Strategy & Planning Director
ABOUT CROUD
We are not a digital agency. We are a fast paced, instantly reacting, performance driving, boundary pushing, long term partnership forming, knowledge sharing, data crunching, audience connecting, brand building, app promoting, technology developing, complex global business navigating, connected collection of minds from across the world. We are part of something far, far bigger.
A genuinely different marketing agency. We do PPC, SEO, Social, Programmatic, Amazon, Content, Analytics and Strategy & Planning. We're in New York, London & Shrewsbury and work with independent digital specialists in nearly 100 international markets to complete projects for our diverse client portfolio.
We are looking for a highly intelligent, charismatic and creative thinking individual who is passionate about innovating to join our team in New York City.
ROLE OVERVIEW
Croud is recruiting a Strategy & Planning Director to help develop, coordinate, and lead our strategy offering in New York. Together we want to create a new type of strategic process: one that is based on intelligence data surfacing actionable insights, forming a connection to brand from our performance heritage, and actively preparing our clients and solutions for the next iteration of the media landscape.
Croud is a marketing agency with a unique business model, recently named Campaign's Global Performance Marketing Agency of the Year.
Located in the heart of SoHo, our brand new New York office is home to a group of highly-skilled digital experts, passionate about driving innovation and delivering great work for clients. With a rapidly expanding team and client portfolio, Croud New York offers hands-on experience working with some of the world's leading brands across every industry sector.
Find out more about Croud NY here!
We are investing in Strategy & Planning as a priority arm of the business, and we want to add to our quickly growing US team with additional leadership. The global Strategy & Planning has continued to be the quickest expanding vertical in the business and this US role will sit alongside our UK counterparts to form our key proposition.
This role within the Strategy & Planning team is to create solutions that act as the connective tissue to drive for our clients & Croud. This role will be responsible for improving our client’s business by creating strategies that connect brand, marketing, and commerce. Developing partnerships that will foster new opportunities. Delivering best in class deployment and innovation. Defining the key foundation for the activations and experiences that will realize our client’s future. We’re looking for someone who can apply creativity and imagination to their campaign planning, and who over-indexes in critical problem solving.
The right hire will share Croud’s values:
Passion: loving what you do and being driven to excel with each new project/client
Imagination: meeting challenges creatively and ready to try new ideas
Integrity: accountable and always excellent to one another
RESPONSIBILITIES
As Strategy & Planning Director, there is no such thing as a typical day as you will constantly be challenged to build brands, push partnerships & bring new thinking.
Complex Problem Solving: Demonstrating an ability to build from scratch. Turning solutions into strategies to present back to clients. (Without reliance on tools / usual industry solutions)
Brand Building: Understand client’s business KPIs and create programs to connect their initiatives to drive brand growth.
Deployment of Vision & Partnerships: Define a digital program's strategic vision, real operations and negotiate key partnerships to further the brand.
New Business: Work with new business teams on Croud’s proposition and pitch storytelling and platform strategy for all cross-channel clients
Innovation: Facilitating effective brainstorming and ideation sessions to spur growth, turning ideas into actionable programs and/or products.
Work closely with senior client stakeholders to identify and solve key marketing challenges, as well as internal collaboration with other teams at Croud to pull plans together
Cross-channel media planning, ensuring that investment decisions made on behalf of clients are rigorously informed by all the available data
Creating compelling stories that are able to engage, enthuse and impel various audiences to clear shared action.
Reviewing, analyzing and helping teams to align brand experiences to marketing plans and drive measurable results.
Oversee audience, market and competitor intelligence projects, ensuring that work is insightful and actionable
Oversee measurement and testing strategy across channels, driving constant improvements in performance
Lead strategic review of solution development; ensure experiences, technology and marketing are delivered on-strategy.
Examples will include:
This role would sit within our US Management team and feed into teams internationally. We want you to be a part of the Croud leadership team and community, contributing to our proposition and driving the business forward.
The successful candidate in this role as Strategy & Planning Director will report to the VP of Strategy & Planning and work closely with Croud’s Biddable team, Media Measurement Director and VP of Client Leadership in the US.
OBJECTIVES & REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE
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Objectives of Role:
Establishes & oversees team’s planning process including research, strategy, evaluations and recommendations of media vehicles and tactics, through plan development, presentation, execution and follow-up
Defines high level strategy and holistic management of the media plan development, implementation, and execution
Lead strategic planning initiatives including deck writing, budget and channel allocation, and audience development
Support development of strategic approach by delivering channel ideas and providing the link to reality of historical performance and in-market opportunities
Be an ambassador in the development of new insights, audience segmentation and cultural analysis that will build clients' businesses
Identifies key target insights based on client brief necessary for formulating strategic recommendations, and ensures alignment into broader long-term goals
Maintain an in-depth knowledge of the client business and competitive landscape
Ensure teams adopt best in class tools, techniques, and systems to deliver plan recommendations aligned to client’s objectives and expected business outcomes
Demonstrate an intimate, and strategic, understanding of how consumers interact with channels and technology, while championing across internal agency teams
Essential:
Demonstrable in-depth & deep experience as a strategic leader specifically in digital planning backgrounds.
Experience of elevating over campaign planning and having to drive demonstrable results for c-suite executives.
Expected to be an expert across all media, including digital, social and traditional, demonstrating advanced knowledge in all areas.
Extensive experience of presenting to clients and ’selling-in’ ideas, and of working closely with senior stakeholders to understand their business objectives.
Great communication and presentation skills, with good attention to detail.
Be an ambassador in the development of new insights, audience segmentation and cultural analysis that will build clients’ businesses.
Experience managing a team.
Responsible for growth and development of direct reports / team by providing clear, direct, actionable and motivating feedback
Hands-on experience of industry planning & insight tools is a nice-to-have. These include (but are not limited to) TGI, GlobalWebIndex, SimilarWeb.
Represent Croud at industry events, public speaking and thought leadership.
Experience in managing multiple brands from both brand marketing & performance marketing is a bonus, but not a requirement
COMPANY BENEFITS
Every employee is eligible for the benefits listed on our careers site which include:
- 20 days vacation a year + 12 public holidays
- Annual Performance Based Bonus
- Sales commission (If involved in a pitch)
- 401K Plan after 3 Months (Match up to 2% of your contributions at 100%)
- Full Paid Medical Insurance (including dental and vision)
- Home office chair and monitor
- Free Citi Bike membership
- Recruitment referrals bonus
- Classpass membership contributions
- Fruit, breakfast cereals, snacks, soft drinks and tea & coffee all provided
- Quarterly team offsites / Regular socials
- Agile working policy
COMPENSATION
Salary Range for this position is $145,000 - $165,000 per year.
Where an employee or prospective employee is paid within this range will depend on, among other factors, actual ranges for current/former employees in the subject position, market considerations, budgetary considerations, tenure and standing with the Company (applicable to current employees), as well as the employee’s/applicant’s skill set, level of experience, and qualifications.
Standard hours are from 9.00am to 5.30pm, there’s flexibility if agreed in advance with your line managers (it may also be necessary on occasions to work outside of these hours).
Croud operates a hybrid working model with a minimum of 2 days a week based in our New York office and the remaining days from home if you wish.
Croud is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the grounds of a person's gender, marital status, race, religion, color, age, disability or sexual orientation. All candidates will be assessed based on merit, qualifications and their ability to perform the requirements of the role.
- Department
- Strategy and Planning
- Locations
- New York
- Remote status
- Hybrid Remote
New York
Strategy & Planning Director
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