Brand Strategy Director

**ABOUT THE ROLE**

We are seeking a talented and energetic freelance Brand Strategy Director who will play a fundamental role in helping set and guide several blue-chip organisation's brand and sponsorship strategy across Australia and the APAC region.

As a freelance Brand Strategy Director, it is your job to understand what it takes to help a client's business succeed through a superior understanding of the business, the brand, the audience and the cultural context, of all combined.

A rich understanding of how brands grow is a mandatory; you will be the audience and brand expert in the agency working in close collaboration with the Executive Creative Director to shape award winning creative work, and with the Business Director to help clients unlock commercial opportunities with their audiences.

You will be largely working with Financial Service brands (Banks and payment companies) and therefore should have experience working in such sectors previously. While experience in the sports and entertainment sectors is not mandatory, what you must have is a belief in the power of partnership marketing to engage and earn attention. You also have proven experience working on smart, integrated campaigns of all scales.

You will be confident in leading briefs from their inception through to briefing and production and be comfortable working across borderless teams and multiple timezones - as is often the nature with our local, APAC and global clients.

**WHAT YOU'LL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR**
- Leading the strategic direction of key accounts
- Building c-suite relationships with clients in your own right as a trusted advisor and collaborator
- Brutally simple strategic thinking (unearthing razor-sharp insights and delivering inspiring strategies for our clients)
- Brand strategy and communications. This goes without saying, but you'll need to know what brilliant looks like and how to inspire local Creatives here and worldwide to make it happen.
- Global perspective. We're looking for someone who's had a global role previously, who understands what it takes to identify cultural insights and nuances and can steer work in individual markets as well as multi-market.
- Presenting your thinking to impress the most senior of clients and inspire the day-to-day teams. We need someone who impresses from the first meeting, who can sell creative work as well as smart strategy and keeps things super-simple yet deviously disruptive.
- A broad understanding of and affinity for the full mix of media channels, from Social to Digital to Advertising and an ambition to imbue a brand with a sense of purpose and pursuit of some ambitious sustainability goals.
- The ability to manage a small team of Planners, with the capability to guide a broader set of Planners and Creatives.

**WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED?**
- Experienced in creating and crafting brand and business strategies, leading teams, inspiring Clients and Creatives alike and showing that you've been responsible for some great work
- An integrated thinker, able to work across multiple channels with a broad and open mind
- Global experience where you've led the thinking and the team
- The craft skills, the models, the know-how that comes from having a few years under your belt
- A passion for sports and/or entertainment - whether you've worked in this space, or not
- Acute cultural awareness with knowledge of emerging trends
- An innately curious personality
- The ability to think creatively and conceptually
- Strong problem-solving skills
- Exceptional communication skills. You can write well, you speak with conviction, and can explain your thoughts and ideas succinctly
- The ability to build a strong and natural rapport with just about anyone at any level

If you see a fit, tell us about yourself, we'd love to hear from you.