Senior Planning Manager

The Big Picture:

VCCP is the Challenger Agency for Challenger Brands. An independent, 1,250-person strong creative company, that exists to transform its clients fortunes by disrupting the categories they operate in.

VCCP is fully integrated, with deep capabilities in data and analytics, brand strategy, communications, customer experience, media, production and distribution. The company was founded in 2002 in London, with offices in New York, San Francisco, Singapore, Shanghai,

Sydney, Madrid and Prague.

Our London office has been shortlisted for Campaign magazine’s Agency of the Year almost every year for the past decade, topping the new business table 9 years out of the last 10.

Our Culture:

The VCCP Group has a unique culture, and we are looking for people who will make a positive contribution to this, therefore the candidate must have the following attributes:

● A collaborative nature

● An entrepreneurial spirit

● Take pride in their work

● Have an honest approach

● Be un-precious and be able to recognise that a good idea can come from anywhere

● Take responsibility

Our Purpose:

So what do we actually do? Put simply, we exist to transform the fortunes of our clients by challenging and disrupting the categories they operate in. It’s why we describe ourselves as ‘The Challenger Agency for Challenger Brands’

VCCP Media:

We are the challenger agency for challenger brands. Just like Bernadette, the little girl in our logo, we stand up to the two tonne grizzly bear in our industry; Boring, Beige, Baffling media. Media that feels lazy, samey and ineffective. Media can be magic. Media can be powered by data and technology, not lost in it. Media can challenge the status quo. Now that sounds like a challenge worth taking up.

That’s because we’re VCCP. We do media. We just do it differently.

At the beginning of 2024 we underwent a significant change in leadership and organisation, centring our offering on challenging the bad habits of the industry, driving creativity in media, and delivering more effective work through integration.

VCCP Media is a full service agency that sits at the heart of the VCCP Group. We offer clients the full spectrum of paid media capabilities from TV , cinema and radio, to social, PPC, SEO consultancy, Data & Technology consultancy.

THE ROLE:

We are looking for a smart and energetic Senior Planning Manager to join a vibrant client team. You will support a Planning Director (who is one half of the leadership team of your client group, the other being a Strategy Director – we call them our ‘dynamic duos’) to deliver exceptional, effective ‘Challenger’ work, in line with our principles of creativity and integration.

You’ll be a key contact for our day to day clients, crafting connections plans, brilliant ideas and helping them drive business forward. The work will be fast-paced and varied, giving you direct access to a broader set of experts from across the VCCP group.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead day-to-day contact with mid-level clients on the larger accounts.
• Own smaller agency clients yourself.
• Develop the Communications plan for your clients and brief channel experts for detailed media execution.
• Develop ideas that can populate culture in partnership with the Creative
• Partnership team and your strategy leads/CSO.
• Responsible for delivering client KPI’s, results and targets (with the support of your Planning Director)
• Delivering the highest level of account management (meeting deadlines, accuracy, project management) to ensure VCCP Media are a joy to work with.
• Autonomy over clients with smaller spending budgets as required (with the Planning Director having final responsibility), these will be yours to showcase your smarts and leadership skills.
• Present recommended Comms and implementation plans to clients
• Researching new media ideas and opportunities including growing your own network of trusted media owners
• Learn and improve from campaigns on an ongoing basis and advise re. optimisations across all media
• Detailed and up to date knowledge of the client’s business, objectives, key personnel, structure, changes, market etc.
• Strong understanding of the client business and category
• Supporting the Planning Director in cross selling additional products and services to ensure your client has an innovative and exciting growth plan.
• Organising weekly (or agreed regular) reporting for all campaigns
• Overseeing the management of your Planning Execs and mentor Account Managers.
• Invoice queries and resolving accounts queries

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Experience in a client facing account role
• A good level of digital knowledge, with the ability to talk about digital partners, plans, optimisations and audiences fluently
• Multi-media disciplined – can talk competently about all media
• Strong presentation skills
• Exceptional client handling and relationship building skills
• Nielsen AdIntel (previously Addynamix), DDS etc.
• Numerate (budgeting, forecasting etc…) and analytical capabilities
• Commercial acumen
• Ability to go the extra mile – to contribute to the development of the agency, thinking broader than just the clients business e.g. innovations challenge

ATTITUDE:

• A passion for all things media and advertising
• An ambition to grow an agency that is top of its game and revered for its work around the industry
• Resilience to keep going in a fast paced environment
• Strives for excellence
• Can do attitude
• Builds rapport and is able to quickly establish excellent working relationships

So if this sounds like you or someone you know and you share our challenger spirit, then we'd love to hear from you!

VCCP DE&I STATEMENT

We believe that DE&I is about creating a strong culture of inclusion within our agency, where everyone can thrive and be their authentic self. VCCP is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or ethnicity. If you require any adjustments during the application or interview process, please let us know via joinus@vccp.com.

CRIMINAL RECORDS INFORMATION

As part of our onboarding process, you will be required to complete a Criminal Records Declaration regarding any unspent convictions. For roles in finance, HR, Legal, IT or senior management, we may be required to verify your declaration with a basic DBS check, as well as an Adverse Finance and ID check.

**Please note, we try to respond to as many applications as possible but, if you do not hear from us within two weeks of submitting your application, please assume we are unable to proceed with your application for this specific role. Thank you for your interest in VCCP**