Program Executive| Digital | Ogilvy Africa

 

Role Summary

As a Program Executive you will be required to partner daily with program managers, program directors and various stakeholders to support client business (operational and delivery excellence, efficiency and speed to market) as well as the client’s business (competitive understanding, basics in client’s data and metrics, etc.).

This is an entry-level position, and requires a curious observer of life, passionate about learning all you can about our industry and be pro-active and adaptable, brave and resourceful. This role provides opportunity onsite with some of Africa’s top companies and well -known global brands and to manage projects in a fast-paced creative environment.

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Key Responsibilities

Brief Management & Intake

• Serve as the primary point of contact for brand teams, receiving and collaborating with the Program managers and program directors to thoroughly understand creative briefs for content creation and campaign curation.
• Liaise with brand teams to ensure all briefs are comprehensive, clearly articulated, and contain all necessary information to execute effectively as per provided briefing templates.

Asset & Information Coordination

• Collaborate with brand teams to gather and organize all required assets, including brand guidelines, existing artwork, legal approvals, and any other supporting materials.
• Ensure all necessary assets are readily available to the teams (brand and working teams) in the required formats.

Project Planning & Tracking

• Managing small projects and supporting program managers on larger projects
• Work closely with the team (program managers, designers, content writers, etc.) to establish realistic project timelines and deliverables based on the brief and available resources.
• Proactively track projects progress and identify potential roadblocks or delays to manage stakeholders.
• Regular communication and status updates between brand teams and the working team to manage expectations.

Workflow Management & Optimization

• Assistance with project management/workflow system data entry and reporting
• Proactively manage project scope, escalating any potential changes or deviations to the appropriate stakeholders.
• Support Head of Media Futures (HOMF) as required by:
• Support the Media Manager by coordinating the timely delivery of creative assets, media plans and monitoring campaign live dates to ensure all activity runs as planned. Assist with spend reporting.
• PO and Budget Management for HOMF department and liaise with EABL Finance where need be. Understand tools such as Adapt to budget tracking.
• People Engagement e.g., support in organizing team buildings, and any other social/culture activities to be planned
• Onboarding of new team members e.g., liaising with EABL IT for laptop and emails
• Support as required on day to day with compliance and governance - DCH (Digital Content Hub), Marketing Assets and Virtual Content Studio deployment.

Delivery & Quality Assurance

• Ensure all deliverables meet the requirements outlined in the brief and align with brand standards before presentation to the brand teams.
• Facilitate the review and feedback process between the studio team and brand teams, ensuring clear and constructive communication.
• Track final approvals and ensure timely delivery of all project assets.

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 Profession, Technical Skill and Previous Experience Required

Education: Bachelor’s degree in marketing, Communications, Project Management, or a related field. Relevant experience may substitute for formal education.

Experience: 1-5 years of experience in project management, account management, or a similar role, preferably within a marketing agency or in-house creative team.

Skills & Knowledge:

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly and concisely convey information to diverse teams.
• Strong understanding of the creative development process for digital content, particularly for social media.
• Excellent organizational and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to proactively identify and address potential issues.
• Proficiency in project management tools.

Personal Attributes:

• Highly proactive & reliable
• Demonstrable passion & enthusiasm for all aspects of the agency’s business
• Willingness to take on new challenges, is a natural & effective collaborator with excellent interpersonal skills
• Good listener, highly organized and detail-oriented
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment and solutions-oriented individual with a strong sense of ownership.
• Calm and composed under pressure, with the ability to manage expectations effectively.

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Ogilvy Africa Beliefs

• People need regular OS upgrades: Even the best OS will be obsolete tomorrow unless its constantly upgraded. Same is true for people.
• We need more cows than milk men: We are a culture of practitioners, not managers. We contribute before we comment.
• Creative about creativity: Creativity is, and will always be, our differentiator. Creativity now includes holy trinity of Data -Content -Tech.
• Diversity is a competitive advantage: New profiles, new skills, new styles of leadership make us a stronger company.
• Collaborative advantage > Competitive advantage: Find partners who are on top of their game at the skillset we need. It’s the only way to scale at the speed without pretending to have all the answers.
• Team > Individual: You get a lot more done when everyone stops worrying about who gets credit at the end. Teams Succeed, individuals fail.
• Fail often, fail fast: We see entrepreneurs in all our people and encourage a culture of pilots. Test, succeed and scale; or fail-fast learn, learn from the failure, and start something new.

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Company Overview

Ogilvy Africa is the largest network agency on the continent catering to 40 countries with a team of ~900 people across Central, East and West Africa. Headquartered in Nairobi - Kenya, Ogilvy Africa manages a portfolio of over 100 brands for clients such as AB Inbev, Airtel, Africa CDC, Bill & Melinda Gates, Coca-Cola, Diageo, Distell, Equity Bank, Exxon Mobil, Kenya Airways, Mastercard Foundation, Mondelez, NCBA, Nestle, Philips, PWC, SAB Miller, Sanlam, Standard Chartered, Total, Tullow, UNICEF, Unilever, Visa, Vodafone and WWF amongst others.

We offer services across the full spectrum of marketing domains including advertising (on and offline), Customer Engagement & Commerce, Digital Transformation, Shopper Marketing, Media, PR & Influence; all under one unified setup. We’ve also created proprietary marketing products in areas such as real-time marketing, social intelligence, virtual experiences, influencer management, e-commerce enablement and content hubs. Our unique operating model, One Ogilvy, allows clients and brands to cut the complexity of agency structures and create seamless omni-channel experiences for their consumers, across touchpoints. Fuelled by the holy trinity of content, data and technology; Ogilvy Africa strives to be the best-practice agency model, for Developing & Emerging markets.

In our 20+ years in Africa, we have won the highest number of regional and global awards for the region including Cannes Lions, Clio awards, Dubai Lynx Festival, SABRE Awards (Global and Africa); to name a few.

Ogilvy is a leading global creative network of WPP. Launched by David Ogilvy over 70 years ago, it’s referred-to as the Agency of Giants, by several industry experts.