Essence Associate Media Director

**About Essence**

Essence, part of GroupM, is a global data and measurement-driven media agency whose mission is to make brands more valuable to the world. Clients include Google, Flipkart, NBCUniversal, L'Oréal and the Financial Times. The agency is more than 2,000 people strong, manages $4.5B in annualized media spend, and deploys campaigns in 121 markets via 22 offices in APAC, EMEA and the Americas.

**About the role**

The Associate Media Planning Director serves as the lead of a team/pod or market, responsible for a set of Media campaigns. The role is ultimately responsible for ensuring that budget is used optimally through the lens of campaign objectives and the universe of available inventory, both during tactical planning, and ongoing cross-channel optimizations.

The Associate Director will also have oversight and responsibility for the day-to-day management of the tactical media plan and its proper implementation, working to implement the brand's overall media strategy in the context of changing marketplace conditions and opportunities. This role is responsible for demonstrating a strong working knowledge of the media space and available media research. The role sets the tone for how the account is managed by assuring focus on key client objectives and Essence best practice.

**Some of the things we’d like you to do**:

- Oversight of all deliverables produced by pod/market, either by direct or delegated means Direct responsibility for the performance of assigned media dollars against their intended outcome, across both brand and DR objectives
- Responsible for expressing the rationale behind media investment decisions and evidencing the performance versus expected outcomes
- Responsible for quality of Planning Milestone Meetings ( strategic/tactical presentations, post campaign analysis), playing a key role for priority campaigns
- Point of escalation for team issues (within and outside of team)
- Process /workflow enhancement, growing Essence’s capability, increasing work quality, making us more efficient, or increasing Essential satisfaction
- Responsible for setting quality standard for 1(+) planning deliverables and improving them via team/client feedback and incorporation of evolving external context
- Support new business pitches with leadership by developing plan/presentation
- Assist with new client onboarding and play a large supporting role for Client Services in ensuring the success of the new client
- Thought leadership expressed as press quotes, published articles, and POVs
- Accountable for external recognition and awards submissions, at least 1 per quarter
- Manage 2-4 direct media planning reports to support career growth/development
- Partnering with Client Service to balance capacity and profitability
- Assist and support Media Planning Director in planning deliverables and managing the team
- Strong in providing analysis or research to explain paid media trends/movements in reports, including internal and external factors.
- Able to oversee regional performance from a market-by-market lens

**A bit about yourself**:

- At least 8-10 years of working experience
- 5 to 7 years’ experience in the Digital Media or Advertising field
- Ability to forecast outcomes of brand/DR campaigns and manage spend
- Experience with Media Research Tools (Comscore, GWI, TGI, YouGov)
- Strong written and verbal communication skills across all platforms
- Solid grasp of digital marketing, especially a deep knowledge of digital media
- Ability to adhere to and meet deadlines and project manage multiple campaigns
- Proven problem solving skills and ability to think outside of the box
- Ability to work independently and collaborate in a team environment
- Strong organizational skills, detail-oriented and capable of multi-tasking

**What you can expect from Essence**

Essence’s mission is to make advertising more valuable to the world. We do this by employing the world’s very best talent to solve some of the toughest challenges of today’s digital marketing landscape. It’s important that we hire people whose values reflect those of our own: genuine, results-focused, daring and insightful. As an Essence employee, we promise you a workplace that invests in your career, cares for you and is fun and engaging. We believe these factors create a workplace where you can be yourself and do amazing work.