Strategy Lead

Role Summary and Impact

Are you curious about human behaviour, and always looking for inspiration for a collection of sources beyond the norm? Do you wish to challenge the status quo, and bring strategies to life in exceptional ways? Wavemaker UK is looking for a curious and provocative strategy partner to join our department. Wavemaker UK are experiencing exceptional growth, offering interesting brand challenges for strategists to take on, and bring our ethos of Positive Provocation to all the unrivalled work that passes through our doors at Sea Containers.

We believe that there is no better time to be a strategist than today, and no better place to develop and grow in strategy than in Wavemaker. Media evolves, content shifts, and technology advances faster than ever before. From experience, we know that brands need solid plans and well-thought-out strategies that will grow their business amidst these changes. We also believe that you want to be part of these transformations, through your keen eye for details, your passion for creative work, and your desire to be involved in the story of growing brands.

In this role, you will drive strategic thinking across:

• Client Work: Own the comms strategy development for your client briefs, which includes identifying audiences, growth opportunities, building the cultural context, understanding the brand position amongst competitors, all to develop a differentiating comms strategy and media behaviour. Key role is the challenge conventional thinking, and ensure we are answering the right problem, and that the business challenge is the one we should be answering. A strategy lead should be able to run workshops, brainstorms, liaise with creative agencies, PR agencies and any other agencies involved, as well as drive collaboration across teams to ensure your strategy comes to life.
• Pitches: Own and develop the comms strategy for the pitch brief, building a robust understanding of the audience, working with audience science to build any bespoke research (i.e. focus groups of otherwise), and ensuring the strategy comes through in activation and any big ideas.
• Thought leadership: Write thought leadership for the agency, attend conferences and talks, and network within the industry to have a finger on the pulse.
• Agency: Coach and mentor junior agency members who have a strategic nous. Make the work better though optimising ways we respond to briefs, the way we plan, the way we brainstorm ideas, etc. As well as encourage a culture of discussion and debate about the industry and culture at large. Bringing outside inspiration in.
• Awards: Surface the award winning work on your clients, and spearhead the storytelling for each entry, chasing after the results to make the entry as strong as possible.
• Team: Be engaged and involved in team meetings and initiatives, including participating in debates, brainstorms, and inspiration outings. Lean in and help on accounts needing resource during team absences or during client clashes.

Skills and Experience

At WPP Media, we believe in the power of our culture and our people. It’s what elevates us to deliver exceptional experiences for both our clients and each other. In this role it will be critical to embrace WPP & WPP Media’s shared core values:

• Be Extraordinary by Leading Collectively to Inspire transformational Creativity.
• Create an Open environment by Balancing People and Client Experiences by Cultivating Trust.
• Lead Optimistically by Championing Growth and Development to Mobilize the Enterprise.

Core skills:

• Storytelling & Persuasion - The ability to develop a compelling narrative and use multiple storytelling techniques to sell in a strategy, idea, media argument, etc, whether from scratch, or taking the existing components from teams and building a compelling and exciting red thread end to end.
• Marketing & Media Industry Theory and Thinking- the ‘Science: having knowledge and understanding of the core Media and broader Marketing principles as well as the key literature and thinking that guides the best practices in Media and Comms
• Creativity - The Art: The ability to weave creativity into every aspect - whether it\'s thinking differently about a problem, bringing new combinations of data, insight or even media formats together, and pushing the boundaries of the thinking and the ideas to take brands to a new place
• Critical Thinking: The objective analysis and evaluation of a business, media or human challenge in order to identify insights and form a point of view

Our passion for shaping the next era of media includes investing in our employees to help them do their best work, and we’re just as committed to employee growth as we are to responsible media investment. WPP Media employees can tap into the global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, grow their networks, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising. We have a variety of employee resource groups and host frequent in-office events showcasing team wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events. Our benefits include competitive medical, group retirement plans, vision, and dental insurance, significant paid time off, preferential partner discounts, and employee mental health awareness days.

WPP Media is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.
We believe the best work happens when we\'re together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That\'s why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

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

Please read our Privacy Notice for more information on how we process the information you provide.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

First Name *

Last Name *

Preferred First Name

Email *

Phone

Country *

Phone *

Resume/CV *

Enter manually

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

LinkedIn Profile

Are you currently employed by any agency within the WPP network? * Select...

Current WPP Agency (if applicable) Select...

Have you previously worked at a WPP Agency? * Select...

Are you legally authorized to work in the country you are applying? * Select...

Will you now or in the future require immigration sponsorship for employment visa status? * Select...

Salary Expectations *

Notice Period *

Demographic Questions (UK)

At WPP Media we are committed to building a business and culture that is inclusive, and we believe that having a workforce that represents the society we live in is key to our success.

As part of this commitment, we have created this voluntary survey to include the collection and analysis of diversity data across our recruitment.

The following questions do not form part of your application, are completely optional and are not shared with our hiring teams, but we would be grateful if you would complete them to help us monitor fairness and equality across our recruitment process.

What gender identity do you most closely identify with? Select...

What is your sexual orientation? Select...

What is your religion? Select...

I identify my race/ethnicity as (select all that apply) Select...

Do you consider yourself to have a disability, impairment or long-term health condition Select...

If you answered \'Yes\', please select the option(s) that best describe your disability, impairment, or long-term health condition. (Select all that apply) Select...

Do you identify as Trans? Select...

Which age range do you belong to? Select...

Did you receive free school meals, school uniform or PE kit funding? Select...

By checking this box, I consent to WPP Media collecting, storing, and processing my responses to the demographic data surveys above.