Head of Strategy

Overall purpose of the role

A client-facing role, developing innovative strategic solutions for clients and helping them navigate the rapidly evolving world of marketing and communications. Where advertising, branding, direct marketing, PR and media are all now converging and demand the kind of strategic thinking, which can be a catalyst to opportunities offered by all these disciplines.

Our Strategy department is a crucial part of the Agency’s success, helping clients put Social Thinking at the heart of marketing, focusing on understanding people and what makes them social to generate powerful insights that can drive business value for brands.

What does the role involve?

Strategy

• Taking client briefs, challenging them, and developing them into inspiring and informative internal briefs. Keeping abreast of new trends and developments and sharing those with the rest of the team and company regularly.

• You will be responsible for turning ideas into well-rounded, strategically sound, deliverable plans that you lead and write, collaborating with others in the team to encompass audience insights, trend analysis, marketing/media executions, timings and budgets.

Creativity

• Driving the conception and development of innovative on-brief digital ideas for clients and/or new businesses, from bigger campaign themes to smaller execution/technology-led ideas. You should inspire excellent creative solutions and be able to guide and lead the idea-generation process, identifying and building on any ideas from other people within the agency.

Client-handling

• Partner with the senior Account Management team and client to lead long-term communication strategies. Articulating those plans for clients in written and spoken form - writing and giving clear presentations. Once ideas are sold-in, you will then be the guardian of that plan, ensuring it's delivered in a way that remains on-brief and in line with the agreed vision. Play the role of catalyst, consultant and companion to the client until the idea is right

Research and Analysis

• Intellectual curiosity is a must; we are looking for creative problem–solvers. You’ll need to have a good understanding of research approaches (on and offline) and be able to apply these approaches to uncover breakthrough insights that can drive our clients’ business forward.

• Tools we use include: Brandwatch, Global Web Index, Sysomos, Synthesio, Crimson Hexagon and Euromonitor.

Effectiveness

• Keen focus and understanding of how our clients’ businesses work, and the ability to develop strategic approaches clearly designed to help grow their clients' brands.

Leadership

• As a senior member of the team, you will lead by example, providing mentorship and support for more junior members of the team. You will have a strong point of view on the future of the communications landscape and the role of social thinking within this. You will be experienced in expressing this point of view internally and externally and helping shape client and agency direction as a result of this.

New Business

• You will also play a vital part in new business development, meeting prospective clients, presenting credentials, taking briefs and leading pitches. So you will be excited by the prospect of developing the agency as a business, pushing us into new areas, and selling our ideas and approaches to new clients from new sectors.

What are we looking for?

• Prior creative agency experience in a Strategic/Planning leadership capacity

• Had worked with regional or global clients/accounts

• An open, inquisitive character with a focus on problem-solving in creative ways

• Passion for wider communications/ marketing trends and culture as a whole

• Social media/advertising/brand enthusiast

• Confident enough to speak up, challenge and ask why (a lot)

• Collaborative with a passion for delivering industry-defining work

• Bring something new to the agency – demonstrate individual passion and expertise