Saatchi & Saatchi Canada - FT Perm Template

Publicis Groupe; Toronto; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Saatchi & Saatchi in Toronto is seeking a seasoned Strategy Director to lead brand planning, research, and integrated campaigns, partnering with clients and creative teams to deliver bold, business-driven ideas.

You will build consumer insights, craft compelling briefs, and mentor junior strategists while growing client relationships and contributing to agency growth.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of marketing experience, preferably in agency strategic planning, with a track record of transformational campaigns.
• Ability to Own a portfolio of brands and drive projects from concept to delivery.
• Strong brand planning, clear positioning and focused messaging; capable of crystallizing identity and architecture.

Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic planning process to develop powerful brand ideas.
• Provide educated input into research methodologies across qualitative and quantitative approaches.
• Steer strategic thinking on integrated campaigns and client briefs.
• Craft consumer profiles that reveal insights into behaviors, attitudes, and lifestyle.
• Lead and support creative brief development and ensure alignment with client objectives.
• Inspire and guide creative teams during development; act as a partner and sounding board.
• Champion bold, distinct and effective creative work.
• Facilitate workshops and ideation sessions with internal and client teams.
• Conduct in-depth scouting of cultural trends and competitive activity; distill into actionable recommendations.
• Build strong relationships with accounts, creative and media teams, and external partners.

Skills

Brand planning

Strategic thinking

Storytelling

Client relationship management

Workshop facilitation

Data analytics

Digital strategy

Project ownership

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

PowerPoint

Job description

Company description

Saatchi & Saatchi is an advertising agency with the belief that creativity, data, media and technology should all work together, and we use that to influence human behavior and drive success for clients. S&S is one of the world's largest agency networks with 114 offices and more than 6000 employees globally. Here in our Toronto office we work with some of the countries most valued brands including Toyota, Lexus, Quesada and Mondelez just to name a few. We’re an award winning agency in both creativity and effectiveness, so it’s really important for us here to convert that innovation and the great ideas into real tangible business results for the organization.

Overview

Saatchi & Saatchi is looking to add a Strategy Director to their happy team.

We’re seeking a seasoned agency strategist with smarts and enthusiasm who genuinely wants to help clients succeed and produce great work while also contributing to growing the agency.

You’ll work on a wide range of strategic projects, including research, brand strategy, comms planning, creative briefing, and reporting. The strategy director will help us grow relationships with our clients and become their trusted advisor. You’ll collaboratively lead teams to deliver bold and effective work. You’ll also support junior team members as you also continue to grow.

You effectively apply tools, techniques, intuition and experience to uncover, articulate and architect clear and compelling strategies and unexpected brand ideas that carve out a distinct place for brands in the marketplace. You provide a business-relevant perspective on communication challenges. This typically involves developing an understanding of the market and competitive factors, cultural trends and deep consumer understanding. You identify and prioritize opportunities and can help frame the overarching story of a project. You have a persuasive style that inspires confidence in clients and great work from creative teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic planning process to arrive at powerful brand ideas.
• Provide educated input into research methodology across quantitative and qualitative.
• Lead the strategic thinking on integrated campaigns.
• Create compelling consumer profiles that provide insight into consumer behaviors, attitudes, lifestyle, and usage to provide meaningful insights.
• Lead and support creative brief writing.
• Provide inspiration and ideas to creative teams as they begin the creative development process; act as a partner and sounding board during the creative process.
• Champion bold, distinct and effective creative.
• Plan and facilitate integrated planning sessions and ideations both internally and/or with external participants.
• Proactively conduct in-depth scouting into cultural trends, channel opportunities, competitive activity and distill into actionable implications and recommendations.
• Build excellent relationships internally, with accounts, creative and media teams and externally, with clients, partner agencies and vendors.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of marketing experience, preferably the majority of which spent on strategic planning in agency, with a proven track record of transformational, modern marketing work that has grown clients' business.
• Adept and interested in proactively leading a portfolio of brands and running projects (i.e., being an owner vs. an advisor).
• Strong at brand planning, able to create clear sharp positionings and focused messaging. Can contribute to the crystallization of identity and architecture.
• Clear, tight storyteller and brief-writer. Can identify meaningful, singular, useable insights/tensions.
• Familiar with widely used and emerging insight tools and media technology, channels, and terminology.
• Results-driven individual who believes in effectiveness measurement.
• Deep integrated planning experience with emphasis on storytelling, including journey mapping.
• Comfort with data and analytics, able to craft a measurement plan and perform analysis that yields actionable learnings.
• Strong reputation for relationships with creative, account and media leaders and/or teams.
• Ability to design and facilitate workshop activities to engage the client team in a creative problem-solving process.
• Expertise in multiple business strategy tools, frameworks and methods.
• Some experience in digital strategy, including social strategy.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to learn new tools and a comfort with old ones, especially PowerPoint.
• Self-motivated but highly collaborative, seeks input and is comfortable receiving it, and welcomes diversity of thought. (We're a collaborative, supportive and transparent bunch so lone wolves need not apply.)
• You’re as passionate about the world outside our walls as you are within them.
• Contributing to agency life and culture is important to you.

Additional information

Saatchi is an equal opportunity employer and we welcome and encourage applications from all interested parties. Accommodations are available, upon request, for all stages of the interview and employment process for those with a disability or medical need during any stage of the recruitment process. We thank all candidates for their interest inPublicisMedia, however, only those candidates selected for an interviewwill be contacted.