Implementation Planning Director

About WPP Media

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients and communities. For more information, visit wpp.com.

WPP Media is WPP’s global media collective. In a world where media is everywhere and in everything, we bring the best platform, people, and partners together to create limitless opportunities for growth. For more information, visit wppmedia.com.

About OpenDoor: A Leading WPP Media Brand

OpenDoor is WPP’s bespoke global operating model for Amazon. The purpose of this document is to help prospective team members better understand the role and responsibilities.

Role Summary And Impact

We are searching for a talented and enthusiastic individual to join our OpenDoor team as an Implementation Planning Director. This is a full-time position based in London. The role will report to the Implementation Planning lead and will manage a matrixed team of digital planners, channel planning and offshore teams. This role plays a crucial part in supporting WPP's mission to deliver consistency, delivery excellence and best in class service for Amazon in every country across its diverse businesses, including XCM, Prime Video, and RMI.

The Implementation Planning team creates an effective link between the Strategy & Planning teams and Activation, data and tech teams. The Implementation Planning Team ensures that comprehensive briefs are developed in collaboration with the strategy and comms teams and ensures that channel specialists meet clients’ expectations by achieving campaign KPIs timely and through embedding operational excellence.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Synthesis: You will lead one of the lines of business within XCM supporting and organizing the digital teams to deliver on the planning, activation, application of data and optimization of campaigns.
• You will need to have a deep understanding of Social, Programmatic, OLV, Pan regional IO buying, Partnerships and Content to help ensure the best digital decisions in planning are made across the full spectrum of opportunities.
• You will be managing both local market campaigns and multi-market campaigns so being able to switch between the two will be critical.
• Work closely with the planning and strategy team to take block plans by media type and flighting from our communication planning systems and agree or challenge those breakouts to deliver the optimum digital media mix.
• Identify ways of integrating digital plans seamlessly with offline media i.e. aligning TV spots and digital upweights, create geo-based digital campaigns to support out of home placements.
• You will be in charge of the media plans for all digital components, including budgets and budget tracking, final deliverable numbers, and tracking daily pacing and performance against those numbers to ensure goals are hit across all digital elements.
• Unify disparate streams of information and insights from all biddable channels, in context of client business objectives.
• Help teams develop integrated experience strategies across biddable & digital touchpoints, identify strategic opportunities for proprietary solutions growth in service of solving client business problems.
• Guide clients and key internal or external stakeholders on selection and application of systems, tools and platforms, proprietary solutions, enabling them with the proper resources and knowledge for successful implementation.
• Provides a consistent and strong POV to clients on digital investment decisions and areas of optimization.
• Outline advanced data analytics/measurement frameworks to shape holistic measurement of performance media strategy and activation.
• Advises key stakeholders by continuously helping them successfully navigate through critical business changes.
• Leads the development, presentation, and delivery of top-quality cross-channel planning work for larger campaigns.
• Plans against client outcomes – quantifying objectives and the likely impact of comms on them across all biddable practice areas, in collaboration with practice leads.
• Accountable for the ongoing management of performance of campaign budgets and daily spend levels, bid strategies and constant monitoring of tracking to performance goals - implementing course correction decisioning when needed.
• Scrutinizes performance planning budgets, of assigned accounts, to identify strengths and weaknesses and ensures proper financial allocations.
• Proactively identify opportunities to improve and enhance clients’ campaigns and advise client/agency teams accordingly.
• Develop an advanced understanding of media channels, channel ecosystems and planning best practices.
• Oversee campaign management, ensuring quality control and output is of the highest standard.

Collaboration & Leadership

• Work in a complex, matrixed environment, influencing stakeholders and leading cross-functional teams towards our common media goals.
• Own deep knowledge of all WPP Open deliverables and campaign KPIs that have been committed to Amazon and share it across biddable and digital teams when/if needed.
• Proactively connects, partners with regional and key local market leadership on behalf of Amazon.
• Ensure knowledge sharing and communication flow remains informative, connected, and proactive to help provide repeatable, consistent activation excellence for all biddable/digital channels.
• Monitors and ensures adherence to client and WPP Open excellence standards across practices.
• Build and maintain client and agency relationships at a mid-senior level, to ensure a comprehensive understanding of stakeholders and client business.

Skills And Experience

• Strong knowledge of all digital channels, technology and data and how this combines to support activation.
• Uses critical questioning and maintains a broad perspective when analysing information to gain a deeper understanding of the problem and its impact on activation of media.
• Has strong knowledge of the entertainment and subscription industry which is shared to build strategies and plans.
• Consistently delivers communications to influence and educate all levels of seniority, appropriately judging the demands of the situation.
• Multi-market experience activation experience and managing multi-market activation teams.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment whilst maintaining a partnership focus throughout.

Life At WPP Media & Benefits

Our passion for shaping the next era of media includes investing in our employees to help them do their best work, and we’re just as committed to employee growth as we are to responsible media investment. WPP Media employees can tap into the global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, grow their networks, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising.

WPP Media is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular 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.

Please note this is a UK based role and requires individuals to have the right to work in this location.