Business Director

About Ogilvy

Ogilvy was founded in 1948 by David Ogilvy. David created a culture that deeply respects and cares about its people and clients. Our mission is to inspire people and brands to make an impact and we are committed to attracting, growing, and retaining the best talent in the industry. 

About the Role  

The Business Director is a leadership role amongst different stakeholders, including Clients, internal account, creative, cross domains. He/she is a key driver of business stability as well as growth.

The Business Director has ultimate responsibility for an assigned portfolio of Clients, New Business and Staff. Within this portfolio the Business Director has full P&L and revenue delivery responsibility. Beyond financial accountability, the Business Director is responsible for the quality of agency output, both strategically and creatively.

A Business Director works closely with the VP/SVP/MP/MD on the overall strategic direction of the agency and day-to-day agency management. He/she is involved in new business development, talent development and staff coaching. He/she forms key relationships with the senior people of the Ogilvy Group.

The Business Director has a strong understanding of Brand Management, Strategic Planning, Customer Engagement, and Customer Management being able to develop new business as well as growing existing business.

What You’ll Do 

Client Management

• With the Client Group (CG) leader, responsible for total revenues and direct contributions to the accounts in your group
• Work with relevant parties to deliver financial targets and control costs
• With the CG leader to develop the yearly business plan and monthly dialogue reports for all key accounts
• Independently and in partnership with the appropriate Ogilvy partners, develop, refine and implement a business development strategy
• Manage and ensure quality of our Client services
• Management and handling of key Client briefs, projects and requests, including the refinement of the above
• The typical day-to-day management of clients and their requests including presentations, documentation, client activity administration, etc.
• Present and pitch our services to potential clients in a competitive context
• Identify and develop new business opportunities
• Identify and deliver new business activities that augment and/or expand Ogilvy services
• Maintain regular dialog with Client’s senior leadership to maintain the strategic relationship
• Understand Client’s business model and business challenges on a regular basis
• Manage Client’s expectations especially during planning stages, in order to ensure they are aligned with Ogilvy’s deliverables and quality

Strategy

• Provide account planning and strategic support to key clients, this requires the BD to have strategic planning capabilities, including brand planning, digital engagement planning, communication planning, etc.
• Provide Client counsel in the development of successful customer management strategies
• General business planning and marketing strategy advice
• Understand industry/market trends and the success factors critical to the organization’s long-term sustainability and competitiveness. Be able to adopt learning/highlights to Client proposals proactively.
• Understand the offering of the 6 Capabilities; Able to drive Capability growth
• Develop a strategic plan based on a vision and mission and translate the strategy into a business plan and tactics
• Modify business plans based on changing business conditions

Creative Leadership

• Passionate about good ideas, nurture the ideas of others
• Demonstrate enthusiasm for the creative industry in general and bring curiosity and creativity to daily work
• Have the ability to inspire, talent and patience to help generate “Big Ideas” with legs, ideas that are effective and sell for the brand
• Understand the importance and integrity of the creative product
• Earn the trust and respect of creative colleagues
• Give good direction and feedback; contribute ideas; push for better work
• Willing to challenge the clients to accept our best ideas and then sell them well
• Help to ensure execution of the highest quality are well represented
• Help to build a place where creativity thrives and big ideas are expected

Leadership & People Management

• Establish himself/herself as a role model
• Able to picture and get excited about the future and all it may bring, see possibilities rather than impossibilities
• Able to share his/her vision and excitement for change with others.
• Identify good talents, inspire people to want to work for/follow him/her
• Have an inspiring and approachable style of leadership, strive to make things better
• Respect and believe in others, strive to bring out their inner greatness, ensure the development and appropriate training of team members, and build an efficient team with high morale
• Make and take responsibility for, and demonstrate commitment to appropriate decisions in a timely manner, esp. when significant information is incomplete and/or ambiguous
• Have a broad perspective and be open to varied options
• Abide by the WPP code of business conduct

How We’ll Support You 

Ogilvy celebrates its people. Fully. Enthusiastically. Unhesitatingly. We’ll empower you with the tools you’ll need to succeed. We’ll give you the autonomy to seek out new paths and better ways of doing things. We’ll support you with colleagues who are experts in their disciplines, drawn from across the Ogilvy network. And we’ll provide opportunities for you to do work of which you’ll be proud, with people you’ll be proud to call your teammates.