Associate Director, Planning

3327 - Associate Director, Planning - UK

Role Summary and Impact

We are looking for an experienced Comms Planning Director or ambitious Comms Planning Manager looking for their next step, to run the day-to-day communications planning across a key client (EasyJet) managing upwards of £20m of multi-channel media spend annually. EasyJet have strong ambitions for growth across their Masterbrand, Flights, and Holidays businesses, and as such this role will provide a fantastic opportunity to shape an innovative and creative media strategy for a well-established brand and great client marketing team.

We want an enthusiastic and passionate individual who will work closely with our WW colleagues to deliver smart, innovative, and effective comms planning solutions, focussed on the UK market.  The role requires an experienced media planner with an advanced knowledge of traditional and digital media planning and execution, in addition to exceptional communication and organisational skills.

Our UK remit is focused on offline media channel planning, however you will need a thorough understanding of brand and performance media, as we work closely with Kepler, EasyJet’s digital and performance planning agency. You will need to build strong relationships with your day-to-day clients, external agency partners, internal specialist teams, and those working within your own team.

This role is largely focussed on EasyJet UK (65%) however it will include a smaller focus on another clients (TBD) and the chance to work on agency initiatives including potential for new business pitches.

EasyJet is a low-cost European point-to-point airline. They use cost advantage, operational efficiency, and leading positions in primary airports to deliver low fares, seamlessly connecting Europe with the warmest welcome in the sky.

EasyJet is one of the largest airlines in the world, with 336 aircraft, operating 1,024 routes across 36 countries and 155 airports. easyJet holidays was launched in 2019 in order to offer holiday packages which encourage the 84% of customers travelling on leisure to spend more with us, rather than book accommodation elsewhere. They also happen to be one of our most recent wins across EMEA, plus they have recently introduced a Holidays package offering which is super exciting and profitable.

We work with easyJet across 7 EMEA markets with local teams on the ground in each country, core markets are the UK, France and Italy.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead on planning RTBs, ensuring that they are best in class.
• Leads on day-to-day account workflow, governance, and WoW with support from Client Director.
• Be comfortable presenting work and ideas to both clients, external agency partners, and internally.
• Own key relationships with brand leads, agency partners, media owners
• Work with the Client Director & Client Lead to explore opportunities to drive revenue growth and innovation.
• Oversees implementation and delivery of media activation. Manages workflow through activation teams.
• Oversees campaign reporting, ensuring insight is clear and actionable.
• Oversees campaign evaluation (PCAs) with support of Planning Manager / Planning Exec.
• Oversight of financial aspects of account (billings, reconciliations, accruals, finance queries).
• To foresee and pro-actively resolve planning issues with the team leadership.
• Leads key media updates (landscape, trends, research, media owner updates).
• Build a deep understanding of the brand’s vertical, competition and their business, to understand the challenges and opportunities they face.
• Champions GroupM proprietary services, and agency capabilities.
• Supports integrated WoW across media & creative adopting ‘The Power of & ‘mindset.
• Supports the use of agency tools and process across the team (e.g., Flow Planning, Architect, &OS, &AI, MAP)
• Coach, support, and develop the Planning Manager and Planning Executive, with regular 1-2-1’s.
• Raise the profile of the account in the agency by producing, submitting, and publicly talking our work.

Skills and Experience

• You are someone who both champions and challenges – themselves, their team, and their clients.
• Significant and relevant media planning experience.
• A self-starter who demonstrates curiosity and works well in a fast-paced environment.
• High attention to detail with a drive to make sure the collective output is an excellent standard.
• Strong client management skills to manage both junior and senior clients, with gravitas.
• Proven track record of delivering strong comms planning outputs - with measurement at the forefront - to deliver against core objectives of a campaign.
• Strong presentation skills – both in creating / guiding content, and delivery
• An in-depth knowledge and application of core media tools
• Experienced in running all aspects of a media plan – from initial brief to PCA.
• You are a good listener and able to collaborate with a wide cross section of people.
• You have a solid history of working across a range of projects, demonstrating your ability to be flexible and manage multiple workstreams at once.
• You exude the behaviours of the agency – we challenge and champion each other and our clients, to be the very best we can be.

Life at WPP Media & Benefits

Our passion for shaping the next era of media is powered by our commitment to Be Extraordinary, investing in our employees to inspire transformational creativity. We also Lead Optimistically, firmly believing in and Championing Growth and Development for every individual. This commitment allows WPP Media employees to leverage the extensive global WPP Media & WPP networks to pursue their passions, build vital professional connections, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising. 

We Create an Open environment built on trust and respect, where everyone feels they belong and has opportunities to progress. This inclusive culture is fostered through a variety of employee resource groups and frequent in-office events showcasing team wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events. Our comprehensive benefits package reflects this commitment, including 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 characteristics. We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection in this open and supportive environment. 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. 

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While we appreciate all applications received, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. 

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