Associate Director, Strategy (Hudson Rouge)

Vml-Canada-; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Hudson Rouge, part of WPP, is seeking an Associate Strategy Director in Toronto. You will guide strategy across campaigns, collaborate with teams in Canada and the US, and translate insights into actionable plans.

The base salary ranges CAD 90,000–140,000. We offer a hybrid work model with office days and opportunities to grow within a luxury marketing environment.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in strategy, insights, or planning
• Digital & social experience required
• Experience and interest in working with generative AI
• Ideally experience with auto brands
• Ideally experience with luxury brands

Responsibilities

• Works closely with all teams at Hudson Rouge across Canada and the US
• Identifies opportunities and helps define our strategy and tactics
• Sets goals and helps assess effectiveness of initiatives
• Recommends how to optimize targeting, messaging, content creation and distribution
• Facilitates workshops and influences clients and colleagues to build better work

Skills

Strategy experience

Digital & social experience

Generative AI experience

Auto brand experience

Luxury brand experience

Job description

Who We Are

VML, part of WPP, is a leading creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce, creating connected brands to drive growth. VML is celebrated for its innovative and human first, award-winning work for blue chip client partners including AstraZeneca, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Microsoft, Nestlé, The Coca-Cola Company, and Wendy's. The agency is recognized by the Forrester Wave™ Reports as a Leader among Marketing Creative and Content Service Providers, Commerce Services, Global Digital Experience Services, Global Marketing Services and, most recently, Marketing Measurement & Optimization. In addition, VML’s specialist health network, VML Health, is one of the world’s largest and most awarded health agencies. VML’s global network is powered by 26,000 talented people across 55+ markets, with principal offices in Kansas City, New York, Detroit, London, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney.

About WPP

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth. For more information, visit WPP.com.

WHO IS HUDSON ROUGE?

Hudson Rouge is an integrated luxury boutique marketing and communications agency within WPP that works solely on luxury brands and is the exclusive agency of record for the Lincoln Motor Company business across all channels. We combine brand strategy, media strategy, activation, digital, social, earned media, production, and analytics to provide exquisitely crafted creativity. We are a small group of people, spread across several offices—New York, Detroit, Shanghai, Toronto, Mexico City—and we care for each other as much as we care for our clients. We are an agency that prides itself on creating irrational desire for luxury brands, and we look for uniquely talented people who are excited about doing their best work and want to grow with us.

The Opportunity

Associate Strategy Director

Could this be you?

Do you:

• Get intrigued observing human behavior?
• Get puzzled when people confuse data points with insights?
• Enjoy exploring interesting solutions to new—and timeless—problems?
• Love learning, and read everything and anything in your quest to explore and understand?

If the answer is “yes,” then you might be our next Associate Strategy Director. Read on.

We’re looking for someone who:

• Inspires great work and strategically brings it to life
• Brings positive energy to everything they do - collaborating with other groups to identify and bring to life holistic, people-focused strategies across the entire audience journey
• Writes and delivers inspiring written and visual creative briefs
• Creates confidence with each and every client interaction
• Influences and challenges co-workers, partners and clients to help build better work
• Is adaptable, able to set a long-term vision, and pivot when needed
• Confidently and thoughtfully facilitates workshops and meetings to get the best from people
• Loves the energy and excitement of new business
• Has strong cultural understanding of what it takes to build strong brands

Qualifications and experience

• 6+ years’ experience in a field related to strategy, insights, or planning (not necessarily brand planning)
• Digital & social experience
• Experience and interest in working and innovating with generative AI
• Ideally, experience working with auto brands
• Ideally, experience working with luxury brands

The Associate Strategy Director works closely with all teams at Hudson Rouge, across Canada and the US. They will use their insightful and strategic problem-solving approach for both agency-wide integrated campaigns and specific initiatives. They will identify opportunities; help define our strategy and tactics; set goals; help assess effectiveness; and recommend how to optimize, targeting, messaging, content creation and distribution. Ideally, this strategist is someone who can work across multiple kinds of strategy, including brand, CX, data & analytics, influencer strategy, platforms and digital marketing, content creation, and social.

The base salary for this position at the time of this posting may range between the values at the bottom of this posting. Individual compensation varies based on job-related factors, including location, business needs, level of responsibility, experience, and qualifications.

$90,000 - $140,000 CAD

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.