EssenceMediacom is an agency of GroupM, the world’s largest media investment company and are a part of WPP. In fact, we are responsible for one in every three ads you see globally. We are currently looking for a Group Head – Strategy to join us. In this role, you will be part of the central strategy team, based out of Mumbai.

At GroupM APAC, our people are our strength, which is why fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion is important to us.  

Reporting of the role

This role reports to Strategy lead

3 Best things about the job: 

1. Drive audience and cultural insights that help inform the media and partnership investments for FMCG client
2. Exposure to best of tools and partnership eco-system that enables data-driven insights, and constantly learning about new innovation oppurtunities

1. Best practices  and case studies from GroupM

In this role, your goals will be: 

 In three months: 

• Understand the brand portfolio, competition set, current research and studies and client requirements
• Ability to read both structured data (brand health, media investments) and unstructured data ( Youtube comments, social posts) to craft an understanding of what is relevant for brand and its strength and weaknesses
• Use social listening and 3rd party tools to craft reports and studies that address requirements – eg: GenZ media trends, analysing category conversations around themes like festivals or tracking and monitoring current campaigns

In six months: 

• You would be the go-to expert on any kind of audience and cultural insights which will help planners and clients to better create media plans and partnerships
• Understand the specific cohorts related to the client business and go deep on how to address them in media and communication
• Set up cadence and structures for brand reporting on social listening, insights, cultural oppurtunities
• Collaborate with the necessary teams during the course of a campaign or an Annual Plan to create frameworks and provide point of view on new trends.

In 12 months: 

• Create a positioning and media map for client brands vs competition and improvement areas
• Recognised contributor adding value from qualitative and quantitative research to improve media plans (Eg: recommending a new platform, capitalising on a new trend)

Responsibilities of the role: 

• Custodian of all insights around a brand: brand tracks, consumer research from client, tool outputs
• Crafting the project scope, tools needed, and the content to be covered
• Ability to effectively present the work in a compelling storytelling manner.
• Explore new methodologies, use of AI tools in audience and cultural understanding

What you will need: 

• Understanding of various qualitative and quantitative tools like TGI, GWI, Unmetric, Talkwalker etc
• Should have the capability of mining and articulating media/consumer insights.
• Understanding of media eco-system, cultural tentpoles – ability to craft POVs on how these can be leveraged by client (Eg: Emerging sports partnerships)

Minimum qualifications: 

• MBA
• 5+ years of Qualitative / Quantitative Research experience 
• Keen interest in consumer behaviour, media landscape, brands and marketing 

More about EssenceMediacom

We are a global communications agency leading with breakthrough thinking, building explosive growth for brands, and helping our clients see the bigger picture. Our daring global network of 10,000 influencers help our clients breach traditional boundaries in media, uncover novel ideas, and unleash exponential growth. EssenceMediacom challenges conventional thinking to build, propel, and supercharge our clients’ businesses at scale and lead our industry in critical areas such as diversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability. 

EssenceMediacom understands that our people are tasked with big goals: building breakthrough growth for brands and leading with breakthrough thinking in our industry. Our people are at the heart of this work because their ideas will enable us to decode the intersections of people, content, and technology to bring our aspirations to life. Our success is down to our eclectic, diverse, and talented people. EssenceMediacom is a place for us to grow our careers and expand our horizons. EssenceMediacom is committed to building an agency culture that supports our people, puts diversity at the forefront of our operations, and creates opportunity for all. This collective culture will be our “new power” where ideas are freely exchanged, and collaboration is actively encouraged in a place where you can innovate in our hyperconnected world.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, or marital status.

About India:

2020 brought opportunities for brands to innovate because of which we saw an evolving media stack. The growth of digital is set to soar high because of changing consumer habits. With approximately 500 million smartphone users, low-priced data plans, 45 to 50 million e-commerce shoppers, approximately 60 OTT offerings and a young population, India is a mobile-first internet market. It is also one of the top 10 ad spend markets in the world and is set to climb the ranks. Global big tech corporations have made considerable investments in top e-commerce/retail ventures and Indian start-ups, blurring the lines between social media, e-commerce and mobile payments, resulting in disruption on an unimaginable scale.

 At GroupM India, there’s never a dull moment between juggling client requests, managing vendor partners and having fun with your team. We believe in tackling challenges head-on and getting things done.

GroupM is an equal opportunity employer. We view everyone as an individual and we understand that inclusion is more than just diversity – it’s about belonging. We celebrate the fact that everyone is unique and that’s what makes us so good at what we do. We pride ourselves on being a company that embraces difference and truly represents the global clients we work with.