Senior Strategist

Senior Strategist

Overview

We are seeking a talented Senior Strategist to support a leader brand in a regulated industry. This person will bring strong Brand Strategy and Creative Strategy experience as well as experience in the activation of those strategies across the audience journey. (If you are predominantly another kind of strategist, e.g., CX, content, please be aware that we are prioritizing Brand Strategy and Creative Strategy candidates.)

Role

The ideal candidate is a strategic thinker with advertising agency experience who can move confidently and comfortably between big-picture brand thinking and hands-on campaign development. They should be able to immerse themselves in the business; partner with Creative teams; collaborate closely with Creative, Account and CX teams; and communicate clearly and compellingly with clients.

Responsibilities

• Help define the strategic and creative problems to be solved / opportunities to be seized
• Understand the business, brand and audience goals and KPIs
• Design and conduct research to analyze category, culture, brand, product and audiences
• Optional but preferred: The core priority is consumer experience. A nice-to-have is work with health-care professionals (HCPs), especially pharmacists
• Develop audience insights, including tensions to be resolved and needs to be met
• Demonstrate fluency with different types of research (e.g., quant, qual, social listening) and data (e.g., MRI)
• Write Creative Briefs and Activation Briefs that inform and inspire Creative teams
• Work with Creative teams to ensure Brave Ideas, Beautifully Crafted
• Determine audience journeys, including key channels across mass, digital, physical, retail and POS, content, social working in concert with CX experts, clients, and client media agency
• Understand regulatory environments in client partnership to ensure responsible work
• Participate in client meetings, present strategic work, build trusted client relationships
• Work closely with Account and Creative teams

Requirements

• Priority: Brand Strategy and / or Creative Strategy
• Must-have: Consumer experience. Nice-to-have: HCP experience
• 5+ years experience
• Agency experience
• Demonstrated ability to develop insights, ideas, campaigns, activations — successful candidates will be able to share an existing sample of past work
• Clear, concise, compelling communication skills, both written and oral
• Experience in a regulated industry such as nicotine, healthcare/pharma, financial services, alcohol, gaming, or similar is preferred. Must be comfortable supporting a nicotine account.
• Experience across the channels and touchpoints noted
• Proven ability to work directly with clients

Location

Canada-based candidates only, with preferences for Montreal (first preference) and Toronto (second preference). This role follows a hybrid schedule with an expectation of working onsite approximately three days per week.