Senior Strategist in London

Wasserman is forever committed to serving our clients, colleagues and community with exceptional insight, influence and creativity, while making a positive and lasting impact. We support our employees’ professional aspirations, with a rich internal culture where curiosity is rewarded. We offer our people multiple learning and development programs throughout the world. What we do is fast-paced, exciting and rewarding which is why we love it and why you’ll love life at Wasserman. Join our team today!

A disciplined eye & a wild mind. We are looking for a super-talented, charismatic and committed individual with an absolute passion for, and proven track record in agency Planning. An audience aficionado with a desire to create memorable interactions and experiences that people will want to talk about and share. We would like to see min 6+ years experience in an agency environment. We need you to be as creative as you are strategic in order to perform in this essential role in providing clarity of thought X creative thinking, for both prospective and existing clients in sports & entertainment.

An audience and brand expert first, with a passion for and understanding of sports & entertainment second. You will be full of knowledge about what, how and why audiences are currently thinking and behaving, and how progressive brands are working to engage them. You will understand and have experience in creating brand narratives for integrated campaigns for both existing clients and new business pitches. Your passion for strategically sound, insight-based creative storytelling must shine through and your ability to deliver compelling written and oral presentations to senior clients and stakeholders second to none.

WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING

The Senior Strategist serves as the foundation for each project within our business, and must have the ability to multi-task and work to (often tight) timings over a number of projects. The role is a busy one, and one where ensuring quality, rigour and relevance is a must. The Wasserman Planning Department services new and existing client opportunities across our Brands, Rights and Live teams. Our clients represent a wide range of industries and sectors and we activate for them across national, international and global requirements in line with their needs.

It is critical that you remain up to speed with the ever-changing landscape, in particular that of brands and sport / entertainment industries, and a finger on the pulse of culture. You will bring this insight to the rest of the team and agency through your work and Planning-led initiatives. You will be provided training and tools to support you to do this. Working with Creatives and the Creative Department you will write inspiring creative briefs (with a killer proposition at the heart) to inspire idea and campaign generation.

THE SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE YOU NEED

• Competent and confident at playing key role in cross-business teams developing and delivering responses to client briefs and thinking and acting proactively to unlock new opportunities with existing and new clients.
• Able to think and research deeply and speedily to create solutions to answer briefs, both independently and in collaboration with other planners.
• Flexible and organised to be able to effectively work across multiple briefs at once, and to tight deadlines.
• Quick to learn and able to apply planning principles across diverse briefs for Brands and Rightsholder clients.
• Think and apply big picture trends (music/film/events/online/TV/advertising, product design, experiences and anything else culturally/politically/socially/environmentally relevant).
• Confident and experienced at distilling multiple sources of information into clear and engaging written and presented Creative briefs that form the basis of creative development.
• Confident working closely with Creatives and other specialists (e.g. comms, experiential, digital & data), to help inspire, develop and stress test outputs to achieve best in class output.
• Highly confident and effective at directly engaging and nurturing clients and key internal stakeholders, interrogating briefs and asking key questions.
• Skilled in creating and delivering intelligent, logical, engaging presentations to existing and new clients, senior management teams and internal stakeholders.
• Able to work with Strategy and Consulting colleagues to maximise our ability to deliver partnership strategy, measurable ROI and sell-in Wasserman expertise/IP for clients.
• Work closely with Planning colleagues, collaborating across briefs as required, and contributing to upskilling culture.
• Support Planning Dept Leads in developing, sharing and contributing to best practice within and beyond Wasserman Planning team.

Skills:

• Experience in strategic and creative brand planning.
• Sponsorship / partnership experience definitely advantageous.
• Understanding of Rightsholder Marketing and Commercial Sales beneficial.
• Advanced Skills in MS Office Programs including – especially PowerPoint.
• Strong understanding and use of insight tools and providers i.e. GWI.

Wasserman does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, age, national origin, marital status, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other reason prohibited by law in provision of employment opportunities and benefits.