Strategist

Legal Entity: IPG Mediabrands Philippines, Inc. (a member company of Omnicom Media Philippines)

ABOUT US

Omnicom Media Group (OMG) is a global network of leading marketing communications companies with headquarters in the United States and multiple agencies in regions such as APAC, EMEA, and LATAM. Our portfolio provides the best talent, creativity, technology, and innovation to some of the world's most iconic and successful leading brands in several industries such as pharmaceutical, beauty and wellness, clothing/apparel, fast food, alcoholic beverage, furniture, and automotive.

We are looking for a STRATEGIST who can join our INITIATIVE (media agency) team:

ABOUT THE TEAM

INITIATIVE is different to other media agencies.

We are not trapped by a legacy structure primarily centered on paid advertising. Instead, we are liberated by a new world structure designed to deliver highly differentiated and highly effective communications strategies for our clients. Our new world model is comprised of 4 central craft centers or pillars 1) Client Advice & Management, 2) Strategy, 3) Communications Design and 4) Partnerships.

There are 4 central behaviors that bind all INITIATIVE employees together. These behaviors are always encouraged and rewarded by the agency. We are:

Fearless in our approach.

Be fearless. Push back on clients when appropriate. Have the courage to take bold ideas to the table. If you believe in something don't take no for an answer. Remember, fortune really does favor the brave.

Brilliant in our work.

Everything you do for the agency and our clients must be of the highest standard. Good enough is not good enough. Be obsessed about producing brilliant work. Every day. Every time. No exceptions.

Dynamic in our design.

Be dynamic and agile. Design these things into your plans for clients. Remember we must keep pace with technology and consumers. Don't be afraid of change, run towards it.

Seamless in our execution.

We sell solutions not services. Always stitch together the various services of Initiative and IPG Mediabrands in a way that is seamless for clients. We operate as one united IPG Mediabrands and never in siloes. We will not tolerate turf wars across business units and expect you to play nicely in the sandpit as you collaborate with others.

THE STRATEGIST ROLE

DISCIPLINE OVERVIEW: STRATEGY

Initiative's Strategists generate smart and strategic brand platforms that inspire and inform the conditions needed for each brand to grow. They are the agency's cultural architects, single-minded in both their approach and ambition to create lasting cultural impact vs. singular media moments.

Future-focused and independent, they sit as an entrepreneurial, agile unit of consumer, creative & analytical experts who are cast & deployed according to Brief/skillset vs. Client. They take a holistic full world POV to drive smarter, better & broader media thinking that generates more interesting and rich territories for a brand to explore, working in creative collaboration with all teams to inspire and inform the creation & design of culturally-led brand experiences.

A brilliant & diverse group of creatives, analysts, planners & anthropologists, they are charged with leveraging the cultural landscape to find the most profitable communications opportunity for growth. They:

• Are experts in consumer & cultural insight
• Lead the creation of strategic platforms that inspire & inform the Communications Design process
• Work with creative & cultural collaboration partners (media, creative, technology, platforms, Specialty Business Units) to shape how a brand will behave & lead within culture
• Maintain ownership of that vision from planning through to execution, ensuring that the design/delivery of the total brand experience is both strategically sound & rooted in genuine cultural insight
• Lead the development and identification of new & interesting cultural opportunities (audiences to target &/or spaces to inhabit) to meet & surpass the required business goals
• Drive bigger, better & smarter thinking across platforms & touchpoints to deliver more innovative & creative strategic thinking that can direct the design of leading edge solutions & award-winning breakthrough work

ROLE OVERVIEW: STRATEGIST

The Strategist is a key person in the development of strategic recommendations that solve client communication challenges. You will work across all accounts & clients and will strive to produce outstanding communications strategies (in collaboration with the Strategy Unit) as recognized through awards, client satisfaction scores and tangible examples of innovation.

You will help to strategize, produce and make sense of the key cultural, consumer and market intelligence required to design the best possible holistic communications plan to deliver on that task.

You have a passion for people, brands and ideas and a burgeoning curiosity for culture in every sense. You believe that brands can & should mean in the world, and are driven by the desire to understand the changing world and people's subsequent shifting motivations and behaviors.

You will report in to - & work closely with - the Strategy Manager/Director/Head of Strategy to create the strategic recommendation and develop the Initiative strategic competency. You will focus on helping the Strategy Director to develop sound strategic responses that result in positive outcomes for our clients businesses, taking ownership of some aspects of that product and managing both up and down to keep the whole Strategy Unit involved through the process. Creative thinking and proactivity (having the drive & ambition to take the Initiative for our clients) and solid presentation skills are critical in delivering success in this role.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Client

• Demonstrate understanding of the clients key business and challenges
• Be considered a valuable contributor during client meetings, providing, for example, research &/or understanding of key consumer behaviors & motivations/mindsets
• Arm the client team with knowledge & expertise to speak confidently about the strategic direction (e.g. new audience definition) where required
• Write & publish a compelling POV on a strategic topic important to client business, noting how that thinking will strengthen their brand going forwards
• Measurable client & strategy business KPIs

Internal

• Demonstrate a good understanding of consumers & their behaviors
• Use qualitative and quantitative cultural tool research to develop applicable insights into the consumer connection with the brand
• Clearly demonstrate how the research insights deliver on the business need and focus on results and measurement
• Develop initial strategic directional thinking, focusing on the platform & communications architecture thinking (demonstrating truly integrated, cross-channel ideas/insights across new channels)
• Identify an opportunity/need to bring in diversified (SBU) services & incorporate into a broader strategic solution
• Use complex data/information to translate complex concepts into simple, powerful narratives (+ present key strategic implications/recommendations to the team/client)

Prioritization:

15% Client

85% Internal

Key Performance Indicators (KPI's):

Client

• Positive client relationships; understands clients business and challenges
• Measurable client & strategy business KPIs met

Internal

• Inclusion of Strategy management in client business
• Proactive, daily working knowledge & usage of the Initiative Planning Process to generate valuable and useful insights/information
• Positive feedback on ability to collaborate with other teams & SBUs
• Collaborates with all teams to steward campaign strategic rigor
• Proactively seeks to understand campaign results & learnings to optimize the Loop
• Lives Initiative behaviors whilst also demonstrating solid time and management skills
• Accurately and effectively manages campaign-level day to day Strategy requirements
• Contributor to development of the final brand platform, ensuring process outputs have been included
• Helps the Associate Director/Directors develop the initial strategic communications architecture
• Contributor to campaign KPIs through best practice, timely, accurate planning information & intelligence

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree in related field or equivalent work experience
• 3-5 years in an integrated planning role in a media, creative, innovation or communications discipline (e.g. digital, content, invention, social, activation)

If you believe that the team and this role might be perfect for YOU, go ahead and click on LinkedIn's Easy Apply to start the process.

IPG Mediabrands is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity in the workplace. We encourage all qualified individuals to apply.

Thank you in advance for your interest in IPG Mediabrands Philippines, Inc.!