LIFESTYLE ACCOUNT DIRECTOR

We’re hiring an Account Director. This is a new and exciting opportunity to join our lifestyle specialist agency, Fabric, with clients that include adidas, Reebok, Lynx and Coca Cola, to name a few! You’ll have strong PR, influencer, social and media management expertise, for this opportunity. With previous experience of working on big brands.

About Us

M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment is a creative leader in the passion marketing sector, we connect brands to a diverse range of consumers through the things they love. We deliver award-winning campaigns for a number of leading brands globally, regionally and within individual markets.

About M&C Saatchi Fabric

M&C Saatchi Fabric are a creative comms agency working with some of the world’s biggest brands, developing campaigns that are at the cutting edge of culture. Clients include adidas, Reebok, Coca-Cola, Bowers & Wilkins, Lynx, JD Sports and many more. The agency are looking for an exceptional AD to join the growing team, delivering exciting PR and influencer work both locally and globally.

Location: London

Requirements:

- PR, campaign, and influencer experience

- Strong knowledge of the media, social media and digital landscapes

- Love of youth culture, pop culture and an ear to the ground for the latest trends

- First class communication skills, including document writing and presentations

About the Role:

An Account Director’s role is leadership based. As Account Director within Fabric, you are responsible for leading your team and providing direction and council to both team and client. You are responsible for developing successful creative campaigns which achieve the client’s strategic objectives and ensuring that work is completed to the highest possible standard. You also play a key role in the wider business and should have commercial awareness and an understanding of company, business, and financial objectives.

Core responsibilities include:

• Strategic and creative development of client campaigns
  
  
• Overseeing the implementation and delivery of campaigns including financial control of budgets
  
  
• Primary point of contact for clients, dealing with the majority of senior level relations and counsel
  
  
• Managing teams on both a day-to-day basis and a wider level, using experience and knowledge to aid the development of junior staff
  
  
• Overall budgeting on accounts including estimation, tracking, billing and forecasting
  
  
• Playing a broader role in company business including new business and staff development
  
  
• Taking an active role as line manager, including managing the appraisal process

Client Relationships

• Maintain regular communication with main client contacts to establish a relationship of trust, ensuring that you are viewed as a source of sound strategic, creative and operational advice

Consulting

• Direct client contact and ensure that all work delivered to clients is of an appropriate standard
  
  
• Provide sound strategic counsel using experience, insight and professional opinion to shape an informed point of view
  
  
• Be proactive in identifying solutions to problems that arise as campaigns develop, and in pre-empting potential considerations

Strategy, creativity and planning

• Play a central role in developing creative campaigns that achieve the client’s strategic objectives

• Be responsible for the development of responses to briefs from existing clients and, where relevant, to new business briefs

• Ensure briefs are fully analysed/interrogated and develop an efficient creative brainstorming process, resulting in first class creative solutions

• Produce standout written plans, demonstrating good storytelling, strong written skills and the ability to effectively position an idea to the client. Ensure that both content and look and feel are of a high standard
• Work with senior staff to ensure that all agency responses are creative, achievable and meet the client’s strategic objectives

Team management / leadership

• Manage team members on a day-to-day basis to ensure effective account running

• Provide clear briefs and time frames to team members for all working tasks

• Give clear guidance, direction and feedback to your team to ensure they are aware of what they need to deliver and when

• Encourage proactivity from all team members

• Build a strong framework to ensue you are managing your team effectively, implementing regular team catch ups and reporting systems

• Manage upwards and flag any issue to senior management

• Oversee servicing responsibilities, ensuring the correct resourcing for each account

Campaign delivery

• Lead campaign execution, ensuring first class delivery and success against objectives

• Be responsible for the briefing of junior staff, delegating and assigning specific roles against campaign tasks and deliverables

• Empower junior staff to take ownership of specific campaign elements to further their development and increase client exposure to the whole team

• Lead regular internal and external update and review meetings and conference calls

• Be responsible for quality control on every element of agency output

Budgeting and finance

• Be responsible for high level financial administration

• Work with senior colleagues and negotiate with clients over fee and activity budgets

• Understand impact of staff cost on the profitability of accounts and manage resource accordingly

Broader company role

• Be involved in new business development including identification/pursuit of leads and leading pitch processes

• Identify opportunities for external company marketing and PR

• Manage the appraisal and review process for junior staff

• Liaise with other account directors to ensure that staff resource allocation matches operational requirements and is planned in a timely and efficient manner

• Line manage assigned members of more junior staff, working towards their growth and development

Commercial Awareness

• Have commercial awareness, understand and contribute to the achievement of wider company business objectives

• Approach work with overall profitability for the business in mind

• Actively seek and develop new business opportunities

• Maintain good business practice on behalf of the company towards clients and suppliers

Marketing and PR

• Ensure that successful PR output is at the heart of all client work

Media Management

• Have a strong knowledge of media be able to offer your team and client council on the media landscape and fully understand media’s needs and requirements

• Maintain strong relationships with key high-level media across all relevant clients

• Manage your team to ensure they are delivering rich editorial opportunities

• Be aware of all client coverage and articles of interest, as informed by more junior members of the team

• Be aware of any coverage issues your team may face ahead of it becoming an issue with your client and deliver effective solutions.

Social Media

• Work with Digital Director to define relevant client strategy based on brief and objectives

• Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the social media / digital media landscape – in particular in relation to your client’s digital presence and objectives

• Incorporate relevant digital mechanics / strategy into client responses

• Help to manage the cross-agency structure (where relevant) understanding where we fit into it from a digital perspective

• Develop an understanding of emerging technology and its potential uses in marketing. Use these insights to sell new ideas to the client

• Provide strategic counsel to the client based on their social objectives and competitor activity

• Proof and approve content for social media created by your team

• Proof and approve social media reports and ensure insights and recommendations identified fit with the broader strategy

Campaign Execution

• Oversee the planning and implementation of client activations
  
  
• Work to ensure that activation is delivered to an extremely high standard, on time and within budget
  
  
• Ensure success and a results driven approach when implementing all campaigns
  
  
• Be aware of any financial or logistical issues before they become an issue for the client and provide relevant solutions.

What we offer

For the right candidate, we will offer a competitive salary and benefits package with a day off for your birthday, private healthcare, employer contributory pension, life assurance and income protection. We also offer a host of benefits that support wellbeing including subsided gym membership, summer hours, flexible bank holidays, carer support etc., whilst our commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion sees us offer learning opportunities around DE&I, targeted mentoring programmes and the opportunity to participate in a number of active Employee Led Networks and associated events. Finally, this role will be supported with all the necessary personal development required to set someone up for success.

The M&C Saatchi Group UK has pledged its commitment to create a company that values difference, with an inclusive culture brought to life through equity with an 18-month roadmap of business-wide activity across people, culture, industry and society. As part of this, M&C Saatchi Group continues to be an Equal Opportunity Employer which does not and shall not discriminate, celebrates diversity and bases all hiring and promotion decisions solely on merit, without regard for any personal characteristics.

All employee information is kept confidential according to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

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