Account Director - Theatre and Live Entertainment

Reports to: Head of Strategy and Account Management

Direct Reports: Account Managers/Account Executives

About the Role

We’re looking for an Account Director to be a key part of our dynamic Strategy & Account Management team across a portfolio of West End Musicals, Plays and Live Entertainment.

Role in Brief

• Responsible for devising and implementing the overall marketing strategy across your clients.
• Ultimate accountability for the strategy and delivery of your campaigns, working with your Account Managers and Account Executives.
• To build and grow excellent relationships with your clients, retaining and winning new business for the agency.
• Contribute to the agency’s commercial and business objectives.
• Support the HOD in the smooth running of the wider department.
• Share responsibility with other Account Directors and management team to promote and raise profile of the agency with clients and business prospects.
• Develop and manage direct report team of Account Managers and Executives.
• Cultivate a workspace and department lead through the values of respect, optimism and inclusivity.

Position Objectives

Delivering sound strategy and excellent account performance

• Set clear objectives in partnership with your clients, ensuring client aims are fully understood and communicated in achievable plans by all members of account team.
• Translate briefs into action, monitor progress throughout the agency, and ensure delivery of results.
• Drive the team to deliver outstanding client service by anticipating, recognizing, and meeting client needs and provide the best value for money in terms of cost/advice.
• Measure results and report to clients across all aspects of the integrated campaign with your team, ensuring accountability across the agency.
• Direct the allocation of resources across project team required to deliver optimum results.
• Provide sound advice to your clients and push the boundaries with regards to creativity and innovation. Continually review work with project teams to develop new and creative ways to add value to sales campaigns.
• Deliver campaigns which align with your clients commercial objectives as well as contributing to the agencies success.
• Have an excellent understanding of the data points connected to planning and success, including box office sales figures, digital media performance and audience analysis – and how to forecast the emerging trends to maximise campaign performance.
• Empower and motivate team members to achieve excellence across their work.
• Ensure client satisfaction and retention across all projects for which you are responsible.
• Deliver attention to detail to ensure the overall quality of work before presentation to client.
• Be able to lead and chair meetings with key stake holders to ensure their trust.
• Gain deep insight into clients’ goals and develop strategies to support their objectives.
• Develop and maintain excellent working relationships, using influence to build consensus and support between the strategy and account management team and other departments, seeking win-win solutions and ensuring issues are resolved.

Contribute to the agency’s commercial and business objectives

• Influence and improve relationships with key clients, business partners, suppliers, and internal stakeholders.
• Deliver on the Strategy and Account Management Departmental objectives that reflect commercial business goals and make the best use of team skills.
• Forecasting and being accountable for the commercial contribution of your client work in the agency, with a firm understanding of the account’s budget and commercial income.
• Ultimate accountability, and understanding of your client budgets in partnership with your Account Managers.
• Overseeing of other financial responsibilities as required, including: billing, issue of contracts, working within appropriate fee structures, rate cards and working within credit limits.
• Educate and lead the team to achieve the required overall margins of account budgets.
• Contribute to the continual improvement of financial processes across the agency.
• Lead negotiation tactically in best interests of both client and company.

Develop and manage direct report team and wider account teams

• Champion the career goals and development of direct reports within the entire department and prioritise training and peer-to-peer learning and opportunities.
• Be an ambassador for the values of the department, and foster a culture of openness, optimism, passion and a ‘can-do’ team spirit.
• Ensure regular line management catch ups/ appraisals and regular review of KPIs with your direct reports.
• Lead by example across the agency, to motivate, support and develop the wider team.
• Continually review workload to identify potential issues and propose solutions and be able to thrive and make decisions in a fast-paced environment susceptible to changes.
• Raise the profile of your project team internally and externally by recognizing and praising good work and encouraging team participation.
• Identify training and coaching needs and propose appropriate action.
• Ensure best practice work process is followed to achieve maximum efficiency.
• Encourage feedback from team with aim of continually improving company systems.
• Conduct direct report performance appraisals with H.O.D. and follow through on action points.
• Support your HOD with duties as assigned including recruitment, project management, weekly team meetings and training.
• Promote best practice throughout the department by taking responsibility for creating, developing, and building on departmental working practices.

Share responsibility with other Account Directors and Strategy and Account Management team to promote and raise the profile of the agency with clients and business prospects.

• Take responsibility for becoming recognized as the main point of contact in the agency for several key clients.
• Strive to ensure clients perceive the agency service as second to none in the industry and without doubt see aka as an agency that can deliver strategic value, quality work and good value for money.
• Maintain awareness of up-coming potential new business from both existing and new clients and follows up on potential leads.
• Contribute to pitch work alongside the acquisition of new business.

Championing AKA Values

• Foster a culture of teamwork, maximizing the strengths of diverse skill and resources and celebrate the input of all team members and their strengths.
• Communicate effectively to influence and engage key stakeholders, both internally and with clients.

Other Duties as Assigned

Personal Specification

Essential

• A results driven, experienced marketeer with a minimum of 5 years relevant experience at senior manager level or above.
• A demonstratable passion for theatre, live entertainment or the cultural sector.
• A can-do attitude that can inspire the team and install confidence in your clients.
• A strong team player able to work collaboratively with a broad client and team base.
• Ability to manage up and down, utilizing senior support where required.
• Experience and understanding of the full media mix, in order to be able to brief internal teams accordingly (including Out of Home, Digital, Social, Radio and Broadcast).
• An understanding of the main elements of performance and digital marketing.
• Ability to understand and interpret sales reporting and box office figures into actions.
• Experience of briefing concept and campaign creative and working with designers.
• Experience of setting and delivering strategy against sales objectives and performance KPIs.
• Experiences of managing and developing a team.
• Be able to seek out and interpret relevant data to inform sound strategy.
• Proven success against client and organization business objectives.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Experience of managing budgets, and reporting to senior stakeholders.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Excellent presentation, negotiation and stakeholder management experience.
• Ability to think on your feet and work under pressure in a fast paced environment.
• Agile, and proactive, able to anticipate, plan and provide solutions against campaign concerns.
• Proficient in full Microsoft Office suite including Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint and Word.

Desirable

• Experience of delivering marketing strategies within the West End or UK theatre market.
• Existing client relationships within the theatre sector.
• Knowledge and experience of project management systems such as Asana.
• Greater knowledge within the digital marketing space including Google analytics, Meta, AI.
• Experience of data and audience resources such as Mosaic, TGI, YouGov.

Benefits

• 25 days holiday.
• ‘Telus Health’ EAP scheme for you and your family. Giving you access to free independent advice on Life, Health, Family, Money and Work matters.
• Holiday Buy Back.
• Friends & Family Theatre Ticket.
• New Business Incentives.
• Recruitment Incentives.
• Pension Scheme*
• Interest Free Travel Loan*
• Ride to Work Scheme*
• Childcare Vouchers*
• Death in Service.
• Flexible/Hybrid Working.
• Critical Illness.
• Enhanced Parental Leave.

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