Position: Vice President, Director of Strategic Planning |
Location: Kalamazoo or Chicago
Biggs|Gilmore, one of the nation’s leading interactive agencies, is looking for a Vice President, Director of Strategic Planning based out of either our Chicago or Kalamazoo, Mich., office. The VP, Director of Strategic Planning leads the planning function within the agency. He/She brings the credibility of experience and maturity to both internal and external constituencies. He/she is part visionary, able to continually advance our planning offering, and part manager, able to ensure that people and processes within strategy are optimized. He/she understands the importance of the relationship between planning and creative and can demonstrate extensive experience in brand/account planning. He/she has a regular presence in front of clients, providing thought leadership and guidance to on both their business and their strategic planning processes. He/she is also an active participant in the agency’s new business efforts.
Responsibilities
- Assessing, revising and optimizing agency strategic planning processes and deliverables
- Bridging the gap between our standard strategic processes and client-specific processes
- Working closely with the director of Insights & Analytics to define the working relationship and points of integration between planning
- and Insights & Analytics.
- Integrating strategic planning function with other agency departments, particularly account management and creative, to ensure agency deliverables are grounded in common strategy
- Reviewing significant deliverables/outputs of strategic planning department prior to client presentation to assure they meet agency/client standards
- Providing thought leadership, both internally and to clients, in the areas of strategy, digital evolution and consumer journey
- Reviewing, analyzing and deciding on outside tools and services and managing the budget for same
- Managing the department staff, regularly assessing and advancing the talent we have, identifying new skill sets and/or gaps, and proactively bringing forth recommendations on how to fill them
- Working in conjunction with Human Resources, advancing our access to talent through more effective external relationships/networking as well as by providing more hands on direction to our recruiting partners
- Working with executive committee, help identify approach and pitch agency new business prospects
- Participating in the assessment, decision and implementation of new agency offerings
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree (Master’s strongly desired) in business, communications or other related field
- 15 years’ experience in advertising/marketing, with a significant focus on account/brand planning
- 10 years’ experience managing people/department with demonstrated results
- Understanding of and experience with the digital landscape, including web sites, online media, social media, mobile
- Strong oral and written communication skills
- Understanding of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies for pre-campaign, in-market and post-flight testing
- Excellent presentation and listening skills, with ability to think quickly and deliver consultative response
- Working knowledge of media and communications planning; direct and relationship marketing; and integrated marketing
Qualified candidates may submit cover letter, résumé and salary requirements when applying to the careers page on www.biggs-gilmore.com.