European Strategy Associate Director - adidas  

EssenceMediacom is GroupM’s newest and largest agency, committed to delivering marketing breakthroughs for brands. It has disrupted the old models across media, creative, innovation and analytics to find new opportunities for advertisers and deliver truly integrated media solutions.

Born out of two pioneering agencies, EssenceMediacom fuses Essence’s performance, data, analytics, and creative technology DNA with MediaCom’s scaled multichannel audience planning and strategic media expertise.

As part of WPP, the world's largest marketing communications services group, and GroupM, WPP’s consolidated media investment management arm, we have access to the richest data, most robust benchmarks, and most advanced capabilities in the market. This helps us provide comprehensive solutions to all marketing challenges.

Our ‘breakthrough’ ambition is underpinned by our commitment to ‘continuous learning.’ We aim to ensure our people fulfil their potential by investing in their whole-person wellbeing, careers, and capabilities, which in turn helps grow our clients’ businesses.

EssenceMediacom, with 10,000 people across 120 offices in 96 markets, is one of the world’s leading communications specialists, with billings of more than US$21 billion (Source: COMvergence, 2021). Its global client roster includes adidas, Airbnb, Coca-Cola (TCCC), Dell, Google, Hasbro, Mars, NBC Universal, P&G, Richemont, and Sony.

Find out more at www.essencemediacom.com. Alternatively, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

Reports to: Alexandra Johansen (Business Director – Brand, adidas Europe)

The team

The Team:  EssenceMediacom (then MediaCom) was appointed as the global media agency for adidas in late 2018.

The EU Strategy AD will operate in our EU regional account team dedicated to adidas, based in London.

Our role as the European account team is to serve our countries, showing up as one network, ensuring world class media is developed, communicated, implemented, measured and improved upon. Ultimately, we are tasked with delivering greater comms impact on adidas’s marketing and hitting the regional business goals.

We enable our regional network to get ahead of the game with planning by providing strategic guidance, raising the bar in terms of better media practice and innovation.

The regional adidas strategy AD will sit within the EU adidas team which is made up of a range of key disciplines that help us deliver a top-class service to adidas and our markets: Account Management, Digital Strategy, Ecommerce, Measurement, Search, Programmatic and Social media.

Our global adidas network worldwide spans 57 markets (all with teams on the ground), underpinned by 6 regional leadership teams and 4 digital execution hubs that support local markets.

The role

Creating industry leading comms work that influences people, culture and builds business value.

Working on an iconic global brand that have the desire and firepower to shift culture.

Reimagining how adidas connects with people (via new and interesting ways to use media and technology) 

If this sounds inspiring, you may well be one of us.

We’re looking for a strategist who loves to create the present and shape the future of comms.

Here’s what you’ll get to do:

Delivering comms strategy and media planning guidance across priority workstreams

-          The strategy AD will lead on thought leadership projects for adidas addressing wider topics that falls outside day-to-day campaign planning – including but not limited to:

• Best-in-class comms approach to win with GenZ
• Thought leadership pieces which demonstrates ways for adidas to deliver more impact with certain channels such as OOH or across events such as races
• Ethical Media Investing thought pieces to help us deliver more sustainable, divers and inclusive plans to adidas.

Continually educating clients and agency teams

-          The strategy AD will also be leading our learning agenda across all markets and clients, continually educating clients and agency teams on the changing landscape.

-          Drive audience, category, market and competitive insights

-          Help inspire and elevate the output of the Account Team

Contributing to the rest of EssenceMediacom and the industry

-          Providing our wider network (especially strategists) with inspiration from adidas

-          Raising the profile of adidas work within the industry (awards)

Accountabilities include:

-          Create industry leading ideas

-          Be consumer first, identifying real insights and behaviours

-          View the communications and media landscape as an integrated and connected system

-          Develop a strong trusted relationship with key category clients

-          Help to grow strategic best-practice across the team and network

-          Interface with the other specialist function units across the global and regional teams

A bit about your skills and experience:

Experienced Strategist & Media Planner

-          Proven media strategy skills with the knowledge to plan across all comms channels

-          Strong understanding of media planning theory, media behaviours and landscape (especially digital)

-          Ability to both devise strategy (shaping narratives and frameworks) and talk in detail about media planning 

Insightful and analytical thinker, with an attention for detail

-          Good at handling data and extracting learnings

-          Ability to identify actionable consumer insights: a keen observer of people, culture and brands

Persuasive Communicator

-          You have effective communication skills and able to lead clients and the network

Excellent at creating beautiful decks!

-          Adidas are highly visual, how we present work matters!

-          Need to be good at creating presentations that make the thinking and ideas pop!

Experienced team member

-          Collaborative: able to work with a team and inspire, guide and manage the output

Committed

-          Passionate about what you do!

-          Striving to work on industry leading campaigns and run a highly functional team

-          Highly organised with an ability to manage multiple workstreams effectively and efficiently

Sports, sports, sports + Youth Culture

-          You have an affinity for sports and are passionate about youth culture!

Regional experience

-          Able to communicate effectively with stakeholders

-          International planning experience is beneficial

•          Other languages and cultural experience a major bonus!

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