Mid-Senior Strategic Planner at Publicis Africa Group

Job description

Are you a strategy boffin that wants to work with one of the largest creative networks within the Publicis Groupe?

An extensive knowledge seeker in all fields, a Strategic Planner has the ability to draw on diverse experience and sources of knowledge to provide insight. Strategic planners are tasked with ensuring that the agency produces work that is insight driven and creatively led, and is responsible for the execution of creative strategies against the background of understanding the macro, category and client brand requirements, and using appropriate research and knowledge sources ensures that creative projects are delivered and are effective. The individual is required to present strategies in a simple, easy to understand way where internal Agency parties and client partners are able to discern a clear way forward towards achieving business, brand and marketing communication success.

Main Responsibilities

Contribute to Developing Clear Communication Strategies:

• Understand client brief and the process involved
• Responsible – as part of a broader Strategy team – for a number of client portfolios
• Assist in initial thinking and develop ‘starter’ strategy for review and discussion with Chief Strategy Officer
• Review, debate and present proposed Strategies internally and with client
• Courageous enough to have a point of view on whether creative executions deliver against strategic direction
• Do any insight or research work required to enable Chief Strategy Officer to develop great strategies
• Contribute to brand, client category and contextual insights and overviews
• Do any ‘content gathering’ required, using local and global resources available
• Work with Account Management to identity areas and opportunities to add value and provide additional insight and thought leadership
• Compile Competitor Reviews, Intelligence newsletters; monthly reviews etc. as required from work scope: Reviewing and refining work with Chief Strategy Officer
• Develop client relationships on portfolio
• Attend key meetings as appropriate – with Chief Strategy Officer, Account Management and Creative team
• Over time come to be recognised by clients as a brand and marketing communications partner and source of brand knowledge and insight

Prepare Case Studies (could do away with this section if required):

• Work with Chief Strategy Officer or Account Management and Creative teams to identify and prepare relevant case studies for internal use and for Awards
• Help develop, grow and champion the Strategic Planning discipline
• Provide support and resources as required on new business drives e.g. new business pitches etc.

Culture:

• Open to and active in sharing knowledge/intelligence
• Contribute by effecting innovation that builds a positive agency culture, and actively foster or participate in fostering a positive work environment that’s prioritizes solving client business and marketing communication challenges
• Display courage to develop rigorous and impactful work

Key Competencies:

• Provides content and insights as required
• A rigorous approaching unpacking the ‘context’: able to source and develop insights into macro trends; into clients’ businesses, category challenges and consumer needs
• Has ambitions to start developing inspiring and ground breaking Strategies, which will be reviewed by the Chief Strategy Officer, that creatives can’t wait to execute!
• Responsible for self-development; ability to self-motivate and work in isolation
• Team player and the ability to play strong supportive role
• Build and maintain effective working relationships within the Agency and has built relationships with key clients
• Open to debate, discussion and guidance
• Starts the development of inspiring and executable Strategies – built on and reviewed with Chief Strategy Officer
• Involvement in Creative process and has a point of view on whether work is on Strategy
• Develops useful and inspiring Newsletters, Competitor Reviews etc.
• Excellent written communication and presentation skills
• A willingness to transfer knowledge and skills to junior colleagues

Required Qualifications / Experience:

• Marketing and brand communication experience of between 5+ years
• Relevant marketing/ communications diploma / degree
• Broader professional working experience – diverse interests and passions
• In addition, when interviewing, some sort of portfolio or exercise would be good to help assess writing skills and thinking ability