Senior Engagement Strategist
About the job
- At least 3 years of experience in an engagement strategy role.
- Demonstrated understanding of client engagement strategies from an advertising agency, marketing agency, or management consulting perspective.
- Strong familiarity with engagement strategy and related analytics, and with aligning strategies to business needs across all channels.
- Ability to work autonomously while knowing when to involve the Strategy Lead and integrated team.
- Strong interpersonal communication skills for working face-to-face with clients and internal departments.
- Technical proficiency in presentation planning and development.
- Support account leadership under the Strategy Lead by translating the client’s vision into a roadmap that builds meaningful connections with target consumers and aligns with client goals.
- Develop informed perspectives on new platforms and messaging, build audience connections, provide context for reporting, and drive client business outcomes through engagement strategy delivery.
- Analyze audience and market data, cultural and social trends, product and service research, and qualitative and quantitative information to support creative strategy recommendations, develop target-audience insights, and test advertising concepts.
- Collaborate with analytics, creative, and account management teams to ensure client deliverables are executed accurately and align with strategy.
- Contribute intelligence analysis, key performance indicators, and program measurement to identify observations and nuances that can inspire creative work and solutions for the client’s business.
Who We Are
VML is a global creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce to create connected brands that drive growth. Guided by a Human First philosophy, VML is known for its innovative work for brands and consistently ranks among the world’s leading creative companies, including the WARC Creative 100. VML’s global network spans 55+ markets with principal offices in Buenos Aires, Kansas City, London, New York, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore.
VML is part of WPP, the trusted growth partner for the world's leading brands. Powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform WPP Open, WPP unites cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, creativity, production, enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel.
For more information, please visit www.vml.com and follow along on LinkedIn #WeAreVML.
Senior Engagement Strategist – Freelance
Location : Kalamazoo, Michigan : Chicago, Illinois: Hybrid (may be open to other locations)
SUMMARY
At VML, we are a beacon of innovation and growth in an ever-evolving world. Our heritage is built upon a century of combined expertise, where creativity meets technology, and diverse perspectives ignite inspiration. With the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson, we have forged a new path as a growth partner that is part creative agency, part consultancy, and part technology powerhouse.
Our global family now encompasses over 30,000 employees across 150+ offices in 64 markets, each contributing to a culture that values connection, belonging, and the power of differences. Our expertise spans the entire customer journey, offering deep insights in communications, commerce, consultancy, CRM, CX, data, production, and technology. We deliver end-to-end solutions that result in revolutionary work.
Who we are looking for:
VML is looking for a Senior Engagement Strategist – Freelance for a global Auto client. This is a unique opportunity for an experienced senior engagement strategist to be part of a fast-growing team to help evolve an iconic automotive brand and lauch new products across North America. You’ll have an innate curiosity in the engagement strategic process, developing strategy and tactics that leverage category and target audience insights, while creating briefs and cultivating a portfolio of excellent work.
- At VML our senior engagement strategists develop and implement plans to build meaningful connections between a brand, its organization and their target audience. They will analyze customer behavior, market trends, and engagement metrics to create strategies that enhance interaction, increase loyalty, and align with business goals across omni-channel media.
What you’ll do:
- Strategy Delivery | Under the Strategy Lead, support account leadership to translate our client’s vision into a roadmap that will achieve meaningful connections with target consumers that align with client goals. You must be able to develop insightful, perspectives on new platforms, messaging and build connections with audiences, bring related context to reporting and drive our client’s business forward through best practice engagement strategy delivery.
- Insight Mining | Dig in to data from a variety of sources: audience data, market data, cultural and social trends monitoring, products and services research, qualitative and quantitative methods, to support creative strategy recommendations, gain insights into target audiences and test ad concepts.
- Collaborate | Work with the analytics, creative and account management teams to ensure all client deliverables are flawlessly executed and on-strategy. Contribute intelligence analysis, KPIs, and program measurement to extract key observations and nuances that can inspire creative and lead to innovative, exciting solutions for our client’s business.
Who you are:
- A Strategist with demonstrated experience operating across all strategy lines
- A builder | Innovator with a desire to bring people together. Innate ability to marshal people and create gravity around ideas.
- Open and collaborative | Our team is close-knit and supportive and we’re working with a lot of unknowns – you must be a champion of team environments that are comfortable and encouraging, especially when working across disciplines.
- An experimenter | Embrace the unknown and ready to break process. You’ll be excited by opportunities to explore new ideas rather than rely on existing paradigms, and you view technology as a tool that can drive this creativity.
- Optimistic and resilient | Dig in and figure out how to work around problems. Yes, and why not posture. Balance needed to maintain stamina and positivity.
- A team player | We all wear the hats that need wearing, it’s a mentality that makes the team successful.
What you’ll need:
- 3+ years in an engagement strategy role.
- Demonstrated understanding of client engagement strategies from an Advertising Agency, Marketing Agency or Management consulting POV.
- Strong familiarity and comfort with engagement strategy and related analytics and aligning strategies with business needs across all channels.
- A positive attitude and capacity for thinking above and beyond the client’s initial ask.
- A self-starter approach and true sense of ownership regarding work at each point of delivery.
- A proven curiosity and willingness to dive deep into complex categories.
- Ability to juggle multiple priorities in order to meet deadlines. The ability to think on your feet and an eagerness to think outside the box.
- Ability to work autonomously while knowing when to engage the Strategy Lead and greater integrated team.
- Strong interpersonal communication skills; you will be face-to-face with clients and internal departments at their busiest moments.
- Technically proficient in presentation planning and development.
The compensation for this position at the time of this posting is indicated below. Individual compensation varies based on job-related factors, including location, business needs, level of responsibility, experience, and qualifications. We offer a competitive benefits package. Click WPP Benefits for more details.
We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.
WPP (VML) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.
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_ 75 - 90 USD
About the company
VML MAP is a global marketing services and technology partner that serves as a center of excellence for Marketing Automation, Personalization, Loyalty, Agentic AI, and CRM at scale. It helps brands humanize the relationship with customers by delivering data‑driven, personalized content across all channels and industries, leveraging a multi-disciplinary team across consulting, data & AI, content & creative, identity & 1to1, paid media, technology & platform, operating models & processes, and operations. The company operates from 14 offices worldwide, with a mission to scale efficient, measurable experiences that drive business success. Distinguishing factors include its global, diverse team; integration of marketing technology with AI capabilities; and a focus on end-to-end, interoperable solutions rather than isolated campaigns.
Company Size
501-1,000
Company Stage
N/A
Total Funding
N/A
Headquarters
Kansas City, Missouri
Founded
1992
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- VML won Campaign's 2026 Global Agency of the Year in October 2026.
- African Parks chose VML South Africa on September 22, 2026 for digital strategy.
- VML's September 10, 2026 Foundation Day mobilized 26,000 employees across 55-plus markets.
What critics are saying
- WPP's February 2026 WPP Creative merger and September 2026 cuts pressure VML margins.
- Jon Cook exits in March 2027, creating leadership risk during WPP Creative integration.
- AI tools inside WPP Open commoditize agency services, threatening VML's pricing power by 2028.
What makes VML unique
- Eric Campbell's March 2027 succession preserves VML continuity after Jon Cook's departure.
- VML spans 55-plus markets, combining brand experience, commerce, data, technology, and creative.
- Cannes Lions 2026 and Campaign's Global Agency of the Year validate VML's scale.
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Benefits
- Hybrid Work Options
- Flexible Work Hours
Company News
Cannes Lions PR 2026: KitKat Heist wins PR Lions Grand Prix. Cannes Lions is the annual International Festival of Creativity, held each June in Cannes, France, where agencies and brands compete for Lions trophies in advertising, public relations and related categories. Public relations has had its own category, the PR Lions, since 2009. At the 73rd festival, held June 22 to 26, 2026, the PR Lions Grand Prix went to "The KitKat Heist" for KitKat, entered by Burson London and created by VML in partnership with Burson. By the Everything-PR Editorial Team. Updated October 21, 2026. What is Cannes Lions and where did it start? Cannes Lions began in Venice, not Cannes. The first festival took place there in September 1954 as the International Advertising Film Festival, with 187 film entries from 14 countries, according to Wikipedia's festival history. It alternated between Venice and Cannes for years and settled in Cannes in 1984, per Campaign's history of the festival. The festival is separate from the Cannes Film Festival, which runs in May and focuses on cinema. Cannes Lions runs in June and focuses on advertising, public relations and creativity. | Year | Milestone | | 1954 | First festival, held in Venice | | 1969 | Gold, Silver and Bronze Lions introduced | | 1984 | Festival settles permanently in Cannes | | 2005 | Titanium Lions introduced | | 2009 | PR Lions introduced | | 2011 | Creative Effectiveness Lions launched and "advertising" dropped from the festival name | | 2020 | Festival cancelled for the first time | | 2026 | New integrity standards apply to every entry | How do the PR Lions work? The PR Lions are the festival's dedicated public relations category, judged by a jury of practitioners and open to work from advertising agencies and PR agencies. The International Public Relations Network notes that the category was reviewed in 2019 to reflect PR's shift toward a more strategic function, and that a section called "Excellence in PR Craft" was added in 2024 for independent PR agencies and PR network companies, per its history of PR at Cannes Lions. Entries are grouped into subcategories. The 2026 Grand Prix was awarded in Crisis Communications and Issues Management, and Burson's work for Ford, "Ford Truckle," was shortlisted in the Social Behavior in PR subcategory. The separate PR Agency of the Year title goes to the agency with the most points from shortlisted and winning PR Lions entries. 5WPR: 25 Years Of ExcellencePublic Relations Agency | Media, Marketing and AI Search Talk to [email protected] Who won the PR Lions in 2026? Burson London won the PR Lions Grand Prix and the PR Agency of the Year title in 2026. The facts below come from AdNews's day-three results and Burson's own announcement. | Item | 2026 result | | Festival dates | June 22 to 26, 2026 | | PR Lions entries | 1,156 | | PR Lions awarded | 37 (7 Gold, 12 Silver, 17 Bronze) | | Grand Prix"The KitKat Heist," KitKat, Burson London, created by VML in partnership with Burson | | PR Agency of the Year | Burson London, ahead of Golin Ketchum London and Ninch Company, Buenos Aires | | PR Lions jury president | Dana Tahir, CEO of Havas Red Middle East and Egypt | Burson reported that "The KitKat Heist" also earned four Gold Lions and three Silver Lions, and that the agency won Lions credits on 1001 Optometry's "Magnify-Eye" and Oreo's "Oreo Cows," which took the Titanium Lion, per its newsroom announcement. AdNews published the full day-three results that include the PR Lions count. Who won the PR Lions Grand Prix in 2025? FCB India won the 2025 PR Lions Grand Prix for "Lucky Yatra," a campaign for Indian Railways that addressed fare evasion on Mumbai commuter trains. It was India's first PR Lions Grand Prix, according to Creative Moment's PR roundup. The 72nd festival ran June 16 to 20, 2025, and its PR jury was led by Tom Beckman, Global Chief Creative Officer at Weber Shandwick. Which other Lions can PR work win? PR-led work competes in several Lions besides the PR Lions, and each one rewards a different claim. The table summarizes what each judges. | Lion | What it judges | Why PR teams enter | | PR Lions | Strategic and creative communications where PR leads | The category buyers look for first | | Glass: The Lion for Change | Work that challenges gender inequality and prejudice | Purpose work that moves the conversation through earned attention | | Titanium | Work that breaks new ground | Senior award with no subcategories | | Creative Effectiveness | Previously shortlisted work with measurable results over time | Proof of outcomes, not launch-week attention | | Creative Strategy | The insight and thinking behind the work | Signals planning quality | | Creative Brand | A brand's systems for producing creative work repeatedly | The 2026 Grand Prix went to AB InBev, which signals a target list for new business | | Social and Creator | Social-first ideas and creator partnerships | The 2026 Grand Prix went to Heineken's "Could Have Been a Heineken," by LePub Milan | What did the 2026 integrity rules change? The 2026 integrity standards changed how every entry is checked before it can win. Cannes Lions announced the rules during the 2025 festival, after it investigated a Grand Prix campaign by DM9 for the appliance maker Consul, per MediaPost's report. The five standards, as summarized by Adweek, include: * A two-tier fact-checking system that combines human reviewers and AI analysis. * Mandatory senior sign-off from both the agency and the client on every entry. * Rules for synthetic media and an AI Integrity Handbook. * Bans of up to three years for companies that knowingly submit false or misleading work, and a new Integrity Council for escalated cases. * An annual integrity audit published by the festival. Cannes Lions can withdraw an award at any stage, including after a Lion has been given, if it finds material misrepresentation. Why does a Cannes Lion matter beyond the trophy? A Cannes Lion matters beyond the trophy because winning entries leave a trail of documents that other people reference for years. The festival publishes the case, trade press reports the win, the agency repeats it in pitches and universities teach the work. That trail is why the festival works as a hiring and new-business signal. It is also why the integrity rules matter commercially: a withdrawn award removes the record the agency was counting on. Everything-PR's view is that agencies should treat the case film and the written case as permanent public documents and write them with that in mind. How should a PR agency decide which Lions to enter? A PR agency should enter the Lions where its evidence is strongest, because the integrity rules make weak claims a liability. Use this order of questions. * Is PR the lead discipline? If yes, enter the PR Lions. * Is the work more than a year old with measured results? If yes, consider Creative Effectiveness. * Was the insight the hard part? If yes, consider Creative Strategy. * Did the work change how the category operates? Only then consider Titanium. * Can the client verify every number and sign off on it? If not, do not enter. For how Cannes Lions sits beside the other major PR programs, with calendars, fees and judging, see the PR awards overview. How does Cannes compare with other festivals? Cannes Lions is the industry's awards festival, while other major festivals do different jobs for communications teams. Each one suits a different goal. | Festival | When | Best for | | Cannes Lions | June | Awards, agency credentials and senior buyers | | SXSW | March | Technology, culture and brand activations | | Coachella | April | Creator and celebrity content around a music festival | | Glastonbury | June | A festival that sells out without conventional PR | | Burning Man | Late summer | A brand built without advertising | Frequently asked questions. When was Cannes Lions 2026? The 73rd Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity ran from June 22 to 26, 2026, at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. Who won the PR Lions Grand Prix in 2026? "The KitKat Heist" for KitKat won the 2026 PR Lions Grand Prix. It was entered by Burson London and created by VML in partnership with Burson. How many PR Lions were awarded in 2026? The PR Lions awarded 37 Lions in 2026 from 1,156 entries: 7 Gold, 12 Silver and 17 Bronze, according to AdNews. When was Cannes Lions founded? The first festival was held in Venice in September 1954. Cannes became its permanent home in 1984, and the PR Lions category was added in 2009. How is Cannes Lions different from the Cannes Film Festival? The Cannes Film Festival runs in May and focuses on cinema. Cannes Lions runs in June and focuses on advertising, public relations and creativity. They share a city but are separate events. Can a company be banned from Cannes Lions? Yes. Under the standards that took effect in 2026, a company that knowingly submits false or misleading work can be banned from the festival for up to three years, and awards can be withdrawn after they are given. EPR Editorial Team The Everything-PR Editorial Team is the staff byline for news, analysis and features on communications, reputation, AI visibility and digital discovery. Everything-PR has published since 2009. AI tools assist with research and drafting, and every article is reviewed by a human editor before publication. Coverage follows the Editorial Policy, and substantive corrections are noted on the article under the Corrections Policy.
VML is the most-awarded entrant at the 2026 ARF David Ogilvy Awards. Three campaigns earned VML six medals - three Gold and three Silver - the highest total of any entrant. * Published Date - Oct 21, 2026 VML received six awards at the 2026 ARF David Ogilvy Awards, held October 14 at Tribeca Rooftop in New York. The wins - three Gold and three Silver - recognized work for Abbott, Wahl Professional and TruGreen. VML was the most-awarded entrant by total category awards, with six medals. All six of VML's submitted entries earned an award, marking the agency's first 100% win rate at the awards. The results recognized work across pharmaceuticals, cultural fluency, business-to-business marketing, brand transformation, professional services, and the new Small Budgets category.
Tata Steel spotlights steel recycling in new 'Recycle of Life' campaign film via VML. by Anne Buclatin October 16, 2026. Mumbai, India - Tata Steel has launched "Recycle of Life", a sustainability film created with British animator Martyn Pick and VML, as part of the second phase of its #WeAlsoMakeTomorrow corporate brand campaign, highlighting the role of steel recycling in supporting a more sustainable future. While the first phase, launched in 2018, explored how technology and innovation could shape the future, the latest instalment focuses on sustainability. Through 'Recycle of Life', Tata Steel highlights steel's ability to retain its essential properties through repeated recycling, presenting material circularity as part of building a more sustainable future. Directed by Martyn Pick, Film Director at Meat and Electricity Ltd, 'Recycle of Life' combines live action, computer-generated imagery (CGI) and painted environments to depict steel's repeated transformation, with children representing future generations. The film also features 'Recycle Raga', an original score by Dhruv Ghanekar, Composer and Founder of Wah Wah Music, with vocals by Carnatic singer Sanjay Subrahmanyan, reinterpreting the Indian classical raga system to reflect the concept of transformation through recycling. Pick shared, "To bring this vision to life, I developed a bespoke 'Painting into Pixels' technique that treats digital imagery as wet paint, creating a distinctive textured look. The aim was to visualise the impact of Tata Steel's sustainable processes through look, feel and texture." "Capturing the children's sense of wonder was central to the film, as they represent the spirit of tomorrow. Key was establishing a metamorphic flow, matching Tata Steel's endlessly inventive transformation of materials with the spontaneous creative joy of children," added Pick. "Combining their creative energy with a vibrant colour palette and seamless CGI integration allowed us to create a visual experience aligned to the campaign's message of transformation and responsible progress," concluded Pick. "The music for Tata Steel draws upon the idea of reimagining the Indian classical raga system by reinterpreting how notes are arranged while ascending up the scale. Taking a cue from Tata Steel, an institution that is over a hundred years old, and how it is reinventing itself by recycling steel, the music metaphorically reinterprets the seven notes by recycling the ancient raga system," Ghanekar said. "As the scale ascends upwards, the music recycles, resets, rearranges itself and is reborn at every step. Brought to life by the vocals of renowned Carnatic singer Sanjay Subrahmanyan, the music travels across genres, moods and tempos as it crescendos to finally recycle itself and return to where it started," Ghanekar added. Through 'Recycle of Life', Tata Steel connects the campaign's sustainability message with its target of reaching net zero by 2045 and plans to produce 10-15 million tonnes of steel annually through recycling within the next 10-15 years.
VML MENA takes home four Grand Prix and 16 awards at Dubai Lynx 2026. VML Riyadh leads the network's most celebrated night at Dubai Lynx, securing four Grand Prix across Audio and Radio, Digital Craft, Social and Creator, and the Grand Prix for Good, as VML Dubai adds Gold to a strong night for the network. * Published Date - Oct 13, 2026 VML MENA closed the Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity 2026 with 16 awards across VML Riyadh and VML Dubai, including four Grand Prix, five Gold, three Silver, and four Bronze. VML Riyadh claimed all four Grand Prix of the evening, affirming the office's position as one of the most creatively ambitious agencies in the region. The most celebrated campaign of the night was The Eweeha Protest for KAFA, a Lebanese civil, non-governmental, non-profit, feminist and secular organisation working to build a society free of the social, economic, and legal patriarchal structures that discriminate against women. The campaign took home the Grand Prix for Good, the festival's highest honour for purpose-driven work, along with two Gold awards and a Bronze across Film, Audio and Radio, and Brand Storytelling. Further Grand Prix wins came from Speak My Language for stc, recognised in Audio and Radio Technology; Seat With a View for flynas, honoured in Digital Craft; and Never Cover Your Mouth for Mentos, awarded in Social and Creator Real-Time Response. Additional standout campaigns recognised across the evening include The Blind Seats and The Face of Mudhi for stc, and Seat With a View for flynas across Social and Creator. VML Dubai earned a Gold for HUNGERFLIX for HungerStation, recognised in Digital Craft for Personalised Storytelling and Experience. VML MENA extends its sincere thanks to its clients for their partnership, collaboration, and trust. These wins are a shared achievement. Sixteen awards and four Grand Prix in a single night is something to be proud of. What makes this result special is that it came from two offices, across clients who trusted VML, Inc. to do bold work, and teams who had the conviction to see it through. Nassib Boueri CEO, WPP Creative MENA, and WPP MENA RHQ
VML's Heather Physioc: AI search requires brands to tell a consistent story. 6 Oct 2026 / David Kaplan NEW YORK - Search engine optimization built its playbook around keywords and links. AI-powered discovery requires something different. Brands need a coherent, corroborated story that holds up across every surface where their content appears, because AI systems are cross-validating sources in ways that traditional search never did. "To be discoverable today means that brands are able not only to be found in a list of links, but they are chosen, recommended, hopefully eventually transacted upon," Heather Physioc, chief discoverability officer at VML, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at EMARKETER's Future of Digital event in New York. "It's all about having this consistent story that shows up about your brand no matter when, where, why, or how people search." The fragmentation problem is where most brands are falling short. A brand's website, social media, earned media, and retail experiences often tell slightly different versions of the same story. In traditional search, that inconsistency was largely invisible. In AI search, corroboration is everything. The questions consumers now ask AI platforms are more specific, more nuanced, and more numerous than anything SEO was built to handle. A brand optimized for a handful of high-volume keywords may be completely invisible when a user asks a layered, follow-up-driven question. "The breadth and depth of their content is not sufficient in this new era to answer all the personalized, nuanced, specific questions that people are suddenly able to ask," Physioc said. "We need to have a deeper, richer understanding of what it is our customers need and want and how they're going to use these tools so that we can create more content and experiences that serve those needs better." Trust signals are a competitive advantage. One in 10 Google AI overviews contains an error. At Google's scale, that represents hundreds of thousands of mistakes every minute. As AI platforms push toward paid media and compete for loyal users, accuracy and trust become existential priorities. "People know that they can't fully trust these LLMs. As these platforms want to move toward paid media and be the platform that wins all the users, people need to trust the results," Physioc said. "As that trust gap starts to get closed and these platforms get more sophisticated, that enables the next steps that push us toward that autonomous, agentic shopping era." For brands, that dynamic translates into a clear imperative. Credentials, expertise signals, and third-party validation will increasingly determine which brands surface in AI-generated short lists. AI visibility requires a center of excellence. Owning AI discoverability inside an organization means breaking down the walls between search, social, and PR. The strategic and organizational challenge is as significant as the technical one. "The AI discoverability landscape is requiring different channels to collaborate together like never before," Physioc said. "It should live in a center of excellence where you bring the best of different expertises like social, search, and PR to the table to figure out how a story or message can come to life regardless of what channel it's in." Executive sponsorship is not optional. The level of coordination required across teams and channels demands organizational commitment from the top down. "Structuring your information in a retrievable way while giving humans a reason to believe and algorithms evidence to validate - that's the trifecta that I think is going to win," Physioc said. You're watching Beet.TV's coverage of EMARKETER's 2026 The Future of Digital summit. For more videos from this summit, please visit this page.