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VP, Audience Activation + Impact

REMOTE / Kansas City, MO / Chicago, IL / New York, NY / Austin, TX / Denver, CO

This is a full-time, hybrid position for a Vice President, Audience Activation & Impact at BarkleyOKRP. In this executive leadership role, you will be responsible for defining and driving the overall vision, strategy, and operational excellence of the Audience Activation & Impact practice – our Engagement Specialists team. The Vice President will champion innovation, cultivate top-tier talent, and ensure the delivery of market-leading solutions across Out-of-Home (OOH & DOOH), Audio (Broadcast & Digital), Sports Marketing & Sponsorships, Hyperlocal Community Engagement, and Experiential Activations. You will possess an authoritative understanding of the evolving engagement landscape, advanced analytics, and emerging technologies, applying this expertise to shape the agency's investment philosophy and capabilities in creating high-impact, targeted activations. This role demands exceptional leadership across the entire business, fostering deep integration with all agency disciplines to deliver transformative results for clients and drive significant agency growth through specialized engagement. You will be a key voice in the agency's leadership team, responsible for the overall performance and innovation within these specialized engagement channels and contributing to broader organizational strategy and industry presence.

Qualities Here’s what it takes to be successful in the role:

  • Visionary Leadership & Strategic Acumen (Engagement Focus): You possess a forward-looking perspective, capable of anticipating industry shifts and defining a clear, compelling vision for the future of audience activation and engagement. You translate broad market trends into actionable, innovative strategies that drive competitive advantage for clients and the agency within OOH, Audio, Sports, Hyperlocal, and Experiential domains.
  • Business & Financial Acumen: You have a strong understanding of business principles, P&L management, and resource allocation specifically as it applies to building and scaling an engagement-focused practice. You make data-driven decisions that optimize profitability and drive sustainable growth for the department and agency.
  • Transformational Problem-Solving (Activation Expertise): You excel at deconstructing highly complex, systemic challenges in reaching and engaging audiences and architecting elegant, scalable activation solutions. You foster a culture of innovation and empower teams to tackle ambitious goals in creating impactful, measurable engagement.
  • Executive Communication & Influence: You are a masterful communicator and influencer, capable of inspiring confidence and aligning diverse stakeholders (including C-suite clients, executive peers, and industry leaders) around a shared vision for cutting-edge audience activation. You articulate complex engagement ideas with gravitas and clarity.
  • Organizational Agility & Change Leadership: You navigate complex organizational structures and lead through significant change with resilience and strategic foresight, particularly in evolving the agency's capabilities in specialized engagement channels. You champion new ways of working and build high-performing, adaptable activation teams.
  • Talent Development & Culture Cultivation (Engagement Specialists): You are a passionate and effective leader of leaders, dedicated to attracting, developing, and retaining top talent specializing in audience activation. You foster an inclusive, collaborative, and high-performance culture within your department and across the agency, championing expertise in engagement.

Responsibilities:

  • Define and execute the strategic vision and roadmap for the Audience Activation & Impact department, ensuring its growth, innovation, and alignment with overall agency goals and market opportunities in engagement.
  • Lead, mentor, and inspire a team of Directors and their respective teams specializing in OOH, Audio, Sports, Hyperlocal, and Experiential activations, fostering a culture of excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement.
  • Drive the financial health and growth of the Audience Activation & Impact practice, including P&L responsibility, budget forecasting, and resource optimization for engagement-focused initiatives.
  • Champion the development and adoption of innovative activation strategies, technologies (e.g., advanced pDOOH/pAudio solutions), and measurement frameworks to deliver superior client results and maintain a competitive edge in engagement.
  • Oversee the strategic approach to "Programmatic Activation Briefs" for pDOOH/pAudio, ensuring they are best-in-class and drive effective programmatic execution.
  • Cultivate and maintain executive-level relationships with key clients, media partners, and industry leaders within the engagement ecosystem, representing the agency as a thought leader in audience activation.
  • Provide strategic counsel to the agency's executive leadership team on matters related to audience activation, engagement trends, and competitive positioning in these specialized areas.
  • Oversee the development and implementation of best-in-class operational processes, standards, and tools within the Audience Activation & Impact department.
  • Lead major new business development initiatives, showcasing the agency's differentiated expertise in creating high-impact, targeted audience activations.
  • Drive cross-departmental collaboration and integration to ensure holistic, client-centric solutions that effectively incorporate specialized engagement strategies.
  • Represent BarkleyOKRP at industry events, conferences, and in publications, enhancing the agency's reputation and visibility as experts in audience activation and engagement.
  • Ensure the highest levels of client satisfaction, retention, and growth through cutting-edge and effective engagement strategies.
  • Identify and mitigate risks related to investments in engagement channels, compliance, and market volatility.
  • Stay at the absolute forefront of the media and advertising landscape, particularly within OOH, Audio, Sports, Hyperlocal, and Experiential, anticipating future trends and their implications for the agency and its clients.
  • Other duties/responsibilities may be assigned from time to time.

Qualifications:

  • 10-12+ years of extensive and progressive experience in Media Buying, Planning, and Strategy, with a significant track record in senior leadership roles overseeing specialized engagement channels (OOH, Audio, Sports Marketing, Hyperlocal, Experiential).
  • Deep, authoritative expertise across all relevant engagement channels and platforms, including programmatic applications like pDOOH and pAudio.
  • Proven ability to develop and execute successful, large-scale audience activation strategies for major national and/or global brands.
  • Strong financial acumen and experience managing departmental budgets and P&L for an activation-focused team or practice.
  • Exceptional leadership, team-building, and talent development skills, with a history of building and motivating high-performing teams of engagement specialists.
  • Outstanding communication, presentation, negotiation, and influencing skills, with the ability to engage effectively at the C-suite level on the strategic value of specialized activations.
  • Demonstrated ability to drive innovation and lead organizational change within the context of audience engagement.
  • Extensive network of senior-level contacts within the media industry, particularly within the OOH, Audio, Sports, and Experiential ecosystems.
  • Strategic thinker with a data-driven, results-oriented approach to audience activation and impact.
  • Must be a visionary leader, comfortable with ambiguity, and capable of making high-stakes decisions regarding engagement strategies and investments.

The annual gross base salary range is $125,000 - $200,000 USD. This range represents the anticipated target salary range for this position. Actual salaries will vary and are based on factors such as a candidate’s qualifications, skills, and geographic location. Salary is one component of BarkleyOKRP's total compensation package, which includes multiple health insurance options, flexible PTO, life insurance, and 401K. 

 

BarkleyOKRP’s Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

  • We believe being radically diverse and inclusive is the key to becoming one of the world’s great creative idea companies. By embracing everything that makes our partners who they are and what makes them unique to the world around them, we create the conditions and capacity to help creative, original thinking thrive. 
  • BarkleyOKRP is committed to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging as part of our corporate strategic goals, supported by a formal DEI+B program, Employee Resource Groups, Director of Diversity leadership and agency commitment to The Brand Lab, Creative Accelerator, Fellowship, MAIP, and BLAC. 

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