Digital Media Planner

Main Purpose

Build plans which guide Media Buying activity. Bring strategy to life through detailed guides which define measurement, media, audience, and creative requirements in line with the business objectives of Woolworths Digital Media properties (App, Web, Loyalty, WFS, Africa).

Key Responsibilities

• Understand the business & media objective outlined by the Digital Media Strategist.
• Track benchmark metrics of key campaign elements (revenue return, audience, bid type, and creative performance). Provide consultation for planning and reporting.
• Build media plans which detail campaign setup details for precise buying and project potential outcomes for key metrics.
• Track the difference between projected and actual impact to improve our awareness of key variables, ultimately enhancing our ability to replicate impactful activities.
• Review media buys and provide a snag list surfacing any misalignment with the media plan &/or strategy.
• Provide early ad serving memos to inform the media team & campaign stakeholders.
• Keep up to date with and provide consultation to the Digital Media Strategist regarding opportunities to grow or innovate in our digital media mix.
• Build relationships with key media partners and vendors to negotiate rates, secure inventory, and drive cost efficiencies.

Key Competencies

Personal Competencies:

• Analytical Thinking: The ability to gather and analyze data, identify trends and insights, and use them to inform and improve media plans.
• Adaptability: The ability to quickly adapt to changes in campaign performance, market trends, and technology advancements to make or inform decisions.
• Attention to Detail: Crafting highly detailed plans with consideration for media objectives, placements, bidding types, account hierarchy, and potential insights we aim to collect.
• Collaboration: The ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams including creative, direct marketing, analytics, and marketing to deliver well understood, high-quality media plans that align with overall strategy & business objectives.
• Communication: The ability to communicate effectively and clearly, both verbally and in writing, with internal and external stakeholders, including media partners and vendors.
• Time Management: The ability to manage multiple tasks and prioritize workload effectively to meet deadlines and deliver high-quality work.

Business Competencies:

• Business Acumen: The ability to understand business objectives, target audiences, and market trends, and translate them into measurable and actionable media opportunities.
• Marketing Strategy: The ability to understand and consult on marketing strategy development to align with overall business objectives and budgets.
• Insight & Iteration Oriented: Focused on achieving measurable results and KPIs, driving continuous improvement in campaign performance.
• Vendor Collaboration: The ability to form relationships with media partners and vendors, negotiate rates, probe opportunities/outcomes, and secure inventory to improve process cost outcomes.
• Numeracy: The ability to balance budgets, project media impact, estimate outcomes, identify cost-saving opportunities, and make informed decisions to optimize ROI.
• Risk Management: The ability to identify potential risks, escalate them to relevant decision-makers, and consult on contingency plans to mitigate them.

Technical/Functional Competencies:

• Media Planning: Specifying campaign configurations to ensure we deliver in line with our intentions.
• Detailing Campaign Setup Requirements: A deep working knowledge of ad manager platforms, including Meta, TikTok, Twitter, Google Search products, Google Display, and video.
• Analytics: The ability to use analytics tools and technologies, such as Google Analytics, to track and analyze campaign performance data.
• Campaign Optimization: The ability to identify opportunities for optimization and make data-driven adjustments to campaigns to improve performance.
• Creative Briefing: The ability to contribute to the creation of effective creative briefs, guiding creative teams to develop compelling content in line with the media requirements.
• Literacy in Microsoft Office/Google Workspace Suite and similar software. Fluency in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and Apple Numbers is particularly important for day-to-day work.
• Full Funnel Performance Marketing Mindset: Clarity of audiences, measurement solutions, bidding objectives, and creative that drive specific business objectives through media.

Job Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in marketing, advertising, communications, or a related field.
• 4+ years of experience in digital media planning, buying, reporting/optimization, or related roles, with specific focus on social media advertising in Meta & TikTok, Google Search, YouTube, and DV360.
• Proven track record of planning and implementing digital media campaigns and achieving measurable results.
• Strong knowledge of ad manager platforms, including Meta & TikTok, Google Search, YouTube, and DV360.
• Experience using analytics tools such as Google Analytics to track and analyze campaign performance data.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Understanding of marketing strategies, audience targeting, and market trends.
• Ability to multitask and prioritize workload to meet tight deadlines.
• Familiarity with performance marketing techniques, such as conversion tracking and lead generation.
• Google, Meta, TikTok, and general digital marketing certification.

Woolworths Commitment

As a proud South African brand, Woolworths is committed to transformation. Meeting our employment equity goals will be taken into account in our recruitment decisions.