Account Planner - Comms Planning London, United Kingdom

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About EssenceMediacom: A Leading WPP Media Brand. EssenceMediacom is a new breed of media agency. Grounded in analytics & insights and powered by data & technology, we believe in the power of media and creative to drive breakthroughs for the world’s best brands. We help clients understand the modern marketing paradox and discover the breakthroughs brands need to win with their consumers.

Role Summary and Impact. We are looking for a comms planner to join the No7 Beauty Company and Boots Opticians team, within The Boots Group. Working across the No7 Beauty Company and Boots Opticians accounts, this role plays an integral part in delivering innovative campaigns across all media channels with briefs that encompass both brand & performance planning principles across a variety of categories. It’s a broad account with a brilliant variety of briefs & audiences.

The No7 Beauty Company business covers different brands such as: No7, Soap & Glory, Liz Earle, Sleek, and Botanics. You will work on interesting and varied briefs that require multi‑channel planning, supporting the delivery of brilliant audience insight & source of growth to deliver plans for key categories & campaigns. The Boots Group has a vision to drive Mass Personalisation at scale & a wealth of first‑party data, so there is an increased focus on data‑led planning and use of Boots 1st Party Data in all channels (not only display and social).

In this role you will have the opportunity to really start to understand how we can use data for not only activation but also insight at the early planning stages & ultimately drive innovation. Working across the No7 Beauty Company and Boots Opticians accounts, the Planner will play an integral part of the planning process and will work with the Account Manager and Account Director to deliver innovative campaigns across all media channels. The successful candidate will get to work across the entire campaign life cycle – from strategy to execution.

3 Best Things About the Job:

• The work & the client: you’ll work with clients who see us as an extension of their marketing team & who have a real interest in media & a drive to deliver new & innovative solutions.
• Your development: we’ll support your learning and development ambitions.
• The people: you’ll work in a very supportive, ambitious & fun team who love what they do & want to deliver the best work.

Measures of Success:

In Three Months:

• Master the basics of the Boots account and ways of working between all Mediacom teams/departments.
• Build relationships with & helped liaise with specialist teams across paid social, programmatic display, PPC, AV & OOH.
• Take ownership of the plans & laydowns, updating them as required, liaising with the creative agency on any changes & owning the PO trackers.
• Take ownership of the key weekly client report.
• Take responsibility for competitor reporting for your squad.
• Support on econometrics data reporting.
• Get involved with supporting the team with any planning research/insight for new briefs as they come in.

In Six Months:

• Develop a relationship with our junior marketing clients and our creative agency partners.
• Contribute & support on regular client calls.
• Start to establish & own strong relationships with our implementation teams.
• Develop your planning/research skills with support from the team to start to feed into responses looking at: insights from media, competitors, people, media performance or culture that enrich our planning.
• Develop your digital & print planning skills to be able to deliver implementational plans (with the support & guidance of your manager/AD).
• Start to own & run smaller briefs independently (with support of the manager where needed) from strategy through to delivery.

Responsibilities of the Role:

• Build relationships with other EM departments.
• Participate in planning initiatives and stretch sessions.
• Understand all aspects of how the agency makes money, from finance procedures to additional services.
• Participate in new business effort; reduce debt to zero.
• Develop and present strong actionable insights for your clients, based on competitor analysis.
• Prepare support work for client meetings & briefs.
• Build a strong relationship with clients & creative agency to become a trusted partner.
• Understand the competitor landscape – become the category expert.
• Provide inspiration for the team from related and unrelated competitors.
• Develop understanding of the media landscape, the different departments of MediaCom, and how we do business and make money.

Skills and Experience:

• Be Extraordinary by Leading Collectively to Inspire transformational Creativity.
• Create an Open environment by Balancing People and Client Experiences and Cultivating Trust.
• Lead Optimistically by Championing Growth and Development to Mobilize the Enterprise.
• Be passionate about comms planning with an appetite to learn & develop & demonstrate this by participating in planning initiatives.
• Have an ambition to work as part of a tight‑knit team & to contribute to the team culture of open communication to enable learning & development of all of our planning skills.
• Be thirsty for learning about technology, trends, media, people, brands and the industry.
• Have excellent organisational skills, meaning you are adept at managing a diverse workload and are able to appropriately prioritise tasks.
• Show a keen interest in understanding the client’s business and the challenges they face.
• Deliver accurate verbal & written feedback and instructions.
• Have a positive, proactive approach to problem solving.
• Be able to translate information clearly in Powerpoint and develop a way of story‑telling through presentations.

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. We have a variety of employee resource groups and host frequent in‑office events showcasing team wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events. Our benefits include competitive medical, group retirement plans, vision, and dental insurance, significant paid time off, preferential partner discounts, and employee mental health awareness days.

Equal Opportunity & Inclusive Hiring Statement:

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.

UK-Based Role Note:

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