Job details

EssenceMediaCom | Planning director

About EssenceMediacom

Essence, part of GroupM, is a global data and measurement-driven media agency whose mission is to make advertising more valuable to the world. the agency is more than 2,000 people strong, manages $4B in annualized media spend and deploys campaigns in 121 markets via 21 offices in APAC, EMEA and North America. Visit essenceglobal.com for more information and follow us on Twitter at @essenceglobal.

The Role Objective

The Planning Director is primarily responsible for developing consistent, high quality plan recommendations, through a deep understanding of the category & brand challenges. This role will be focused on turning business objectives into communications objectives and defining clear KPIs for measurement, and driving innovation that is founded in clear audience insight.

This is also a leadership role, with a key responsibility for managing client relationships, internal team members & external partner agency relationships.

Responsibilities:

Planning Lead

Plan, develop, present and lead execution of our full funnel media strategy on multiple channels including TV, OOH and digital
Maintain strong relationship with key Japan media partners and lead negotiations to get best possible output and value for client
Manage relationship with partner agencies to deliver a strong, integrated delivery to clients
Client facing and work closely with other agency teams to establish and achieve specific media goals and objectives
Provide insight and analysis to the client lead to support the development of data driven strategic recommendations for the client

Client Account Management

Develop strong relationships with clients, be their go to person for Planning & Operations expertise
Work with partner agencies to ensure regular reporting that serves the client’s needs.
Lead on relevant part of client meetings, workshops, partner agency relationships etc.
Keep clients lead up to date on best practices and industry trends

Operating and Technical Requirements Data oriented, able to interpret reports & insights and recommend clients with the right strategic direction

Review consumer insight and competitive reports interpretation and key learnings on consumer behavior, relevant category and performance insights
Knowledgeable on how key digital media platforms work, including programmatic (YT & key social platforms) & DSPs
Knowledgeable on how offline media works especially Linear TV and OOH

People Management

Work collaboratively with the business lead to develop the capability, skills and knowledge of our team.
Mentor and provide direction to team members, challenge the team members to think creatively and break out from the comfort zone

Other Areas

Demonstrate a business sense and a commercial understanding of profitability.
Demonstrate an understanding of the media and technology developments that influence clients’ business.
Be an advocate of continuous improvement, enthusiastic and positive with a “Can Do” attitude Flags up any serious performance issues immediately and seek help to manage them accordingly

Key Performance Indicators:

Product: outstanding plan execution & operational excellence. KPI – ability to build a solid planning approach and ability to guide planners to the right direction (team feedback)
Client: satisfaction, retention and growth, contributing to a high score for strategy and activation planning in agency evaluation. KPI – Clients’ agency evaluation
Commercial: client profitability. KPI - Client Profitability target
Personal development: positive My360 feedback from manager, peers and clients.

Education, skills and behaviors

10+ experience in planning role including at least 3 years of senior role that involves overseeing and guiding planning, managing & training team members
Fluency in both Japanese and English – Clients and partner agencies are a mixture of English only and Japanese only speakers
Adaptability and Agility to fast moving & agile nature of the clients’ business - think fast, move fast and be able to connect the dots and see the big picture
Confidently & comfortably present ideas and strategy
Proven track record in the relevant sector with category management experience
Evidence of being able to influence and manage day to day client stakeholders (and senior stakeholders from time to time)
Strong analytical skills to identify business challenges and recommend strategic direction
Strong target orientation e.g. very results driven, ability to work effectively to targets
Strong customer relationship management experience and proven ability in developing key stakeholder relationships
Evidence of strong collaboration skills used to develop team and client knowledge in order to grow shared understanding and knowledge to facilitate a step-change in strategic planning
The ability to delegate, up and downwards, to coordinate between groups and departments and to be able to sell strategies, initiatives and ideas convincingly

EssenceMediacom Glassdoor Company Review

3.6