International Media Planner

International Media Planner, Mars Pet Nutrition, EssenceMediacom – Worldwide, [London based]

EssenceMediacom is GroupM’s newest and largest agency, committed to delivering marketing breakthroughs for brands. It has disrupted the old models across media, creative, innovation and analytics to find new opportunities for advertisers and deliver truly integrated media solutions.

Born out of two pioneering agencies, EssenceMediacom fuses Essence’s performance, data, analytics, and creative technology DNA with MediaCom’s scaled multichannel audience planning and strategic media expertise.

As part of WPP, the world's largest marketing communications services group, and GroupM, WPP’s consolidated media investment management arm, we have access to the richest data, most robust benchmarks, and most advanced capabilities in the market. This helps us provide comprehensive solutions to all marketing challenges.

Our ‘breakthrough’ ambition is underpinned by our commitment to ‘continuous learning.’ We aim to ensure our people fulfil their potential by investing in their whole-person wellbeing, careers, and capabilities, which in turn helps grow our clients’ businesses.

EssenceMediacom, with 10,000 people across 120 offices in 96 markets, is one of the world’s leading communications specialists, with billings of more than US$21 billion (Source: COMvergence, 2021). Its global client roster includes adidas, Coca-Cola (TCCC), Dell, Google, Mars, NBC Universal, Richemont, and Bayer. 

Find out more at www.essencemediacom.com. Alternatively, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

Who are Mars?

Having been appointed in 2018 as their sole planning and buying agency, MARS are MediaCom’s biggest client Globally, with a total ad spend of just over $1Bn across 3 core segments: Confectionary, Pet, and Food. Our brief in 2018 was to help them drive transformation across marketing and media.

Marketing transformation for MARS means sustainable growth by ensuring every brand interaction creates shared value for the people, pets and partners they serve, ensure their brands​:

• Thinking is founded in data-driven human insight​
• Make content and media choices to be culturally famous and meaningfully personal​
• Are purpose driven

About Mars Pet Nutrition

The purpose of this role is to join a centralised worldwide team who run all brands across 4 blueprint markets for MARS Pet Nutrition Europe.

Mars Pet Nutrition boasts some of the world’s best-known Pet food brands – including Pedigree, Whiskas, Sheba, Cesar and Dreamies. Mars Petcare is a significant segment in the overall Mars business, generating a substantial revenue for the company. With a portfolio of pet food brands, they aim to serve against any pet owner’s need for their pets and their mission is to make a better world for pets.

Mediacom have worked with Mars for many years in many key markets and we have a very strong relationship with them – we work very closely not just with the Mars marketing team but across their business. One of Mars’ key pillars is mutuality which is reflected in the way they work with Mediacom as the agency partner.

We are very proud of the work we have done with Mars in driving growth for their brands and this has been recognised with a host of awards - including Media Week, Campaign and Cannes.  We believe these awards are a testament to how closely we work with Mars and our integrated approach, both within Mediacom and working in partnership with other agencies.

In December 2014, MediaCom secured the Mars planning business across all segments and in all markets. We followed this by consolidating both planning and buying as of January 2019.

The account win represents a step change in their approach to media planning & execution which Mediacom is driving the agenda for.

The role

This role is to work within a centralised European planning team across the Mars brand in South EU markets.

The team’s main role is to develop appropriate full-funnel media plans based on globally defined strategy for each of our markets and deliver that brief for deployment, supporting them in seeing that through to successful execution. This role requires an interest, and ideally some experience, in planning across Brand campaigns as the team look after the full media mix for Mars PN across Europe

We expect the candidate to have planning experience, but this could come from a traditional comms or digital background. Ideally, we would like someone with strategic thinking capability who is not afraid to get stuck into data and get hands-on within digital platforms and reporting tools. The candidate should be motivated by creating smart and forward-thinking connected digital communications plans to help solve problems.

This is a key client facing position that requires strong relationships and communication skills as well as excellent organisational approach to infrastructure. The successful individual will be expected to manage a direct report as well as working seamlessly with cross-functional teams, to promote harmony across the account.

Success will require the ability to toggle between seeing the bigger picture – for annual planning and overarching regional performance – and the forensic detail of multiple market campaign management.

The Planner will work with the team to understand the global strategic guidelines and help the Senior Planner and Manager apply these across local plans, while building knowledge on the local nuances presented by each market.

The Planner will have direct client contact and is responsible for work coordination with the Senior Planner and Exec in the team. The Planner will report into the Senior Planner and work closely with the entire team on the planning processes from brief to execution to reporting with local buying teams for the clients in each market.

3 best things about the job

1. You’ll be at the cutting edge of the most advanced, best in class digital planning in the media industry.
2. You’ll be working in a close-knit friendly team who are there to support you at every stage of your career. We truly work as a team!
3. You’ll be constantly learning and challenged. No two days will be the same, and every day there is an opportunity to improve on everything that has gone before.

Responsibilities of the role

Client Management

• Participate in calls and meetings with clients to understand their business, and discuss performance and future strategies
• Support the creation of rationale for a media plan, any optimisation decisions and their outcomes
• Support in delivery of post-campaign analysis and insights
• Deliver reconciliation information regarding media delivery

Media Planning

• Work with Manager and Senior Planner to research audience, media touchpoint and source of growth opportunities
• Interrogate historic performance data to determine or optimise the existing opportunity and key variables which might improve the effectiveness of our media plan
• Grow understanding of key data sources including MMM data and start to be able to interrogate and apply learnings
• Create media plans via planning templates and manage booking sign off
• Ensure media plans contain direct links to KPIs detailed in the media strategy
• Work with the Global team to identify opportunities to implement “test and learn” strategy acros local market plans
• Monitor performance of live campaigns to identify key wins/challenges
• Meet regularly with digital partners to broaden knowledge and understanding of the latest developments and how these couple be tested or implemented across existing and future briefs
• Help to generate relevant and innovative ideas and understand available tactics, e.g. use of data, technology, creative and trading techniques, to drive volume and efficiency
• Build knowledge of key tech stack solutions
• Provide media specialists with their brief – budget, audience, phasing, targets and any other relevant information to support their detailed in-channel planning

Execution

• Support in aggregation of output from media specialists – planning; reporting; insight/analysis
• Supply reconciliations of delivery across the plan from each media owner/media specialist which the Planners directly booked

Reporting & Optimisation

• Work with the buying teams, and Media Executive to interpret performance data and decide on optimisation opportunities
• Generate key charts/slides which demonstrate performance, test learnings and next steps
• Ensure strong commentary that gives insight and action (beyond what the result/trend is)

Team Management

• Work with and develop the Exec, making sure they understand the targets, media solutions and analysis techniques required to maximise effectiveness of our plans
• Work with and develop the Exec to provide strong media delivery and financial reconciliations
• Manage the media specialists to ensure they are correctly briefed and supported in their scope of work
• Work with Finance team to reconcile and deliver efficient PO to invoicing process

What you will need

The successful candidate will be ambitious and collaborative with a can-do attitude. They will want to embrace the culture at EssenceMediacom and likewise on Royal Canin, and be excited by the opportunity to get stuck in and learn from a welcoming and friendly team.
 

Summary of requirements;

• Experience in a media agency (either planning or digital)
• Experience in client management and servicing skills
• Experience managing a media budget for clients
• It is essential that the candidate has a good basic understanding of the digital landscape/tools
• Interest and/or experience in planning across both Brand and Performance campaigns
• Excellent presentation skills (writing and delivery)
• Strong communication and ability to hold a room in all situations
• Experience managing global media partners
• Hands-on experience using digital platforms and reporting tools such as Google Analytics, Data Studio and PowerBI would be advantageous

Personal attributes

• Strong team player, shows relevant initiative and pro-activity
• Positive and passionate approach that motivates the team & champions team successes
• Winning mentality, striving to exceed expectations
• Self-driven, passionate for new ideas and solutions
• Works effectively with other agency partners
• Effective and calm under pressure
• Ability to respect deadlines and project manage team, inter agency partners and clients against a clear plan
• Able to multitask and change priorities rapidly, flexible
• Numerate and administratively competent with strong attention to detail
• Possess the skills to solve problems promptly. If facing challenges, raise them with line manager/team lead in an effective way
• Analytical capabilities – comfortable with data to provide strategic recommendations by using all available data

About GroupM

GroupM is the leading global media investment management operation serving as the parent company to WPP media agencies including Mindshare, Wavemaker, EssenceMediaCom, and each global operations in their own right with leading market positions. GroupM’s primary purpose is to maximize performance of WPP’s media agencies by operating as leader and collaborator in trading, content creation, sports, digital, finance, proprietary tool development and other business-critical capabilities. GroupM’s focus is to deliver unrivalled marketplace advantage to its clients, stakeholders and people.

GroupM and all its affiliates embrace and celebrate diversity, inclusivity, and equal opportunity. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We are a worldwide media agency network that represents global clients. The more inclusive we are, the more great work we can create together.

(Please note this is a UK based role and requires individuals to have the right to work in this location)

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