Manager, Comms Design

OUR COMPANY

Initiative celebrates diversity in an inclusive environment where all of our 6,000+ strong talent across 90+ markets feel seen, heard, and valued. Our vision is to create not only a better media company, but also a better media industry, and maybe even a better world.

There are four I’s in Initiative and these represent our core values and behaviors.

➢ INDIVID[YOU]ALITY – you bring your genuine and unique self to and into the work, every day.

➢ INSTINCT – you’re tuned in and armed with intelligence; you have a bias for action – shit happens when you’re around.

➢ IMAGINATION – your ability to imagine and bring to life the ideas, solutions, and the future of Initiative, makes us THE create media agency in the world.

➢ IMPACT! – you care deeply about the impact you have on our clients, their customers, our community, the media landscape and our world at large.

DISCIPLINE OVERVIEW: COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN

Communications design is the discipline and practice of crafting how a brand idea will be delivered through communications across an owned, earned and paid ecosystem in order to achieve a desired behavioral outcome.

Initiative’s Communications Design team is creating the future of planning. Borrowing skills from User Experience, Digital, Public Relations and Content, these media professionals are responsible for curating how people connect and participate with brands through culturally rich ideas. Instead of considering the experience of a brand in components (media / channel planning), Communications Designers think about brand experience in totality (ecosystem planning) ensuring every encounter is useful and impactful.

The Communications Design team dynamically brings brands to life through their actions. They:

• Are experts in consumer and communications behavior, and how changes in behaviors are creating new opportunities for connection
• Lead the creation of the dynamic ecosystem approach to deliver a strategy
• Work with partners (media, creative, technology, platforms, Specialty Business Units) to curate how a brand should connect within culture
• Lead the identification of the right audiences to address how to meet business goals, and guide the quantification of connection encounters holistically
• Champion innovative, forward thinking activities that help brands create value with their audience.

ROLE OVERVIEW: MANAGER, COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN

As Manager, you are responsible for creating impactful communications ecosystems for your client. You will be supporting the team’s efforts to ensure brilliant strategy, design, flawless execution, and delivery on KPIs and business results for your client.

Working across NatWest, which is a UK planning account, you are the day-to-day contact for the client and the internal team. You are supporting the Associate Director manage planning across disciplines to ensure everything is operating smoothly, accurately, and on deadline.

In this role, you are responsible for the preparation of the communications flowchart, and ensuring the communications plan is built on solid, data rich fundamentals that help brands grow. Working with partnerships, media vendors, and your communications design team, you ensure the accuracy of the inputs required for the development of the flowchart and are responsible for ensuring any changes made to the approach are reflected in the plan.

As Manager, you are an expert in the Initiative design process, tools and techniques, and how to best apply and adapt these for a given scenario. You are a gifted planner who is able to synergize multiple data points into cohesive story around the communications idea. You are a strong and nurturing manager, able to ensure your support design talent are able to produce high quality planning inputs that result in an effective, culturally resonant, highly connected communications solution.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Client

• Responsible for the delivery of accurate, impactful inputs that power the client’s communications plan and grow their business
• Responsible for the timely, accurate delivery of day to day requests from the client and team
• Responsible for regular trend identification, culture and competitive analysis for client
• Begins to build relationships with day to day leads on the client side, as well as with clients’ partner agencies
• Project manages all client proposals, recommendations and points of view
• Manages and is accountable for ensuring best in class financial stewardship (PO process, media budget management, client billing, billing discrepancies)

Internal

• Day to day project management support across the full integrated client team
• Work with the Associate Director and Partnerships team to develop the RFP to develop the best possible plan for the communications idea
• Attend client briefings, summarize all client needs and objectives to Client Advice senior leaders and to the integrated Strategy, Communications Design and Partnership leads
• Build relationships and support the needs of all discipline team members that work with your client(s)
• Support your Associate Director in leading key projects and internal timelines

Commercial

• Contribute to the profitability of primary accounts, and involvement of SBU

New Business

• Contributor to new business as required

Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s):

• Client

  • Contribute key media inputs for best in class communications planning solutions that propel the communications idea
  • Able to effectively lead the management of the client’s communications budget to successful outcomes
  • Accurately and effectively manage client’s day to day communications design product requirements

• Internal

  • Able to successfully manage Communications Design planning outputs from team
  • Key contributor to RFP process, including briefing and partner selection together with Partnership colleagues (may oversee this on smaller briefs / accounts)
  • Able to deploy tools and techniques to deliver best in class communications planning outcomes across OESP

• Commercial

  • Contributor to SBU revenue growth via communications design (client base)
  • Contributor to organic revenue growth from communications design scope (client base)

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience in integrated planning role in media, publisher / vendor, or communications discipline (digital, content)
• Media planning skills must be polished or able to be developed
• Category or audience experience as relevant per assignment
• Experience in managing or developing staff
• Ability to delegate and oversee direct reports
• Excellent written, verbal communication and presentation skills
• Strong time-management and organizational skills
• Required PC proficiency and solid working knowledge of Microsoft Office (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
• Proven problem solving ability
• Ability to work successfully within a team, handling multiple projects and meeting tight deadlines under pressure

THE PERKS

We guarantee that your career with us will be varied and exciting. Every day in this fast paced environment presents a different challenge and if you work smart and are the best at what you do, your time here will produce endless possibilities for your future.

You will get our support in developing your skills at every step of your career journey with us. Your manager will help you create a tailored career path and through our in-house experts, and online performance management and learning and development tool, you will have access to a wide range of internal and external courses. In addition to this there are always plenty of internal sessions on the latest developments in the industry, e-learning courses, bite-size learning sessions and on the job training and development.

We aim to provide all of our people with a supportive and fun work environment where you can develop your full potential and benefit from the broad range of opportunities within the agency both in the UK and globally.

When you join us, we want to make sure you feel valued – and that you are rewarded for your fantastic work. So we also offer a range of benefits:

• Unlimited annual leave (subject to manager approval)
• Group Income Protection (after 2 years’ service)
• Life Assurance
• Private Medical Insurance or Health Cash Plan (dependent on level)
• Group Personal Pension Plan with matched contributions from 3-6%
• Electric Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme
• Core Hours (Mon-Thurs, flexible start/finish times)
• Early finish Fridays
• Generous Maternity & Paternity Pay
• Wellbeing programme
• Paid time off for Volunteering
• Independent mortgage advice
• Financial education
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Interest free season ticket loan
• Free breakfast
• Subsidised Café
• Free eye tests
• Retail discounts
• Flexible benefits including Dental, Travel insurance, Ride2Work, GymFlex and many more!

HOW WE PROTECT YOU:

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At Mediabrands and Kinesso, we celebrate difference and believe this makes us stronger. Mediabrands and Kinesso are equal opportunity employers and committed to championing an inclusive culture that provides a sense of belonging for all our employees. We do not discriminate against any applicant based on age, disability, race, colour, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, belief, marital status or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you need any adjustments to ensure our recruitment process is fully accessible to you, then please contact us on recruitment.uk@mbww.com