Company

Position Summary

The Strategy Manager is a key person in the development of strategic recommendations that solve client communication challenges. You will work across all accounts & clients (depending on the Brief ask/rating & the skillset need) and will strive to produce outstanding communications strategies (in collaboration with the Strategy Unit) as recognized through awards, client satisfaction scores and tangible examples of innovation.

You will help to strategize, produce and make sense of the key cultural, consumer and market intelligence required to design the best possible holistic communications plan to deliver on that task. 

You have a passion for people, brands and ideas and a burgeoning curiosity for culture in every sense. You believe that brands can & should mean in the world, and are driven by the desire to understand the changing world and people’s subsequent shifting motivations and behaviors.

You will report in to - & work closely with - the Strategy Director to create the strategic recommendation and develop the Initiative strategic competency. You will focus on helping the Strategy Director to develop sound strategic responses that result in positive outcomes for our clients’ businesses, taking ownership of some aspects of that product and managing both up and down to keep the whole Strategy Unit involved through the process. Creative thinking and proactivity (having the drive & ambition to take the Initiative for our clients) and solid presentation skills are critical in delivering success in this role.  

Importantly, the Global CSO and Group Directors will work directly with you, continuing to develop your skills to enable you to then one day lead & produce the work itself.

Key Responsibilities

Client 

• Demonstrate understanding of the clients' key business and challenges

• Be considered a valuable contributor during client meetings, providing, for example, research &/or understanding of key consumer behaviors & motivations/mindsets 

• Arm the client team with knowledge & expertise to speak confidently about the strategic direction (e.g. new audience definition) where required

• Identify the need to customize a tool/product for clients’ business and execute in conjunction with the Analytics team

• Write & publish a compelling POV on a strategic topic important to client business, noting how that thinking will strengthen their brand going forwards 

• Measurable client & strategy business KPIs  

Internal 

• Demonstrate a good understanding of consumers & their behaviors

• Use qualitative and quantitative cultural tool research to develop applicable insights into the consumer connection with the brand 

• Clearly demonstrate how the research insights deliver on the business need and focus on results and measurement

• Be an Infinity Planning Expert & champion its usage (in particular, direct application of the Cultural Analytics tools) amongst the team and client base

• Develop initial strategic directional thinking, focusing on the platform & communications architecture thinking (demonstrating truly integrated, cross-channel ideas/insights across new channels)

• Identify an opportunity/need to bring in diversified (SBU) services & incorporate into a broader strategic solution 

• Use complex data/information to translate complex concepts into simple, powerful narratives (+ present key strategic implications/recommendations to the team/client)

• Create and lead internal strategy ideation workshops (demonstrating understanding the real business challenge, audience/targeting, insight generation, and innovation)


• Create and lead internal training sessions on core tools/processes, educating other disciplines (e.g. CD or Partnerships) in the adoption of insights, implications, and targeting 

• Write an awards submission & enter work into a competition (e.g. Young Lions) Work on at least two different clients (e.g. CPG, Tech, Automotive, Studio/Culture)

Desired Skills & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in related field or equivalent work experience

• 3-5 years in an integrated planning role in a media, creative, innovation or communications discipline (e.g. digital, content, invention, social, activation)

Employment Transparency

Initiative is different to other media agencies.
We are not trapped by a legacy structure primarily centered on paid advertising. Instead, we are liberated by a new world structure designed to deliver highly differentiated and highly effective communications strategies for our clients.
We are the world’s fastest growing media agency built upon the strongest strategic capability of any agency in the market. Core to this strategic proposition is the belief that the faster a brand can move through culture the more relevant it can become.
We call this Cultural Velocity ™.
Our process is designed to create ideas that move through culture through unique insight, market leading analytics and strategic media brilliance.
Our new world model is comprised of “craft centers” – Client Advice and Management, Strategy, Communications Design, Partnership and Culture, Insights & Analytics.

All U.S. Mediabrands employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have an approved accommodation.