Associate Director, Creative Strategy & Planning (Advertising)

Responsibilities

• Creative Brief Development – Work collaboratively with the insights and analytics team, account, and creative teams to lead the distillation of key information from consumer, category, culture, and company into actionable insights and a clear, compelling point of view for substantial client projects. Briefs can and will span across multiple disciplines: IE: Social, Creator, Project and Brand Briefs.
• Business Development – Contribute to new business response development; including preparation and delivery of pitches – particularly around driving the strategic upfront and creative set-up– and the onboarding of new business wins.
• Proactively drive client business growth by anticipating trends and cultural shifts, bringing forward actionable insights and ideas, and evolving brand and communications strategy to strengthen positioning and align with business and campaign goals.
• Develop ideas that push the envelope and push your presentation skills. A winning combination of confidence and intelligence will help you sell great work internally and to clients.
• Stay involved after the briefing process to help guide creative ideation and concepts throughout the process, ensuring that we produce breakthrough work that drives our clients' businesses forward.
• Understand the landscape for the client business/sector as well as the industry contexts for their investments and their brand values, direction, and big picture objectives.
• Monitor ongoing creative trends across categories and industries; specifically with a concentration within sports, entertainment, lifestyle, and culture, to offer relevant creative recommendations.
• Lead high-level, long-term creator strategy and vision, including campaign planning, creator archetype and tier identification.
• Champion the collaborative approach. Help the agency work more closely with the client and encourage your team to build relationships with account handlers.

Requirements

• 4-6 years of experience in brand, social, digital strategy, or comms strategy.
• Agency experience, experience working with national/global brands especially in tech or QSR.
• Innate curiosity, proactiveness, and the ability to think creatively when planning strategy, taking into account client objectives, key insights, and practical parameters.
• Natural ability to spot emerging creators and trends before they break.
• Develop creative strategic solutions that address the client’s business challenges/ goals.
• Possess exceptional communication skills, both orally and in writing. Superior interpersonal skills and the ability to create rapport with people.
• Demonstrated ability to be an effective leader in a cross-functional team environment.
• Proven track record of trend forecasting and cultural analysis that informs strategic recommendations.
• AI fluency- Comfort using AI-powered tools to enhance strategic work streams—such as research synthesis, insight development, brainstorming, and presentation development.

Benefits

• Professional Development: Take advantage of our learning and development programs, mentorship opportunities, and career advancement support.
• Generous Time Off: Enjoy generous paid time off and holiday allowances to recharge and spend time with loved ones.
• Parental Leave: We provide paid parental leave to support your family during important life events.
• Retirement Plan: 401k plan including contribution matching.
• Healthcare: Medical, dental, vision, FSA/HSA, life and disability coverage options.
• Ancillary: Critical illness, identity protection, pet insurance, 529 plans and more
• Commuter Benefits: Access support for travel and commuting needs, where available