Account Director - Health

Company description: Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) is a world‑famous creative agency that makes jaw‑dropping, thumb‑stopping, eye‑opening work for brands across the globe. Founded in London in 1982, we now have offices in New York, Los Angeles, Stockholm, Mumbai, Singapore, and Shanghai. Our first ad for Levi’s showed a black sheep travelling in the opposite direction to a flock of white ones. That’s where we got our logo and our guiding philosophy: when the world zigs, zag. Why? Because it’s easy to zig, to go with the grain. It feels safe. It feels like the sensible thing to do. But the greater risk is failing to stand out. We believe in the power of difference to make a difference. Our goal is a simple one: make the best work in the world. That’s where you come in. We need rebels, dreamers, thinkers, mathematicians, makers, artists, visionaries, doers, observers, the different and the unreasonable. We need Black Sheep. People who want to make the hearts flutter and minds do flips, who can change businesses and culture. People who want to make a difference, come here for something different.

Overview: Account Directors are curators. Leaning on their years of experience to refine problems, getting to the core of what the agency, the team, the client and the brief need. ADs thrive in our entrepreneurial environment, relishing in the opportunity to lead big pieces of business as if they were their own. Seeking out the best talent to create the ultimate team to deliver. A BBH AD not only delivers famous work, excels on commercials but also has a style and flair in their own management style that make people want to work and/or with them. They exude energy and passion for advertising. Their mastery of relationships makes all of the above possible. Account Directors are the leaders - the ones who can always find a solution and lead a clear path for others to follow.

For this particular role, we are looking for an AD to join our growing health business. The successful candidate will report to the Senior Account Director. It’s important that the successful candidate has pharmaceutical and advertising experience and a passion for it. This role is an opportunity to lead one of our key accounts, for an exciting worldwide launch. You will be responsible for directing a talented, passionate team and being a strong strategic partner to our clients. This role is a truly exciting opportunity to work on a varied and fast paced account for Global and US, as well as leading branded, unbranded, patient and HCP campaigns.

Responsibilities

• Commercial: You have an in‑depth understanding and knowledge of your clients’ business, and participate in long‑term business planning. You are a commercial partner to your client; you understand their priorities and help them make the right investment decisions. You are the first point of contact on your client business for brand and communications planning. You have a strategy for areas of the business that can be converted into commercial and creative opportunities for the agency. You take ownership for developing growth plans for your account, working in partnership with your Business Lead on major business, and autonomously on smaller pieces of business. Your commercial control around fee and production is excellent, and you help ensure there is clarity on the commercial framework for your team, helping to develop their commercial acumen. You actively manage commercial growth opportunities by putting together and negotiating fee proposals for projects. You identify opportunities to maximise agency retainers, project fees and production budgets by helping clients prioritise their spend. You ensure that you communicate a clear value story for the Agency to help safeguard fees. You work closely with your Commercial Lead to develop negotiation strategies. You work closely with BLs to develop retainer fee negotiation strategies and manage reconciliations and to develop commercial proposals to convert new business.
• Client: You are business‑critical on both your primary and secondary accounts, and are the ‘go‑to’ for senior‑level clients. You are seen externally as an ambassador of BBH’s quality and professionalism. Your client relationships extend across the client’s business – you are known as a trusted partner at all levels, and you understand the political dynamics of the business to inform your approach and strategies. Your knowledge and understanding of the client business allows you to hold strategic conversations confidently with senior clients and make insightful recommendations, without the support of a Strategist. You anticipate long term challenges and opportunities for your client business, and develop strategies to manage these working together with your BL as needed. Your years of experience of delivering productions across multiple channels and at different scales gives you the knowledge to think strategically about how to organise Production requirements around the client’s business. You take responsibility for inspiring your client team and partners; helping to merchandise fresh thinking from across BBH. You are confident in creating presentations that are highly engaging and that sell; both for BAU projects as well as for organic growth. You create energy and momentum within your client team that in turn leads to opportunities for BBH. You play a central role in new business pitch teams, working together with BLs and Senior Management, and have success in converting new clients.
• Creative: You are a creative ally to the most senior creative leads on the business. You help to create a shared vision for the ambition for the creative work, and you use your creative judgement to make the work better. Your creative instincts and track record in delivering inspiring creative work are excellent, and your experience allows you to make decisions about what work is right for the brief and the long term benefit of the client, as well as for the agency. You use strategic understanding, research, cultural insight, industry and business knowledge to underpin your creative reasoning. You create an environment for the best work to thrive and grow and to open up new creative possibilities. You are comfortable navigating and defending creative feedback from senior client stakeholders in the absence of the Creative Lead. You partner with media and other agencies to provide an impactful integrated strategic and creative solution for our clients, whilst defending BBH’s creative leadership role. You help identify new spaces for creativity within the client’s business. You have extensive knowledge of all aspects of the production process across a wide variety of channels, and work with your Production Lead to make the work better in the craft of execution.
• Culture: You provide a clear vision to your team, and create the energy and momentum to bring people with you. You have excellent communications skills across all mediums, and are a master of developing and nurturing relationships – both internally and externally. You are comfortable at managing conflict and are able to retain strong relationships even when there are clear disagreements. You promote an inclusive culture; your active listening and consultative style enables you to get the best out of those around you. You are confident in handling difficult conversations in relation to D&I. You delegate effectively and allow your Direct Reports to gain new experiences outside of their comfort zone, in line with their development plan. You propose ideas and initiatives to keep BBH operating as a future‑facing, progressive organisation. You take an active role in coaching and developing talent, contributing to internal L&D programmes. You display a high degree of resilience and ability to remain calm, engaged and in control in all your interactions, and in all situations. You actively create and contribute to your team culture as well as to the broader Agency. You bring all of you to work, your passions, your hobbies, creative pursuits and side hustles.