Associate Business Director

About Ogilvy

Ogilvy was founded in 1948 by David Ogilvy. David created a culture that deeply respects and cares about its people and clients. Our mission is to inspire people and brands to make an impact and we are committed to attracting, growing, and retaining the best talent in the industry.

About the Role  

Associate Business Director is a leadership role among different stakeholders, including clients, internal account, creative, cross capabilities. He/she is a key driver of the business stability as well as growth.

The role is critical to the success of the business. The person must be capable of helping to deliver the Ogilvy strategy, specifically developing best practices typically for a range of clients under the direct responsibility of this person.

The ABD is responsible for the overall delivery of an assigned Client or a pool of Clients. He/she manages a team of Account people that are tasked with the day to day Client Service for these Clients. The ABD is responsible for assuring delivery while delivering outstanding strategic advice and excellent creative delivery.

A pivotal position within the business combining an ability to manage the challenges of growing a portfolio of accounts whilst juggling the responsibilities of business development and client servicing roles. The application of creative thinking is an essential part of the business.

What You’ll Do

• Client Management
  • With the line manager, responsible for achieving total revenues and direct contribution to accounts under your control
  • Work with the relevant parties to deliver financial targets and control costs
  • With the line manager, support the development of the yearly business plan and monthly dialogue reports for all key accounts
  • Independently and in partnership with the appropriate Ogilvy partners, develop, refine and implement business development strategy
  • Manage and ensure quality of our services to Clients
  • Management and handling of key client briefs, projects and requests, including the refinement of the above
  • Typical day-to-day management of clients and their requests including presentations, documentation, client activity administration, etc.
  • Present and pitch our services to potential clients in a competitive context
  • Support line manager in developing initiatives and new business opportunities
  • Maintain high-level contacts within business and industry relations
  • Handle sensitive topics and provide issue management consulting

• Strategy
  • Provide account planning and strategic support to key Clients, this requires the ABD to have strategic planning capabilities, including basic brand planning, digital engagement planning, communication planning, etc.
  • Provide Clients counsel in the development of successful customer management strategies
  • Understand industry/market trends and the success factors critical to the organization’s long-term sustainability and competitiveness. Be able to adopt learnings/highlights to client’s proposals proactively
  • Understand the offering of the 6 Capabilities
  • Modify business plans based on changing business conditions

• Creative Leadership
  • Passionate about good ideas, nurtures the ideas of others
  • Demonstrate enthusiasm for the creative industry in general and bring curiosity and creativity to daily work
  • Have the ability to inspire, talent and patience to help generate “Big Ideas” with legs, ideas that are effective and sell for the brand
  • Earn the trust and respect of creative colleagues
  • Give good direction and feedback; contribute ideas; push for better work
  • Willing to challenge Clients to accept our best ideas and then sell them well
  • Help to ensure execution of the highest quality are well represented

• Leadership & People Management
• • Establish himself/herself as a role model
  • Identify good talents, inspire people to want to work for/follow him/her
  • Have an inspiring and approachable style of leadership, strive to make things better
  • Respect and believe in others, strive to bring out their inner greatness, ensure the development and appropriate training of team members, and build an efficient team with high morale
  • Make and take responsibility for, and demonstrate commitment to appropriate decisions in a timely manner, esp. when significant information is incomplete and/or ambiguous
  • Have a broad perspective and be open to varied options
  • Abide by the WPP code of business conduct

What You’ll Need 

• 8+years of experience in communications or related field; industry experience preferred
• Team-leading experience
• Proven excellence in leadership
• Strong verbal and presentation skills with the ability to speak knowledgably with high level executives internally and with Clients

How We’ll Support You

Ogilvy celebrates its people. Fully. Enthusiastically. Unhesitatingly. We’ll empower you with the tools you’ll need to succeed. We’ll give you the autonomy to seek out new paths and better ways of doing things. We’ll support you with colleagues who are experts in their disciplines, drawn from across the Ogilvy network. And we’ll provide opportunities for you to do work of which you’ll be proud, with people you’ll be proud to call your teammates.