Strategy Director

Adelphi Group; Greater London; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

FutureBrand London is seeking a Strategy Director to lead and shape high-impact brand strategies for a range of global clients. You will connect client needs with the creative and services teams, guiding projects from concept through delivery and travel when needed.

The role requires proven experience delivering complex brand strategies, strong presentation skills, and the ability to mentor others. We value curiosity, collaboration, and a thoughtful approach to brand architecture and activation

Qualifications

• Proven experience delivering complex brand strategies.
• Experience with large-scale global corporate positioning.
• Strong understanding of financials.
• Excellent content creation and presenting skills.
• Ability to mentor and lead team members.
• Delivers results through teamwork.
• Proactive, collaborative, and responsive.
• Attention to detail and calm under pressure.

Responsibilities

• Shape the narrative across multiple complex projects and persuasively sell in future brand strategies to clients and their agency partners.
• Lead a full breadth of strategy projects (i.e. positioning, architecture, naming, design, activation) across multiple industries.
• Accurately and actively define and scope projects.
• Foster strong relationships; become a trusted strategic advisor internally and externally with colleagues and clients.
• Anchor the delivery of the strategy across all points of connected experience, and identify new opportunities for delivery of the strategy in partnership with Strategy Directors.
• Work with the team and across teams to help shape efforts towards achieving client, agency and project goals, pursuing effective working strategies as you go.
• Ensure strategy work is delivered profitably, working effectively with the team to deliver profitable projects.
• Identify revenue opportunities from existing clients and from the application of new methodologies: proactively developing plans to extend client relationships.
• Develop a solid understanding of the FutureBrand offering and disciplines and of our clients’ business and clearly articulate this.
• Proactively suggest ideas to inspire the team and shape team meetings.
• In partnership with your counterparts in creative and client servicing embed an effective way of working, co-developing and innovating our methodologies and approaches.
• Bring in leading edge thinking from the world around us, seen as a thought leader you develop and drive the narrative arc of internal projects.
• You crystallise your thinking and provide thought leadership.
• Contribute to a highly collaborative and energized atmosphere in which collaboration and positive disruption are encouraged.
• Champion team members, support their development and give them opportunities to contribute. Use your knowledge and experience to advise, guide and inspire the team on how to shape and deliver great work, providing hands on support and mentoring. Identify and address any development areas within the team.

Skills

Brand strategy

Global positioning

Financial acumen

Presenter skills

Team mentorship

Relationship building

Problem solving

Attention to detail

Leadership

Thought leadership

Job description

Agency:

FutureBrand

Job Function:

Strategy and Planning

Job Subfunction:

Strategy

Job Description:

FUTUREBRAND

Strategy Director

Role Purpose

You are a key component in delivering brand strategies for our clients. You are able to effectively use your knowledge and expertise on a multitude of projects, bring the team along with you; managing upwards and downwards whilst challenging the way we do things to ensure we produce our best strategy work. You are the bridge between our strategy, the client, our team and the agency. You will work closely with the creative and client servicing team, known as Business Leadership on any project, taking responsibility for delivering our work brilliantly. You will also need to open to working with our lovely clients with regular travel.

FutureBrand

We’re FutureBrand - 27 years young with a head full of big brand experience and a gaze fixed firmly on the future, our work over the last two decades has changed the brand landscape today. What we do next will change tomorrow.

We’re based in some of the most exciting and vibrant cities on the planet, balancing global scale with cultural connection. That means we’re on the doorstep of many of the world’s biggest brands, and within reach of the very best talent around.

Together, we are a diverse brand, experience and design community who believe that brand is how a company’s people, products and services behave wherever and whenever they show up in the world. Our work focuses on measuring and maximizing brand behaviour by connecting corporate purpose with everyday lived experience. It’s through this work that we deliver our purpose: To transform the future of businessesby changing howtheir brands behave today.

And because we believe strongly that the future our brands create must be a future for us all, our shared values - Progressive, Adaptable, Collaborative and Empowering - put difference and diversity at our core.

FutureBrand London

FutureBrand London’s studio at 135 Bishopsgate by Liverpool St station. We’ve got everything from cycle racks and showers to our own bar and rooftop terrace. Our in-house Culture Club ensure there’s always something going on to inspire, enlighten and connect us, and being next-door to Eataly and a mere salivatory glance from Spitalfields market means lunchtimes are never dull.

There’s around 60 of us here working across some of the worlds most coveted brands. To stay ahead of the game, we’re pretty keen on fostering collective cultural curiosity around the things shaping the corporate, consumer and brand landscape today and tomorrow (we call it FutureFocus). So whether the focus is on disruptive technologies, geopolitical developments or societal cultural trends, you can expect events, guest speakers and workshops in the studio on a regular basis – with drinks and snacks of course.

FutureBrand London’s had another great year and continues to go from strength to strength.

Key Responsibilities

• Able to confidently shape the narrative across multiple complex projects, and persuasively sell in future brand strategies to clients and their agency partners
• Lead a full breadth of strategy projects (i.e. positioning, architecture, naming, design, activation) across multiple industries
• Accurately and actively define and scope projects
• Foster strong relationships; become a trusted strategic advisor internally and externally with colleagues and clients
• Anchor the delivery of the strategy across all points of connected experience, and identify new opportunities for delivery of the strategy in partnership with Strategy Directors
• Work with the team and across teams to help shape efforts towards achieving client, agency and project goals, pursuing effective working strategies as you go
• Ensure strategy work is delivered profitably, working effectively with the team to deliver profitable projects
• Identify revenue opportunities from existing clients and from the application of new methodologies: proactively developing plans to extend client relationships
• Develop a solid understanding of the FutureBrand offering and disciplines and of our clients’ business and clearly articulate this.
• Proactively suggest ideas to inspire the team and shape team meetings
• In partnership with your counterparts in creative and client servicing embed an effective way of working, co-developing and innovating our methodologies and approaches
• Bring in leading edge thinking from the world around us, seen as a thought leader you develop and drive the narrative arc of internal projects
• You crystallise your thinking and provide thought leadership
• Contribute to a highly collaborative and energized atmosphere in which collaboration and positive disruption are encouraged
• Champion team members, support their development and give them opportunities to contribute. Use your knowledge and experience to advise, guide and inspire the team on how to shape and deliver great work, providing hands on support and mentoring. Identify and address any development areas within the team

Skills and Competencies

You will be an established Strategy professional with the following -

• Proven experience delivering complex brand strategies
• Experience with large-scale, complex global Corporate positioning projects
• Good experience and understanding of financials
• Be a strong content creator and compelling presenter
• Able to build strong, personable and effective working relationships at all levels, both internally and externally
• Experience mentoring and/or leading team members
• Delivers results through teamwork
• Proactive, involves others and communicates with others to make things happen
• Problem-solving approach
• Excellent attention to detail
• Confident presenting
• Keen to develop and willing to take responsibility
• Open to feedback
• Remain calm when working under pressure and encourage the team to do so

  FutureBrand Values

  Progressive

  Being progressive has always been about optimism, momentum, and openness. Staying progressive means also ensuring what we do s underpinned by embracing a rich diversity of talents, perspectives, and ideas. Only when we have heard from all can we be sure what we do and who we have what it takes to stand out and be truly future proof.

  Adaptable

  We are comfortable with and open to challenge and change. We live and work in a vibrant, diverse, and dynamic world. To thrive, brands need to balance the time-less and the contemporary, art with science and continually step between facts, data, and creativity – which means we must too.

  Collaborative

  We believe that ideas get better when they are inherently diverse and shared in highly inclusive ways. We reject traditional hierarchies and what to hear from those who think differently from us, both inside and beyond our businesses. We truly believe that bringing different people together makes great things happen. This is a fundamental benefit of being a global business and we need to do it count.

  Empowering

  We champion the diversity and equity of opinions, ideas, skills, and perspectives for the difference it brings and the value it creates for all. We believe that diversity, equity and inclusion empowers and are therefore core to our people and our business. We invest in each other’s growth and ensure every person’s professional path is well paved. We welcome frank conversations about where we can do better, and we push ourselves and our clients to adopt more inclusive practices.

  We believe that ideas get better when they are inherently diverse and shared in highly inclusive ways and we want to hear from those who think differently from us. We truly believe in the strength of diversity and the richness it can bring. By bringing different people together great things happen.

  FutureBrand is an equal opportunity employer (EEO). We provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.

  FutureBrand is a disability-confident committed employer and will guarantee an interview to any disabled candidate who meets the minimum criteria for the role. Exceptions may apply if due to the volume of applications, we are not able to interview all eligible candidates who qualify under the scheme. If you have a disability, we want everyone to feel at ease when going through our recruitment process. We are working to make our website and processes more accessible, if you encounter any issues and would like this information in an alternative format, or if you need further support with your application, please contact us at [e-mail] for any adjustments you may need to perform at your best.

  NB. This is not an exhaustive list of duties. The job description may change from time to time subject to business needs.

  Omnicom’s policy requires employees to work in the office for a minimum of three days a week, unless additional in-office days are directed by their agency or manager. Our objective is to increase this requirement over time, and many of our agencies as well