Account Planner - Comms Planning

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WPP Media is WPP’s global media collective. In a world where media is everywhere and in everything, we bring the best platform, people, and partners together to create limitless opportunities for growth. For more information, visit wppmedia.com

About EssenceMediacom: A Leading WPP Media Brand

EssenceMediacom is a new breed of media agency. Grounded in analytics & insights and powered by data & technology, we believe in the power of media and creative to drive breakthroughs for the world’s best brands. We help clients understand the modern marketing paradox and discover the breakthroughs brands need to win with their consumers. We are designed for the new communications economy — built on data & technology, built for people & algorithms, built around diverse schools of thought, built to test & learn at scale, and, crucially, built to evolve.

Role Summary and Impact

We are looking for a comms planner to join the Boots retail team.

Working across the retail team of the Boots account this role plays an integral part in delivering innovative campaigns across all media channels with briefs that encompass both brand & performance planning principles across a variety of categories. It’s a broad account with brilliant variety of briefs & audiences. The Boots business covers categories such as: Beauty, Health, Wellness, Gifting, Baby & Value. In the role you will work on interesting/varied briefs that require multi channel planning, supporting on delivering brilliant audience insight & source of growth to deliver plans for key categories & campaigns. 

Boots has a vision to drive Mass Personalisation at scale & a wealth of first party data so there is an increased focus on data led planning and use of Boots of 1st Party Data in all channels (not only display and social!). In the role you will have the opportunity to really start to understand how we can use data for not only activation but also insight at the early planning stages & ultimately drive innovation. 

Working across the Boots retail account the Planner will play an integral part of the planning process and will work with the Account Manager and Account Director to deliver innovative campaigns across all media channels. The successful candidate will get to work across the entire campaign life cycle – from strategy to execution.

3 best things about the job

1. The work & the client – you’ll will be working with clients who see us as an extension of their marketing team & who have a real interest in media & a drive to deliver new & innovative solutions. We’ve sponsored Love Island three times, won awards for our partnership with Reach to highlight the issue of Hygiene Poverty amongst school children in the UK, expanded our used of 1st party data from digital into VOD, Radio & OOH & are continuously working on new dynamic creative solutions within our plans. We also have a rolling innovation programme working closely with media owners & the client to surface new & exciting opportunities. This means there is the opportunity to strengthen your planning skillset by working on a range of different sized campaigns, there is always something new/interesting to work on!
2. Your development – we’ll support your learning and development ambitions. We have a diverse skillset within the day to day team you’ll be working with (including but not limited to comms planning, implementation, performance & digital, data strategy) which provides brilliant opportunity to learn from other specialisms & create truly integrated breakthrough work. We also work as one WPP team known as “The Pharm” in conjunction with our creative counterparts at VMLY&R which gives very close access to the creative process, PR & creative strategy.
3. The people – you’ll work in a very supportive, ambitious & fun team who love what they do & want to deliver the best work.

Measures of success

In three months, you would:

• Mastered the basics of the Boots account and the ways of working between all Mediacom teams/departments. Built relationships with & helped to liaise with our specialist teams across paid social, programmatic display, ppc, AV& OOH.
• Taken ownership of the plans & laydowns, updating them as required, liaising with the creative agency on any changes & owning the PO trackers.
• Taken ownership of the key weekly client report
• Taken on responsibility for competitor reporting for your squad.
• Supported on econometrics data reporting.
• Got involved with supporting the team with any planning research/insight for new briefs as they come in.

In six months, you would have:

• Developed a relationship with our junior marketing clients and our creative agency partners.
• Contributed & supported on regular client calls.
• Started to establish & own strong relationships with our implementation teams.
• Developed your planning/research skills with support from the team to start to feed into responses looking at: insights from media, competitors, people, media performance or culture that enrich our planning.
• Developed your digital & print planning skills to be able to deliver implementational plans (with the support & guidance of your manager/AD)
• Started to own & run smaller briefs in an independent way (with support of the Manager where needed) which you will be able to run from strategy through to delivery.

Responsibilities of the role:

The Planner should:

• Build relationships with other EM depts
• Participate in planning initiatives / stretch sessions.
• Understand all aspects of how the agency makes money, from finance procedures to additional services. Participate in new business effort.  Reduce debt to zero
• Develop and present strong actionable insights for your clients, based on competitor analysis. Prepare support work for client meetings & briefs.
• Build a strong relationship with clients & creative agency, to become a trusted partner
• Understand the competitor landscape – become the category expert.
• Provide inspiration for the team from related and unrelated competitors.
• Develop understanding of the media landscape, the different departments of MediaCom and how we do business and make money.

Skills and Experience

At WPP Media, we believe in the power of our culture and our people. It’s what elevates us to deliver exceptional experiences for both our clients and each other. In this role it will be critical to embrace WPP & WPP Media’s shared core values:

• Be Extraordinary by Leading Collectively to Inspire transformational Creativity.
• Create an Open environment by Balancing People and Client Experiences by Cultivating Trust.
• Lead Optimistically by Championing Growth and Development to Mobilize the Enterprise.
• To be passionate about comms planning with an appetite to learn & develop & demonstrate this by participating in planning initiatives.
• An ambition to work as part of a tight knit team & to contribute to the team culture of open communication to enable learning & development of all of our planning skills.
• A thirst for learning about technology, trends, media, people, brands and the industry
• Excellent organisational skills, meaning you are adept at managing a diverse workload and are able to appropriately prioritise tasks.
• A keen interest in understanding the client’s business and the challenges they face
• Accurate verbal and written feedback and instructions
• Positive, proactive approach to problem solving
• Ability to translate information clearly in Powerpoint and develop a way of story-telling through presentations

Life at WPP Media & Benefits

Our passion for shaping the next era of media includes investing in our employees to help them do their best work, and we’re just as committed to employee growth as we are to responsible media investment. WPP Media employees can tap into the global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, grow their networks, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising. We have a variety of employee resource groups and host frequent in-office events showcasing team wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events. Our benefits include competitive medical, group retirement plans, vision, and dental insurance, significant paid time off, preferential partner discounts, and employee mental health awareness days.  

WPP Media is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.

We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

Please note this is a UK based role and requires individuals to have the right to work in this location

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