Associate Director, Comms Planning

Responsibilities

• Develop audience-led communications plans
• - Translate client briefs into clear business and communications objectives, priority audiences and the changes in perception or behavior media needs to drive.
• - Combine consumer, category, competitive and cultural insight to identify opportunities for the client. Show how the brand’s positioning should influence where, when and how it appears in media.
• - Develop communications frameworks that define channel roles, messaging context, sequencing, timing and investment priorities across brand and performance activity.
• Connect audience insight and data to activation
• - Partner with Data Strategy and client teams to translate audience segmentation, personas and customer journeys into usable planning and activation choices.
• - Use Omni and relevant first-party, syndicated, platform and qualitative research to develop recommendations. Brief specialists on the questions to answer and interpret the findings for planning.
• - Work with Data Strategy and activation teams to assess audience scale, addressability, overlap and data limitations. Ensure strategic audiences can be reached in practice and that data use follows client and agency requirements.
• Partner with Investment and the integrated agency team
• - Engage Investment early to shape achievable recommendations, balancing audience fit, reach, frequency, cost, timing and partner capabilities.

Requirements

• 6+ years of relevant experience in communications planning, media strategy, integrated media planning or audience strategy, ideally within an agency.
• Experience leading planning workstreams on a complex account and turning business objectives into recommendations that teams can activate.
• Strong understanding of audience research, segmentation and customer journeys, with the ability to interpret quantitative and qualitative evidence and work effectively with data specialists.
• Broad knowledge of video, social, digital, audio, out-of-home and partnerships, including how channels work together across brand building and demand generation.
• Demonstrated partnership with Investment or activation teams, including briefing, evaluating proposals and navigating delivery constraints.
• Strong storytelling, presentation and client relationship skills, with the confidence to make and defend a recommendation.
• Proven ability to manage competing priorities, work independently and maintain quality in a fast-moving environment. Experience coaching or supervising junior colleagues.
• Proficiency in presentation and analysis tools and familiarity with audience and media research platforms. Omni experience is helpful; ability to learn new tools is essential.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent relevant experience. Insurance or financial services experience is helpful but not essential.