Account Director

With a history that dates back over 80 years,Starcom is a global communications planning and media leader. We are an agency still grounded in our founding principle that people are at the centre of all we do. Each day, we apply this belief to harness the transformative power of data and technology to inspire and move people and business forward. With more than 7,000 employees in over 100 offices around the world, we are the flagship Publicis Media agency that uses our ‘Power of One’ business model, with teams that span multiple disciplines across clients such as Aldi, P&G, P&O Ferries, Primark, Samsung, Stellantis, and Visa. 

We place a huge focus on our People and have driven flagship D&I and L&D programmes within Publicis Media; our goal is to help every individual reach their fullest potential and we encourage everyone to make “Brave Plays” in how they approach their work and their own career development. As a result, we have an exceptionally energised and committed talent base, all of us proud of our welcoming and supportive culture, as evidenced by our recognition as one of Campaign’s Best Places to Work for three years in a row (2021, 2022 and 2023) and most excitingly, Media Week's Agency of the Year 2023!

Aldi is the 4th biggest supermarket in the UK and has seen incredible growth over the last 5 years as it stands out in the market as a key discounter and home of the dupe! An active brand across the year, Aldi activates heavily around seasonal moments, key to the grocery sector, as well as having an always on presence in the market across virtually all channels. It’s a brand well known for its hilarious social media account alongside brand ambassadors, Cuthbert the Caterpillar & Kevin the Carrot. Not afraid to push, bend and even break the rules, it’s a varied account with many challenges and problems to solve.

As a team at Starcom we are mapped directly to their set up, with a Strategy & Planning team, Offline & Online teams, which mean the investment teams have a lot of day-to-day contact with the clients. This puts the planning team in a unique situation where we need to manage across multiple stakeholders, internally and externally, to deliver the best work.

The Planning Team

The Planning team at Starcom build relationships with clients, partners, and internal and external colleagues within our Groupe to deliver powerful work that will grow our clients’ businesses.

We work most closely with our Strategy, DDT, Investment and Performance teams to ensure smooth management of the business overall.

Our goal is to become our clients’ most indispensable partners by building roadmaps with them that will identify quickest paths to growth.

For Aldi, the planning team is directly connected in to the Strategy & Campaign Planning client team. We are closely connected to them to align on their briefs, desired outcomes & work together to create an approach fit for a discounter grocer who like to have a bit of fun!

As Account Director you will be a planning and account management lead on key campaigns across the year for Aldi and primarily their Strategy & Planning team.

• You will have responsibility for shaping and driving forward the client and agency’s strategic visions, ensuring that the day-to-day is running smoothly, but also taking that step up to support your Business Director with additional growth.
• You will work closely with our internal activation teams to ensure that everything we deliver is driven by insight, is relevant and encompasses innovation, recognizing the individuality of client.
• This role calls for a dynamic and passionate planning mind along with unsurpassed attention to detail and media knowledge.
• You need to be a media expert, demonstrating this by being able to answer most client questions in the room & being confident in leading and delivering meetings internally and with clients.

What are we looking for in an Account Director?

To be successful in this role, you’ll understand the Comms Planning and Account Management landscape, and ideally would have already lead on a variety of planning projects. We’ll be looking for demonstrations of the following experience:

• Experience working directly with clients in an agency environment and have proven evidence of developing strong and trusted relationships
• Tight project leadership and management skills including driving team organization and collaboration
• Unsurpassed attention to detail and accuracy while managing media plans and large budgets
• Exemplary media knowledge and a willingness to master new areas
• Openness to new ideas, a curious mind and willing to be part of the team to create and implement innovative solutions for our clients
• Team management, ensuring all outputs from them are of a high-quality standard
• Team development, instilling a culture of curiosity, learning, growth and pride
• Ability to work within and contribute to an integrated agency team across media and data
• Strong grasp of the communications planning process and an understanding of how to implement a holistic cross-channel strategy
• Experience in (and passion for) the Grocery category would be great but not essential

Starcom has fantastic benefits on offer to all of our employees. In addition to the classics, Pension, Life Assurance, Private Medical and Income Protection Plans we also offer;

• WORK YOUR WORLD opportunity to work anywhere in the world, where there is a Publicis office, for up to 6 weeks a year.
• REFLECTION DAYS - Two additional days of paid leave to step away from your usual day-to-day work and create time to focus on your well-being and self-care.
• HELP@HAND BENEFITS 24/7 helpline to support you on a personal and professional level. Access to remote GPs, mental health support and CBT. Wellbeing content and lifestyle coaching.
• FAMILY FRIENDLY POLICIES We provide 26 weeks of full pay for the following family milestones: Maternity. Adoption, Surrogacy and Shared Parental Leave.
• FLEXIBLE WORKING, BANK HOLIDAY SWAP & BIRTHDAY DAY OFF You are entitled to an additional day off for your birthday, from your first day of employment.
• GREAT LOCAL DISCOUNTS This includes membership discounts with Soho Friends, local restaurants and retailers in Westfield White City and Television Centre.

Full details of our benefits will be shared when you join us!

Publicis Groupe operates a hybrid working pattern with full time employees being office-based three days during the working week. 

We are supportive of all candidates and are committed to providing a fair assessment process. If you have any circumstances (such as neurodiversity, physical or mental impairments or a medical condition) that may affect your assessment, please inform your Talent Acquisition Partner. We will discuss possible adjustments to ensure fairness. Rest assured, disclosing this information will not impact your treatment in our process.

Please make sure you check out the Publicis Career Page which showcases our Inclusive Benefits and our EAG’s (Employee Action Groups).

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