Comms Planning Director

OpenDoor I Planning Director – Job Description

The purpose of this document is to help prospective team members better understand the role and responsibilities with the position of Planning Director at OpenDoor, WPP’s bespoke global operating model for Amazon.

ABOUT WPP & OPENDOOR

At WPP, we’re constantly reinventing the future of creativity on an ever-broader canvas, bringing together unrivalled talent, resources and skills to provide an integrated offer of communications, experience, commerce and technology.

Over the last decade, we have developed a dedicated global client practice with the mission of accelerating WPP’s impact for our largest clients by bringing them the best of WPP. Each team is custom-built around a client’s specific needs and challenges, providing easy access to the right capabilities. And that’s why we’ve built OpenDoor for Amazon.

OpenDoor is a unique integration of the best of WPP and Amazon – building on their respective strengths and visions. Whether at WPP or at Amazon, every project is an OpenDoor on new possibilities. Anything and everything can be an opportunity for our people to drive impact – for them to innovate, learn, thrive, and occasionally fail too.

The unique OpenDoor partnership model is built to deliver next level Productivity, fueled by our industry-leading approach to People, Platforms, and Process. OpenDoor spans across all WPP agencies and disciplines such as media, business consultancy, communications and brand strategy, tech and commerce, public relations, and production.

OpenDoor’s values are built from Amazon’s own 16 Leadership Principles, and WPP’s core values of Open, Optimistic and Extraordinary. Together, when WPP’s Creative Transformation meets Amazon’s next-level customer centricity, our people come together to challenge and impact what’s done today and build a better future.

By joining OpenDoor, not only are you joining a cross-function team partnering with one of WPP’s top five global clients, but you are also taking a step to challenge yourself and the world around you every day, working in the most unusual way on some of Earth’s most ambitious opportunities in marketing, tech, media, business, and creativity.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are searching for a talented and enthusiastic individual to join our OpenDoor team as a Planning Director. This is a full-time position based in London. The Role will report to the regional strategy lead and will manage a team of 3+. This role plays a crucial part in supporting WPP's mission to deliver consistency, delivery excellence and best in class service for Amazon in every country across its diverse businesses, including XCM, Prime Video, and RMI.

Prime Video is Amazon’s entertainment destination for movies, series, documentaries, and live sport. The Prime Video marketing division deliver all communications for the platform, including large tentpole titles such as The Boys and The Rings Of Power, and live sport such as the Premier League and the NBA, as well as largescale brand campaigns. OpenDoor is Prime Video's media partner everywhere in the world except North America and Latin America and makes up a considerable proportion of Amazons global marketing efforts.  

RESPONSIBILITIES

Media planning:

• Develop an advanced understanding of media channels, channel ecosystems and planning best practices.
• Start to translate strategic approach into planning practices for specific client briefs and pitches.
• Have an advanced understanding of the Purchase Journey thinking and planning philosophy across all client work. Including being an expert in a broad set of internal tools, as well as external tools to build a deep understanding of the consumer, the client’s business and its specific opportunities. 
• Have an expert overview of the media market landscape, trends and start to build media owner relationships.

Campaign management & effective communication:

• Oversee campaign management, ensuring quality control and output is of the highest standard.
• Develop a skilled understanding of commercial practices and of the wider agency.
• Build and maintain client and agency relationships at a mid-senior level, to ensure a comprehensive understanding of stakeholders and client business.

Comms planning and storytelling:

• Lead multi-market comms strategies with the comms planning team.
• Direct the central and local planning teams on comms planning campaigns and workstreams.
• Own planning presentations and narratives including defining the inputs needed and working with the wider teams in London and the European countries to compile work and meet deadlines.
• Lead brainstorm and idea creation for campaigns
• Start to independently problem solve, including integrating and questioning data and insights and find solutions based on knowledge and experience.
• Assist in the development and execution of data-driven marketing campaigns across the Amazon business, bridging Amazon and WPP technologies and capabilities as required.
• Utilize WPP Open and other cutting-edge tools to standardize best in class planning, ensure leading organization and track campaign performance / identification of optimization opportunities.
• Collaborate with WPP (media and beyond) and Amazon team members to ensure seamless campaign delivery and achieve outstanding results.
• Contribute to a culture of innovation by exploring new technologies and approaches to marketing challenges.
• Stay abreast of industry trends and best practices, particularly in the areas of e-commerce and digital marketing.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Comfortable presenting both directly from platform (OS, Architect etc) and developing a story from data but delivered outside of the platform (Telmar etc).
• Can confidently answer client questions and liaise with internal teams on best solutions to use. [List required skills, experience, and education level.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment whilst maintaining a partnership focus throughout
• Uses critical questioning and maintains a broad perspective when analysing information to gain a deeper understanding of the problem and wider impact.
• Has strong knowledge of the entertainment sector/industry which is shared to build strategies and plans.
• Leads the delivery of relevant and accurate information to drive maximum impact.
• Consistently delivers communications to influence and educate all levels of seniority, appropriately judging the demands of the situation.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment whilst maintaining a partnership focus throughout.
• Successful delivery of key launches in line with scope, resources and agreed budget.
• Productive and well-prepared client and network status meetings.
• Adherence to Ways of Working both by clients and internal teams.
• Deliver monthly thought leadership (engaging with internal and third-party stakeholders as required)

BONUS POINTS

• Multi-market experience
• Successful E2E management of Multi-Market campaigns (brief, RTB, execution and reporting).
• Applies big picture thinking in work and proactively leverages an understanding of the organization and key industry trends. 
• Designs differentiated communications (content focus, style, presentation etc) for various internal and external audiences.
• Applies knowledge of client, audience, channel, market and category to effectively deliver compelling multi-media plans.  Translates learnings and trends to create marketing communication strategies that are effective with clear measurement.   Application of purchase journey thinking and visualization of how the media plan works channels. 
• Applies best practices to campaign management and acts as the escalation point for issues. 
• Oversees team members to discuss current projects, workload and activities prioritises resources accordingly. 
• Improves workload management by supporting others in setting priorities and by postponing less relevant work.
• Provide actionable insights during mid and post-campaign reports to improve in-flight optimizations and future campaign brief recommendations.
• Familiarity with Amazons way of working (e.g. narratives over powerpoint) and their leadership principles
• Familiarity with Amazon Ads
• Understanding of Amazon's ecosystem

BENEFITS OF OPENDOOR

• Unparalleled Access: Gain direct experience working with one of the world's most innovative and influential companies.
• Mentorship & Training: Receive guidance from experienced professionals at both WPP and Amazon.
• Cutting-Edge Technology: Utilize industry-leading tools and platforms, including WPP Open.
• Data-Driven Environment: Develop your analytical skills and contribute to data-driven decision making.
• Global Impact: Be part of a team that is shaping the future of marketing on a global scale.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested candidates are encouraged to submit their resume and cover letter to the talent team

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.