Account Director - Audio

Audio Account Director

The Role:

The Audio Account Director is responsible for helping key media agency partners navigate and engage with the market-leading portfolio of audio brands and audiences. Focusing on an agency territory, the primary goal is to drive revenue by selling creative solutions to incoming briefs and proactively pitching relevant opportunities. This role includes managing effective airtime trading, influencing spending beyond trading deal parameters, and increasing digital audio revenues. The Audio Account Director is tasked with enhancing the external reputation of the organization, ensuring it is seen as a dynamic, collaborative, and respected partner that delivers impactful results.

The Audio Account Director oversees driving demand for radio airtime, digital audio, and Sponsorship & Promotion (S&P) agency revenues. Reporting to the Audio Group Head, they work closely with Client Leads and Creative Strategists to ensure that Customer Strategies and the Adventure Process are effectively implemented concerning audio.

While airtime trading, digital audio, and audio-led creative solutions are the core focus, the role also involves selling cross-platform partnership opportunities across publishing and event platforms where appropriate.

Key Responsibilities:

Sales:

1. Drive airtime revenue and share of airtime spend across OMD by building, maintaining, and developing deep relationships with AV investment and partnership teams at the Account Director level and above.
2. Ensure day-to-day service is fast, efficient, and accurate, with exemplary attention to detail.
3. Lead relationships with key personnel within OMD, focusing on Account Manager and Account Director levels, following the contact strategy within Customer Strategies.
4. Promote the organization's audio proposition and position audio brands through engagement activities, such as presentations, inspiration sessions, education sessions, and immersions, in collaboration with the Audio Group Head, Group Business Director, Client Leads, and where relevant, the Commercial Director.
5. Ensure that audio brands are regularly presented and clearly understood by Publicis partnership and AV investment teams, with all new developments communicated effectively.
6. Communicate and present all new audio innovations and creative opportunities to relevant personnel within OMD.
7. Respond to incoming creative partnership/S&P briefs in collaboration with the Client and creative teams.
8. Sell creatively by identifying intelligent solutions to issues and airtime trading, while cross-selling and upselling wherever possible.
9. Proactively pitch against other media competitors by selling creative ideas informed by insight and research, led by Customer Strategies, and underpinned by the Creative Partnerships Process.

Knowledge:

1. Maintain in-depth knowledge of OMD agency and their clients, focusing on AV investment teams to drive airtime and digital audio spend, and partnership teams to drive S&P spend.
2. Develop a firm understanding of the competition and confidently discuss current developments in the media market.
3. Stay updated on developments in the radio and digital audio markets.

Sales Process:

1. Ensure that all incoming creative partnership briefs are fully interrogated, challenged, and correctly prioritized using the brief calculator, accurately inputted into CRM, and tracked to an effective conclusion.
2. Ensure the Creative Partnerships Process is implemented on all incoming briefs.
3. Collate all relevant insights upon receipt of a brief to inform the brainstorming process and ensure 100% involvement throughout.
4. Demonstrate proactivity in selling across all brands and platforms to maximize revenue, responding to client requirements and the Creative Partnerships Process.
5. Engage with individual stakeholders in Publicis Customer Strategies, ensuring timely and effective activation of all tactics.
6. Collaborate with all commercial departments (Creative, Programming, Marketing, Production, Insight, Client) to deliver class-leading solutions and impactful service to Publicis.

Key Attributes:

1. Extensive experience working with tier 1 media agencies, ideally in audio.
2. A demonstrable passion for media, audio, and digital audio.
3. A proven and established network of relationships with AV teams and partnership teams.
4. A strong consultative sales approach with proven ability in selling a media channel, trading airtime, and closing significant creative partnership deals.
5. A true team player with a positive ‘can do’ attitude.
6. Experience working on and winning large, complex radio-led S&P campaigns.
7. Experience working with radio programming and digital teams with proven influencing skills.
8. Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
9. Excellent presentation skills, with the ability to engage both internal and external audiences on a one-to-one and large-scale basis.
10. A strong sense of initiative and entrepreneurial spirit.
11. Pride in the development and management of the sales pipeline.
12. Firm understanding of rival media channels, audio, and digital audio.
13. Strong knowledge of the organization's radio and digital audio brands.
14. Experience working with CRM and Microsoft Office, with advanced Excel and PowerPoint skills.
15. Demonstrates the organization's values.