilities:

• Establish yourself as the lead on your clients’ business, recognised by all as the spearhead for the accounts.
• Accountable for owning and interrogating client briefs to produce the highest quality responses. You will be overseeing the planning process from briefing all the way through to campaign evaluation for consistency and future learning.
• Effectively plan and communicate cross-channel strategy/approach/planning for current and prospective clients – working closely with our Activation specialists regarding the effective implementation and delivery of campaigns.
• Your experience across both Online and Offline channels will be evidence within this. Within Online, we expect the Client Director to understand Online channels and platforms in detail, as part of the wider media mix and the implications they have on account set-up, measurement, and ongoing optimisation.
• Oversee the performance of your client’s campaigns and proactively identify areas for improvement and optimisations.
• Understanding the Client’s business dynamics so we can deliver highly relevant responses to briefs.
• Anticipating and resolving client challenges by quickly identifying opportunities and threats. Working closely with the senior team (Group Client Director and Managing Partner), you’ll keep them informed of these and know when they need to step in.
• Providing guidance and training to your team, the wider client team, and specialists with ongoing feedback to constantly improve our agency offering.
• Be a pivotal part of new business pitch teams, coordinating and presenting responses.

Key Deliverables: What will this role deliver in 6, 9, 12 months?

• Established strong relationships with your clients, so that both the client and internal specialist teams can identify your role in leading the day-to-day account.
• Demonstrated your expertise in diagnosing briefs and applying the planning process to deliver best-in-class recommendations across an integrated channel plan(s).
• Demonstrated solid understanding of the strategic purpose and benefits of channels, platforms, and media types and lead the discussions and recommendations to clients with support from channel specialists.
• Filtered this understanding across the broader account teams.
• Shown understanding of market dynamics and how this can affect the role for comms.
• Applied tools & systems to client briefs to deliver insight and inspiration.
• Presented response to briefs & communicated to clients (written & oral) – providing confidence in the strategic direction and performance of campaigns.
• Pulled insight from data and used it to develop ideas with the teams.
• Kept things simple, no matter how complicated they are!
• Shown ability to tell a story, to take clients on a journey through your response to briefs.
• Established yourself as a line manager and leader within the client team.

Technical Requirements:

• Detailed understanding of core planning principles and their application to campaigns (Brand and Performance).
• Detailed understanding of different KPIs by media channel and their relationship with both planning principles and business outcomes.
• Strong knowledge of planning tools (TGI, Ad Intel, Touchpoints, etc.) and measurement tools (Google Analytics, etc.).
• Multi-media planning expertise (Offline and Online channels).
• Strong knowledge of Online media platforms and associated technologies. Strong knowledge of the planning principles that impact deployment across them. We’re not looking for someone who will spend all day “in platform” – rather someone who has experience working with them, can deliver best in class planning across them, and ensure the delivery is always meeting expectations of the plan.
• Awareness of the broader media and marketing ecosystem, online and offline, and how it can be connected, e.g., through search.

Experience:

Essential:

• Media agency experience, with recent experience leading the planning of multi-channel campaigns.
• Plenty of experience translating a detailed understanding of key planning principles into media implementation for both offline and online channels.
• Experience working on performance-focused campaigns, delivering detailed reporting and analysis, alongside strategic measurement recommendations.
• Extensive experience planning or buying online media campaigns (e.g., search, social, display).
• Strong client communication and management skills, including project management and conflict resolution – this role involves significant client interaction so this is critical.
• Management experience.
• A track record of winning, growing, and retaining clients in an agency or consultancy environment.

Nice to Have:

• Previous experience working hands-on delivering performance campaigns.
• Previous experience working hands-on building and optimising campaigns in online media platforms (e.g., paid search, paid social).
• Experience of working with external agencies (Creative/BTL/PR).

We provide an exciting, fast-paced, people-first environment that allows everyone to grow, learn, and thrive. We encourage a flexible way of working to adapt to personal circumstances, individual, and business needs.

Currently operating a 9-day fortnight, meaning staff have every other Friday off!

We offer all our employees share options, and we've built a benefits package that invests in our employees’ long-term personal and professional growth and wellbeing.

Our Values:

- Passion: You share your excitement about what drives you.

- Inquisitiveness: Ask "what's possible?" Ask "why not?".

- Caring: Be a good professional, a good colleague, and a good human.

- Knowledge: Know plenty. Share it. Learn more.

And we live them every day #IamPICK

Sound good to you? Then get in touch. We don’t bite.

At The What's Possible Group our culture, our creativity, and our passion is powered by people. People just like you. Diversity and difference drive innovation, not only for us but also for our clients and is at the heart of everything that we do.

The What's Possible Group is proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from all, regardless of race, gender, disability, religion, sexual orientation, or age as we seek to recruit the very best at The What's Possible Group from a diverse talent pool. If you require flexible working options please still get in touch and we’ll be as accommodating as we can.