VP – Media Strategy

VP – Media Strategy

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in a related field
• 8 or more years of media planning experience required
• Able to apply a strategic filter to solve client challenges
• Strong knowledge of traditional media channels with an understanding of digital is preferred, but not a requirement
• Experience in leading and managing a team
• Ability to work effectively with a variety of internal teams and business groups, including Creative, Media, Data & Measurement, Project Management and Finance
• Ability to communicate effectively within a team environment as well as with outside media sales reps
• Displays a passion for media and advertising
• Strong organizational and mathematical skills (including basic media math)
• Ability to multi-task and deliver work on-time for set deadlines
• Must be prepared for a fast-paced environment and be comfortable making decisions

Responsibilities

• Keep a pulse on and manage the bandwidth across the team based on all active client projects, ensuring clear delegation of work to manage projects and team growth.
• Acts as a final reviewer and approver of all work the team completes, managing up to SVP as needed.
• Manage senior client relationships, leading client communication on key media projects and acting as a key point of integration across other departments internally (such as Data & Analytics, CRM, Strategy, Creative, PR.)
• Establishing a strategic vision for key clients, and ensures all team deliverables fit that strategic approach.
• Creative media ideator, able to join cross-department brainstorms and provide a fresh perspective on unique media opportunities that drive break-through, and creates tight alignment to creative messaging. Coaches team on how to push the needle beyond expected media moments.
• Manages a team, and will balance the need for delegation with support for the projects and plans they’ve been assigned.
• Provides honest feedback to the team on media deliverables, ways of working, competencies and soft skills to continually improve the client experience and grow team members.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with internal teams, including client experience, activation, data & analytics, CRM, strategy, and finance.
• Integrate with Strategy & Audience teams to ensure the creation of robust audience profiles that integrate data to create a clear picture of the person we’re looking to reach, supporting the audience development work the team completes.
• Use competitive intelligence tools to identify category white space and drive the direction of a media strategy, and identify unique ways to illustrate competitive impact on media.
• Sets a team priority for flawless budget management, ensuring ways of working and processes deliver toward this priority.
• Support the team in client billing, including partnership with Activation and Finance teams to improve billing process and solution for any challenges that arise.
• Crafts team POVs, both internal and external, based on trending topics impacting the media landscape, category or market trends, and crafting them to clearly articulate the anticipated impact to clients.
• Acts as a reviewer and approver for media reports, ensuring it articulates a clear POV based on performance trends and implications.
• Read industry trades and engage with the Media Team to stay current on all media trends, and how those trends present opportunities for clients.
• Has thorough knowledge of key media planning tools, such as Vivvix, Pathmatics, MRI-Simmons, SRDS, SQAD, Nielsen NMI/IMS, Guideline Planning, and others.
• Identifies the need for, and leads the development of, strategic analyses on audience, geography/market approach, media vendor information necessary to develop the media plan recommendation that best delivers upon the client’s goals and objectives.
• Identifies the need for and prepares non-media projects and recommendations, including but not limited to competitive audits, target audience profiles, geographic analyses, etc.
• Drives organic growth opportunities across Media, Data & Analytics, and CRM, and crafting a strategic approach to securing new organic growth opportunities.
• Supports in new business growth, joining as the client’s Media Strategy lead, and helping to deliver recommendations based on set assignment.
• Maintains a positive rapport with media vendor partners, creating partnerships that help to support team knowledge and ensures client recommendations reflect the latest technologies and opportunities that keep BarkleyOKRP at the forefront of the latest media trends.
• Works closely with the Activation team to ensure flawless implementation of all approved media recommendations.
• Presents and represents media to senior-level clients.
• Leads the team to prepare budget recommendations based on client goals and objectives.
• Demonstrates a complete understanding of the client’s business, maintaining familiarity with the history, present organization and procedures of the client, as well as conditions of the industry.
• Provides an energy level that brings new and exciting ideas, motivating other team members.
• Keeps a pulse on the status of all client work, and manages up with key leaders.
• Continually evaluates processes, workflows and resources for ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the team, then creating and implementing plan for ways of working optimization.
• Evaluates current Planning resources and proactively bring proposals to SVP, Media Strategy for any additional tools needed to stay on top of current trends, and ensure we’re delivering best-in-class recommendations to clients.
• Updates SVP, Media Strategy on status of current accounts on an ongoing basis, elevating key issues or concerns as they arise.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong knowledge of traditional media channels with an understanding of digital is preferred, but not a requirement