Strategist at Fogg Agency

Job description

In pursuit of client success, Fogg uses, amongst many other disciplines, strong strategic skills as an input to guide design and development of various client solutions across channels.

Reporting to the Joint Managing Director: Strategy and Business Development, Fogg strategists are expected to pursue understanding of the key motivators of consumer/target audiences so that this understanding can be used in the crafting of strategies that underpin client communications solutions.

Fogg strategists are further expected to have a strong grasp of positioning and use this understanding in the formulation of competitor analyses.

The understanding of the motivators of the targeted audiences and the understanding of key competitor strategies, must result in clear opportunities and/or tactics that can be employed by our client(s) in order to exceed client communication goals.

For a Fogg strategist to be successful, they must have a strong understanding of:

• Consumer insight, what it is, how it is gleaned, and its purpose in communications strategy;
• Be insatiably curious about many and varied topics able to grasp a great breadth of:
• Industries,
• Brands and brand strategies,
• Technologies and technology applications
• Cultures and sub-cultures,
• Political persuasions,
• Lifestyle orientations,
• Topics of interest,
• Historical, numerical and scientific concepts;
• Be able to collaborate with other strategists in multi-agency environments,
• Work well in a team and be able to bring these attributes together to contribute to the conceptual ideation process, always guiding guiding the team in relation to the approved strategic choices.

Expectactions

The chief expectation is to provide the most astute strategic basis/foundation/recommendation for Fogg work so that solutions built on this strategic foundation will yield a result that exceeds client expectations. We expect that the successful candidate will conduct the following that they will present for evaluation and approval:

Detection of consumer insight


• Conduct formative and evaluative research to glean customer insight.

• Analyse client provided information such as brand tracker and insight activator information, econometrics, surveys, ORM comments and reports, client reviews, analytics and other data sources to present the salient points of the targeted audience into a relateable personas and other forms of categorisation and presentation for colleagues and clients to interact more readily with the targeted audiences. 

• Be able to write a brief for any unavailable research to be conducted for client and their preferred research provider.

• Communicate key motivators of the targeted audiences using words that they might use and make clear the interpretation of what is meant by those expressions. 

• Conduct competitor analyses

• Analyse the commercial strengths and weaknesses of the competitors and alternative options. 

• Analyse the positioning and communication strategies of competitors and evalauate their efficacy in relation to perception and commercial analysis.

• Understand the key value drivers of the business and recommend ways that solutions might focus on unlocking this value.

Formulate strategic recommendations

Use the insights gleaned and the analyses conducted to formulate actionable findings into recommendations that communicate the benefits of the recommended strategic approach.

Contribute the strategic view in later processes

Present the strategic perspective in brainstorming, review meetings and other processes always checking if the proopsed solution remains true to the strategy based on the insights obtained. 


Stay abreast of developments in all relevant fields

Remain up-to-date with activity in industries in which our clients are active, the movements of competitors, the take up of alternative options, case studies that seek to solve similar problems or use similar tactics or solutions. 



Personal Skills and Attributes:

Insightful
Exceptional at understanding and employing various questioning techniques to guage undelying drivers of expression.
Insatiable curiosity and well versed in a wide range of issues and topics
Analytical with a good grasp of context and able to frame challenges relative the assignment.
Strong knowledge of research techniques and processes
Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
Must be self-driven and determined
Commercial awareness, able to read and understand annual reports and analyse financial results.
Good numeracy skills
High standard of computer literacy
Highly attentive to detail
Prepared to work late (if needed)
Must be able to perform under pressure and deliver on fixed timelines
Must have excellent ability to work with people within cross functional teams
Must have strong facilitation skills
Confident, self motivated, articulate and energetic personality
A hands-on and professional approach with both clients and team members
Strong work ethic and a team player
Problem-solving and decision-making skills relevant to the job description
Dependable, flexible, proactive, resourceful
A desire to contiunally learn about internal execution, client business and various industries


Qualifications and Experience:

A demonstrable ability to conduct the work described in this job specification. 

Though subordinate to the presentation of the proven track record, qualifications in the fields of English Literature, History, Communications, Brand Communications, Journalism, Anthropology, Law and related social sciences will be an advantage.

A candidate with more than 3 years relevant strategic experience in the fields of communication.