Manager, Planning

About WPP Media

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth. 

WPP Media is WPP's AI-driven media operating unit, bringing together media, data, and partnerships to deliver creative personalisation at scale. Connected through WPP Open and powered by Open Intelligence, clients see exactly where, how, and why their media investment is working.

For more information, visit wppmedia.com.

2788 - Manager, Planning

Role Summary and Impact

EssenceMediacom, part of WPP, 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.

The Media Planning Manager is responsible for working hand-in-hand with Activation to ensure client budgets are used optimally via effective planning, in-flight cross-channel optimisations and insightful post campaign analysis to inform future campaigns. They support senior team members on the day-to-day management of media plans and their proper implementation, working to fulfil agreed media objectives in the context of changing market conditions. They demonstrate strong working knowledge of the overall media landscape and available research, using these to inform planning recommendations.

Essential Functions/Responsibilities:

• Support senior media planners to manage tasks within the team, working more independently on smaller campaigns and liaising closely on larger projects.
  • Ahead on the first part of this bullet point, help divide tasks, started handing down tasks to Jack and getting him involved.
  • Assist well across Core, getting involved as much as I can, also take control of reporting and help lead meetings with BT & Saatchi and Base status meetings
  • Covering Base and small campaigns
• Conduct research to determine and support planning recommendations (Research?).
  • We don’t have opportunities to do this as much in our DR role
  • Have used TGI to pull out insights for channel selection in our PS5 response
• Allocate budget appropriately between channels.
  • Allocate budget on smaller campaigns as well as inflight adjustments
• Contribute to clear briefs to Activation and collaborative sessions to deliver these.
  • I have been pulling together the briefing forms for Core and FTTP (BT and EE) the past few quarters and have been delivering these to the activation teams along with Base campaigns.
• Evaluate responses from the Activation team and work with them to finalise channel and publisher selections and budgets.
  • Assist looking through and assessing the response slides that activation pull together after briefing and make sure these are done in time for the meetings
  • Manage this across smaller campaigns
• Own the overall plan (as shared with clients) and the Olive plan
  • Manage plans across Base along with getting and sending over Core plans to the clients and chasing approval and Graeme emails.
  • I build and manage the olive plans, upload the PO’s and ensure they are sent for approval and make any amendments
• Maintain the testing plans and supporting material.
  • I’ve asked a few times to be more involved in this but haven’t had the opportunity yet.
• Manage campaign launches.
  • Assist in making sure everything is live across Core on time, as well as managing launches across smaller campaigns
• Create and manage cross-channel reporting templates
  • Taken full ownership of the Core reporting, as well as making and helping with any requested adjustments to the decks from the Client. Training up Jack on the report, managing midday check ins and activation question check ins to ensure we have all the correct info and context
  • I’ve built new templates for smaller campaigns
  • Created a whole new split sheets doc to make things smoother
• Collate and quality assure in-channel Activation reports and develop insights and recommendations for the weekly cross-channel report.
  • Use the weekly reports from the activation teams to feed into the weekly reports sent out to the clients, as well as pulling recommendations from these.
  • Frequently ask questions to activation of the back of these to get further info, or if something doesn’t look quite right.
  • Run the Monday sessions with activation with prepared questions to make sure we have all the needed context for the reports.
• Contribute in client presentations and manage relationships with junior clients.
  • Always contributing in presentations, i.e the Wednesday reporting calls, Base status calls and BT/EE status calls. Have taken on more sections within the responses and talking through these. Run the quartey forecasting sessions with the clients to chat through the forecasts
  • Have built a good relationship with Rory across the Base campaigns
• Take responsibility for the collaboration and delivery of creative specs.
  • I have had ownership of these for some time now, creating the deliverables as well as updating them with changes and letting Saatchi know ensuring the correct specs etc. are provided
  • Created and led the creative best practice meeting
• Meet with vendors and have a relevant point of view on their offering.
  • Attending media owner Tuesdays
  • Put forward the Rightmove test for Black Friday after our meeting with the media owner which the clients are wanting to explore more on in our media detail session for Q3.
• Contribute to case studies that can be shared internally as learning and best practice.
  • Haven’t had opportunity to do this yet/do we do this?
• Train and manage Media Planning Execs to deliver high quality of output.
  • I’ve been helping train Jack, as well as taking ownership in teaching him all things reporting and competitive to bring him up to speed along with other weekly tasks, slowly getting him more involved in the team.
  • Have bi-weekly 1-1’s with Jack to chat through his work, any ideas to make things smoother as well as taking on board what he wants to get stuck in more on to help his progression and trying to get him more involved on the planning side.

Management Responsibility

• Motivate junior team members, leading by example while teaching new skills.
• Provide timely and actionable feedback to aid in team development and improvement.
• Develop strong relationships across the client team to facilitate flawless execution of plans.
• Communicate effectively across all levels of the team.
• Understand when to escalate issues to managers.
• Provide awareness and recognition for jobs well done.

Life at WPP Media & Benefits

Our passion for shaping the next era of media is powered by our commitment to Be Extraordinary, investing in our employees to inspire transformational creativity. We also Lead Optimistically, firmly believing in and Championing Growth and Development for every individual. This commitment allows WPP Media employees to leverage the extensive global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, build vital professional connections, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising. 

We Create an Open environment built on trust and respect, where everyone feels they belong and has opportunities to progress. This inclusive culture is fostered through a variety of employee resource groups and frequent in-office events showcasing team wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events. Our comprehensive benefits package reflects this commitment, including 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 characteristics. We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection in this open and supportive environment. 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.

Please read our Privacy Notice (https://www.wppmedia.com/pages/privacy-policy) for more information on how we process the information you provide. 

While we appreciate all applications received, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. 

Please read our Privacy Notice for more information on how we process the information you provide.