Digital Planning Director

Interpublic; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

PHd in London is seeking a Digital Planning Director to lead 1-2 markets' digital planning within our regional hub. You will join client briefings, collaborate with strategy and local planners, and translate briefs into innovative digital responses and actionable activation briefs.

You will oversee programmatic and social execution, guide activation teams, develop templates and dashboards, monitor performance, and support regional excellence to elevate ad effectiveness across EMEA.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in biddable channel planning across agencies or ad tech.
• Hands-on programmatic and social activation experience.
• Ability to plan holistically across multiple biddable channels.

Responsibilities

• Lead digital planning for 1-2 markets and align with regional hub.
• Brief activation teams and translate briefs into tactical, innovative plans.
• Manage client relationships and present performance insights.
• Support regional digital centre of excellence to share best practices.

Skills

biddable channel planning

programmatic & social

holistic planning

creative thinker

stakeholder management

English proficiency

Job description

Agency: PHd Job Function: Account Management and Growth Job Subfunction: Account Management Job Description: The Digital Planning Director will be responsible for 1-2 markets’ digital planning. You will join client briefing sessions, work closely with the strategist and local planners, and develop outstanding, innovative responses to briefs. You will then brief activation teams, who will develop the tactical media plans (i.e. the Excel version) and see the plans come to life! You will also be central to the conversation with the local and regional clients, supporting their ambitions and learning agenda to maximise ad effectiveness through testing, innovation and best practice. The ideal candidate will have prior, hands‑on knowledge of biddable campaign execution and be a creative thinker, ready to apply that knowledge to strategic client challenges. You will also enjoy working with clients and bringing the latest and greatest digital thinking to the client’s brand campaigns. As well as working on local market campaigns, you’ll sit within the regional digital hub supporting the EMEA digital centre of excellence to develop best practice across the region.

Digital Media Planning

Develop a thorough understanding of the target audience based on the client brief and their behaviours in media. Working alongside the local Strategy Director, use PHD’s Omni Studio planning tool to allocate budgets based on reach, efficiency and role for comms. Set the tactical direction for biddable channels, with specific ideas on how to activate, so the specialists have a clear brief to deliver against. Develop and review the tactical media plans with the activation specialists and/or local markets to ensure high quality, innovative response that is in line with the brief. Managing the creation of integrated digital media plans based off a sound technical understanding of the digital eco‑system and available platforms. Understanding partner(s) technology capability/functionality. Helping identify new Programmatic partners & Social platforms for your client. Maintain consistently high standards within the team for data accuracy & reporting. Stakeholder & Vendor Management. Use strong interpersonal skills and influence to effectively manage and drive forward projects with multiple internal and external stakeholders. Utilise strong client management skills, across all levels of seniority, to build trust and evolve the biddable solutions put to the client. Own and cultivate relationships with media and data suppliers to develop new solutions for the client. Be an expert on regional media client needs, specificities and requirements and ensure vendors can deliver on those. Spot opportunities to expand the scope of digital channels and incorporate new and innovative formats and solutions. Create compelling presentation materials that get the plan signed off first time, a research project signed off, or further trust with the client when closing the loop with a Post Campaign Analysis report. Elevate Biddable Performance & Optimisation. Translate broad marketing objectives into digital KPIs. Work with clients and partners on suitable testing frameworks that will answer questions that drive their business forwards. Work with Digital Activation specialists on optimisation recommendations, reporting and insight generation – all with the client’s ultimate business goals in mind. Participate in and contribute to Post Campaign Analyses and QBRs. Raise the bar of knowledge across biddable channels internally and externally, delivering educational sessions, contributing to thought leadership pieces and information sharing as required. Provide Digital Leadership including status updates on Programmatic & Social deliverables on a regular basis, including management of deadlines and reporting. Conduct analysis of ongoing results to identify campaign trends and key insights to help meet and exceed client goals.

What you will bring to the role

• Extensive experience in biddable channel planning within agencies, client teams or ad tech specialists
• Several years of hands‑on experience working in programmatic & social
• An ability to plan holistically across multiple biddable channels
• A genuine passion for the digital media industry with a focus on biddable channels
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to manage and influence a variety of stakeholders
• A creative thinker who is motivated to explore and deliver on innovative solutions for clients

Strategic Account Management

Lead day to day communication between the agency, our international offices and international client stakeholders as required. Grow relationships with clients, specifically the senior level brand or media managers for your pod of business, and be a key POC to Digital Leadership at the client regarding Social & Programmatic Lead and/or participate in local senior level client meetings and attend regular client status meetings as appropriate. Present to clients in such a way as to demonstrate a cultural understanding of market dynamics and the relevant nuances. Uncover and understand client objectives, challenges, and needs in order to actively provide solutions for brands across Programmatic & Social. Example of solutions include: Reporting Dashboards and Templates, Forecasting Methodology, Paid Media Integration with other activity, Best Practice documents, POV’s on the latest industry developments, or Optimization Roadmaps. Create & maintain a framework for Quarterly Business Reviews. Develop the account & provide strategic value. Drive the innovation agenda, ensuring that the client is at the forefront of Search, Programmatic & Social. Identify potential upsell opportunities to provide additional digital channel management, analysis, and insight to new brands and/or markets. Support global or regional pitches for new business, providing Social/ Programmatic expertise.

Campaign Management/Optimization

Provide Digital Leadership including status updates on Programmatic & Social deliverables on a regular basis, including management of deadlines and reporting. Managing the creation of integrated digital media plans based off a sound technical understanding of the digital eco‑system and available platforms. Understanding partner(s) technology capability/functionality. Helping identify new Programmatic partners & Social platforms for your client. Conduct analysis of ongoing results to identify campaign trends and key insights to help meet and exceed client goals. Work with your team to deliver business goals (i.e. ROI/budget/traffic) and assisting junior members of the team with their campaign activation, optimization and reporting. Maintain consistently high standards within the team for data accuracy & reporting.

Experience and Skills:

• Experience working in Programmatic and Social activation
• Demonstrate passion and knowledge of the Programmatic & Ad Tech and/or Social channel
• Team Management experience and a passion for developing people
• Have a passion for learning new things
• Have strong organizational skills, being able to manage multiple projects at once
• Ability to manage challenges of various clients and market interests in a culturally sensitive manner
• Have excellent numerical skills and confidence analysing data using Excel
• Be a proactive self‑starter
• Have excellent communication and listening skills
• Be responsive to feedbackStrong spoken & written English
• Ability to speak other European languages is desired, but not essential

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