Description

About EssenceMediacom

Essence, part of GroupM, is a global data and measurement-driven media agency whose mission is to make advertising more valuable to the world. Clients include Google, Flipkart, NBCUniversal, L'Oréal and the Financial Times. The agency is more than 2,000 people strong, manages $4B in annualized media spend and deploys campaigns in 121 markets via 21 offices in APAC, EMEA and North America. Visit essenceglobal.com for more information and follow us on Twitter at @essenceglobal.

About the role

The Strategy group at MFG is focused on moving the discipline forward into a new era of insights and business solutions. You’ll find all of the usual Strategy responsibilities apply: inspiring and applying cultural, audience, market and product insights to answer our clients objectives; creating robust comms strategies and tactics; and working with our internal teams and partner agencies to present the best and most interesting ideas.

Day to day? You’re operating as the main strategic point of contact across a few products, brands and many campaigns - under the leadership of SVP Strategy APAC, all while doing research, formulating insights, brainstorming new ideas and reviewing data with serious rigor. 

 

Some of the things we’d like you to do:

We’d like you to be a trusted resource and partner to our clients, especially their strategy and innovation leads, not afraid to have tough conversations when necessary, but also willing to adapt to their needs. 

You should enjoy working at the edge of what is known in our industry and fueled by trying to figure it out. Ideally, you’re passionate about your career, and it is still a good time if we’re stuck at an airport for a few hours.

We emphasize behaviors. We value emotional intelligence, curiosity, and collaboration above all else.

We are looking for a person that is comfortable doing their own research, and pulling out and presenting the key insights and ideas. Some days you will be presenting your ideas to clients, and some days you will be providing others with ideas to present. You will feel supported and support others in return.

You will also be a partner in driving thought leadership for the agency, and being an active member of the industry.

●  Evangelize the practice and its value proposition internally and externally

●  Take the lead in developing/ co-authoring briefs for key clients

●  Provide key strategic inputs such as:

○  Identify key audiences - sizing and profile using data points, to determine whether given audience can achieve the client’s business objective

○  Within the aligned audience(s), identify key human truth (insight) that leads to a communication platform (one-liner) that demonstrates what a brand should be saying and how it should be behaving in media to drive the change in perception/ behavior (from/ to)

○  Set budget allocation - topline between online/ offline & key channels identified for each in order to hit the objective

●  Be the guardian of consumer journeys focusing on not just performance, but also for building emotional connection with our audience through media

●  Build and nurture constructive relationships with the creative agencies

●  Ability to identify client’s challenges and provide smart solutions

○  Work on non-campaign projects such as brand portfolio, brand positioning, GTM strategy as necessary

●  A great collaborator - work with, just to name a few:

○  Analytics: to consult on measurement/ learning agenda, consult on learning & implications, and take the learning and apply to the next project

○  Client Service: day to day counterpart from insights into the client’s needs and upcoming projects

○  Planning: most collaboration happens here. Work together to develop budget scenarios from which Planning can develop tactical media plans, ensure strategy stays a “common thread” throughout tactical planning and idea presentations

●  Be the in-agency/ external expert of category and consumer trends (especially media related but not limited to), and apply that knowledge to strategy

●  Be a great story-teller and make media more “idea” and “insight” driven in addition to data-driven

 

A bit about yourself:

• At least 12 years of relevant experience (marketing, media, strategy, research, insight) 

• Prior experience working on global brands and presenting strategies to senior stakeholders

• Strong understanding of media planning (possible past life). Offline understanding a big plus

• Ability to drive market and audience research tools, feed insights into the planning process

• Ability to drive the integrated communication process, integrating offline and online as well as emerging digital/ social platforms and technologies

• Deep familiarity with the Japanese media landscape - consumer and culture.

• Fluency in Japanese and strong level of English

• A keen eye for detail and a strong bias for action

• Positive can-do attitude who can find creative solutions

• Previous experience working in a matrixed organization. 

• Flexible, with the ability to excel in a fast-paced environment working with multiple global and regional stakeholders.

• Strong presentation skill (English & Japanese)