Client Director in London

About the Group

The world is obsessed by small start‑ups or the largest corporates. Most UK media agencies are built to serve the top 100 spending clients, and there are a multitude of boutique agencies to serve those starting out in business. The Specialist Works is different. We are built exclusively for marketers at entrepreneurial brands. Businesses that are past the messy start‑up stage but are worlds away from the slow‑paced nature of large corporates. Our clients span large privately owned businesses (often PE backed, founder‑led or both) and small to mid‑cap public enterprises. They are fighting larger, more established competitors and know they need to think and behave differently to win. They don’t conform to category norms. Since they can’t out‑spend their competition, disruption is the safest move they can make.

The marketers leading these brands are innovative, resourceful, moving at pace and in all‑out growth mode. They’re powerful; redefining categories, overtaking and acquiring traditional businesses and changing consumer behaviour along with it. Our clients share three common yet exciting challenges which define everything we do as an agency:

• Consumer – customer acquisition is key to their success
• Company – they are highly ambitious and built lean
• Category – they are often outspent by their competitors, need to outmanoeuvre the competition and are passionate about disrupting an established category

Department Purpose

Our Client Team provides strategic planning support and coordination across all media to guide clients along their growth journey. We are the ‘front of house’ team that represent the TSW business for all clients. We think harder and work smarter, connecting what matters most both within & beyond traditional media. Always challenging ourselves to think “What’s Possible?” for the dynamic businesses we partner with. We deliver best in class strategic recommendations and outstanding account management to facilitate our growth hungry clients to deliver and exceed their business goals, ensuring they always have the right resource at the right time from across the agency.

Role Overview

You will be directing the business of 3/4 agency clients, free from the shackles of network agency deals to lead best‑in‑class planning recommendations. You’ll also be a leader of people, managing and developing other TSW’ers, like a guiding light; your attitude and positive behaviour will filter through the rest of the team. You’ll have a can‑do attitude and an infectious ‘What’s Possible’ approach to delivering the best work our clients have seen. You’ll get the best work out of a willing team.

Establish yourself as the lead on your clients’ business, recognised by all as the spearhead for the accounts. Accountable for owning and interrogating client briefs to produce the highest quality responses. You will be overseeing the planning process from briefing all the way through to campaign evaluation for consistency and future learning. Effectively plan and communicate cross‑channel strategy / approach / planning for current and prospective clients – working closely with our Activation specialists regarding the effective implementation and delivery of campaigns. Your experience across both Online and Offline channels will be evidence within this. Within Online, we expect the Client Director to understand Online channels and platforms in detail, as part of the wider media mix and the implications they have on account set‑up, measurement and ongoing optimisation. Oversee the performance of your client’s campaigns and proactively identify areas for improvement and optimisations. Understanding the Client’s business dynamics so we can deliver highly relevant responses to briefs. Anticipating and resolving client challenges by quickly identifying opportunities and threats. Working closely with the senior team (Group Client Director and Managing Partner), you’ll keep them informed of these and know when they need to step‑in. Providing guidance and training to your team, the wider client team and specialists with ongoing feedback to constantly improve our agency offering. Be a pivotal part of new business pitch teams, coordinating and presenting responses.

Key Deliverables

• Established strong relationships with your clients, so that both the client and internal specialist teams able to identify your role in leading the day‑to‑day account.
• Have demonstrated your expertise in diagnosing briefs and applying the planning process to deliver best‑in‑class recommendations across an integrated channel plan(s).
• Demonstrated solid understanding the strategic purpose and benefits of channels, platforms and media types and lead the discussions and recommendations to clients with support from channel specialists.
• To have filtered this understanding across the broader account teams.
• Shown understanding of market dynamics and how this can affect the role for comms.
• Applied tools & systems to client briefs to deliver insight and inspiration.
• Presented response to briefs & communicated to clients (written & oral) – providing confidence in the strategic direction and performance of campaigns.
• Pulled insight from data and used it to develop ideas with the teams.
• Kept things simple, no matter how complicated they are!
• Shown ability to tell a story, to take clients on a journey through your response to briefs.
• Established yourself as a line manager and leader within the client team.

What We’re Looking For

Technical Requirements

• Detailed understanding of core planning principles and their application to campaigns (Brand and Performance).
• Detailed understanding of different KPIs by media channel and their relationship with both planning principals and business outcomes.
• Strong knowledge of planning tools (TGI, Ad Intel, Touchpoints, etc) and measurement tools (Google Analytics, etc).
• Multi‑media planning expertise (Offline and Online channels).
• Strong knowledge of Online media platforms and associated technologies.
• Strong knowledge of the planning principles that impact deployment across them.
• Awareness of the broader media and marketing ecosystem, online and offline, and how it can be connected, eg through search.

Experience

Essential

• Media agency experience, with recent experience leading the planning of multi‑channel campaigns.
• Plenty of experience translating a detailed understanding of key planning principles into media implementation for both offline and online channels.
• Experience working on performance‑focused campaigns, delivering detailed reporting and analysis, alongside strategic measurement recommendations.
• Extensive experience planning or buying online media campaigns (e.g. search, social, display).
• Strong client communication and management skills, including project management and conflict resolution.
• Management experience.
• A track record of winning, growing and retaining clients in an agency or consultancy environment.

Nice to have

• Previous experience working hands‑on delivering performance campaigns.
• Previous experience working hands‑on building and optimising campaigns in online media platforms (e.g. paid search, paid social).
• Experience of working with external agencies (Creative/BTL/PR).

Working Conditions

A minimum of 3 days per week in the office, with expectation of working between both Kent and the London offices each week. May require some travel to meet with clients or attend industry events on an ad‑hoc basis. We provide an exciting, fast paced, people first environment that allows everyone to grow, learn and thrive. We work a 9‑day fortnight, meaning staff have every other Friday off! We’ve built a benefits package that invests in our employees’ long‑term personal and professional growth and wellbeing.

Our Values

• Passion: You share your excitement about what drives you.
• Inquisitiveness: Ask “what’s possible?”. Ask “why not?”.
• Caring: Be a good professional, a good colleague and a good human.
• Knowledge: Know plenty. Share it. Learn more.

And we live them every day #IamPICK

Social and Environmental Commitment

At What’s Possible Group, our mission is to build a group our people are proud of. Proud of what we deliver to clients. Proud of how we treat each other. Proud of our commitment to people, planet and profit. Having rolled out a What’s Possible University with learning modules & policies, including anti bribery & corruption, DE&I and code of ethics, our people have continuous personal development, and the group is continuously improving. We are dedicated to embedding social and environmental responsibility into every aspect of our business. You’ll contribute to initiatives that promote social equity, diversity, and inclusion within our workplace and in the content we create, whilst actively supporting and promoting sustainable best practice by, continuously working to minimise waste, prioritise eco‑friendly suppliers, and promote remote work to reduce carbon emissions. Your role will include supporting these efforts by helping to implement green office practices, coordinating initiatives that enhance our corporate social responsibility, and ensuring our operations align with our values of sustainability and social responsibility.

Sound good to you? Then get in touch. At The What’s Possible Group our culture, our creativity and our passion is powered by people. People just like you. Diversity and difference drive innovation, not only for us but also for our clients and is at the heart of everything that we do.