Associate Media Director

Who we are looking for:

VML is seeking an Associate Media Director who will be responsible for leading integrated planning, buying and providing day to day management across multiple media channels, including but not limited to TV, OOH, OTT/CTV, OLV, Sponsored Content, Interactive Digital, Radio, Streaming Audio, Display and Native. This role will be responsible developing channel agnostic media strategies that align to client communication goals, as well as collaborating with media planners and media partner agencies to translate those strategies into channel and tactical opportunities.

The AMD will also be responsible for developing ingoing points of view to inform media strategies, such as audience insights (psychographic, lifestyle, media consumption), category landscape assessments, new/emerging media opportunities, seasonality considerations and building best in class media connectivity/eco-systems to connect phases of the journey. 

What you’ll do: 

• Shape | Responsible for learning the client’s business inside and out and staying abreast of industry and category information. Proactively expand and share knowledge across the organization through industry research, events and vendor/publisher meetings. Identify opportunities to improve infrastructure and processes. Is a strong voice within the media team, leading discussions and points of view about client business internally and externally.
• Develop | Creatively author media strategies that articulate how people will experience, share and interact with a message/content based on the client’s campaign and business objectives. Guide, review and pressure test integrated tactical media plan development. Define campaign and media measurement plans in partnership with Media Analytics and Strategy teams. Develop and lead reporting structure, templates, cadence, optimizations and recommendations. Help develop and approve media planning timelines.
• Analyze | Analyze and disseminate data to provide sound, strategic consumer insights-driven media recommendations. Responsible for media performance aligning with campaign measurement plans. Collaborate with Media Analytics to ensure transparency on campaign performance and surface holistic campaign insights. Ensure all technologies are in place for needed media KPI measurement. Present insights and recommendations directly to clients, in collaboration with Media Analytics.
• Communicate | Demonstrate strong presentation skills. Serve as a key client contact to receive the client requests, investigate proposed and alternative solutions to maximize client objectives and identify and/or resolve any execution issues. Lead cross-team, cross-discipline and cross-agency ideation and ensure application to strategies/tactical plans.
• Collaborate | Foster collaboration, share technological insights and current marketplace knowledge to bring our ideas to life. Become a trusted, valued partner to media leads, cross-discipline team members and agency partners. Build strong relationships with creative teams to collaborate and build on ideas.
• Execute | Accountable for start to finish planning process and overall campaign health. Centrally manage negotiations/rate tracking, planning costs, performance benchmarking and budget management of assigned accounts. Develop Q/A process and checklists in partnership with Media Director and ensure processes are adhered to. Oversees reporting process, ensuring accuracy and collaborates with Analytics on reporting standards. Works with planners and analytics teams to establish requirements for campaign setup. Ensure all required technologies are set up (campaign management, tagging, brand safety, etc.).
• Manage | Manage team of media managers assigned to your account(s) and participate in hiring and evaluation process. Train junior staff in the media discipline, as well as the specifics of the client’s business and industry. Guide team members on strategic bodies of work. Remove barriers for team that are getting in the way of day-to-day work. Vet tactical recommendations made by team members and agency partners. Ensure timelines are met. Provide oversight on budget allocations/spend, media KPIs, estimates and projections. Ensure effective monitoring and optimization of media. Provide regular, constructive feedback to junior team members to help them grow. Ensure governance of billing and reconciliation process.

Who you are:

• Innovative | Display a proactive innovation-oriented approach to client challenges. Your thinking demonstrates creativity that is drawn from your experience of best practices in media and knowledge of a client's business. You lead your team to interesting and emerging media ideas.
• Team-Oriented | Act with high integrity to maintain strong, collaborative, productive working relationships across all agency departments, clients, sales representatives and media and partner agencies. You have an ability to lead and thrive in an entrepreneurial and collaborative environment, carving paths forward and eliminating barriers for team members. You consistently manage and coach your team members. And you are the go-to for main clients, able to stand on your own with your team’s recommendations.
• Passionate | Enthusiastic and creative in the way you approach your work. You actively inspire and influence others.  You participate in creative media ideation and seek out ways to build on the ideas from the Creative teams. You demonstrate a passion for our and our client’s business.
• Inspiring | You are good at making things easier to understand, with excellent verbal and written communication skills. You demonstrate the ability to translate and present complicated ideas in a simple and easy to understand style.  You inspire and influence others to push the boundaries of their thinking and ideas.
• Critical Thinker | Exceptional critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. You think unconventionally in proposing opportunities or solutions to issues.

What you’ll need:

• Minimum of 6 years’ experience in Media Planning with 2+ years’ experience managing junior team members.
• Experience with integrated planning required; planning/leading the execution of a broad range of channels inclusive of OOH, TV, Radio, Digital Video/Audio, Display, Social.
• Experience translating client objectives/communication objectives into media strategies and leading junior team members in translation of media strategies into tactical media plans.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills (including presentation skills). 
• Strong quantitative skills, including analytical abilities and math proficiency.
• Ability to lead a team, handle multiple assignments and meet tight deadlines.
• Keep abreast of industry trends through trade news, industry workshops/seminars and track current events.
• Full Funnel experience (Brand + Demand Gen) preferred.
• Experience using an array of media planning and implementation tools required; Examples: ComScore, Ad Intel, Kantar/Vivvix, Nielsen IMS, Simmons/MRI, Scarborough, 3^rd Party Ad Servers such as GCM/CM360.
• Proficiency at MS Suite: Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Teams required.
• Previous experience working within DSPs/self-serve platforms is a plus.
• Experience using organizational and media planning tools such as Monday.com and Media Ocean/Prisma is a plus.

What we offer: 

• Passionate, driven people | We champion a culture of people that do extraordinary work.
• Consciously cultivated culture | We aim to embody the behaviors to build an inclusive community that is in it together, bringing both positivity and active listening into the workplace as we simultaneously strive to empower creative bravery.
• Competitive benefits | What we offer full time hires ranges from the full spectrum of group health coverage options (medical, dental, vision) to a generous 401k match (100% dollar-for-dollar match, up to 5% of salary contribution), and a variety of paid time off offerings that reflect our investment in all aspects of your overall life balance and wellness.
• Growth-minded opportunities | We aim to nurture a culture of real-time feedback, growth-oriented mindset, and plenty of training opportunities through VML and WPP, so you can continue to grow personally and professionally.

VML is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion or belief, sex, age, national origin, citizenship status, marital status, military/veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental disability, or other protected group status. We believe in creating a dynamic work environment that values diversity and inclusion and strives to recruit a diverse slate of candidates to help us achieve that goal.