Hiring - Comms Planning Director

We are on the look out for a Comms Planning Director to join our team.

The CPD is a pivotal role at Craft, taking on account leadership and driving strategies across paid, owned & earned channels.

We are looking for both a 3-6 month contract and also a full time position.

As a hugely important role we want to be able to make sure we find the right person for our growing team.

We are transparent about our pay grades, for this role we are looking for someone to grow with us, so our ideal candidate is an ambitious Planning Manager looking to step up into a leadership position or an established CPD looking for the opportunity to expand their experience within a creative strategy agency across more than just paid channels, (rather than someone who would be looking to move up to business director in the short term)

Full Job description is below

INTRODUCTION TO CRAFT

Craft Media London launched in 2018 with the intention of filling the strategic hole

that exists between media and creative agencies. We focus solely on

communication strategy plugging into the planning teams at creative agencies or

clients directly to help determine exactly what comms needs to do in order to

meet business objectives. We had noticed (and don’t tell them this….) that creative

agency planning wasn’t business rigorous enough so ideas were just that, ideas.

And media agencies were overly focused on the commercial numbers which

resulted in bland planning with no creative leap. So, we sit in the middle, acting as

an interpreter and ensuring that we deliver campaigns that are both effective and

efficient.

We are a small specialist strategic agency. This is important as it means that we

can get to the answer faster than most agency teams. It means that we don’t

have to send a squad of people to a meeting each with their own areas of

expertise. We can give you an immediate point of view based on years of

experience rather than waiting for a piece of analysis to be done. It also means

that we absolutely know our stuff. We have a reputation as the Crafty team who

get to grips with complicated comms challenges, give creative agencies an

opportunity to create great and different work and who play nicely alongside

every partner.

If media buying is needed, we have a relationship with all the independent

agencies (and some of the networks) which we partner with to provide this

specialist.

Craft provides strategic direction and planning and we help clients identify the

right agency for them and they would focus on delivery/buying.

We are small but have already started to make our mark, working with startups

like Ancient & Brave, through to established brands which needed some

strategic love – like Fever Tree, Selfridges, Moss, & JD Sports through to the

biggest brands on the globe – ASOS & BT.

We plan both within the UK but also Globally & Internationally

We never know what the next brief might be….

Communications Planning Director

The three core areas of responsibility for the Comms Planning Director are:

● Development of your team; set the space to develop the Planning Managers

so they can take on more planning & client responsibility.

● You are the client and account lead; it is your responsibility to establish and

develop strong client relationships and ensure that we have positive and

productive relationships with all of our agency partners.

●. Set the standard for our planning; working alongside the Strategy team to

ensure that brilliant strategy culminates in innovative and effective

communications plans.

The Crafty Planning Team:

At Craft we have the ambition of becoming the best planning team in the UK. It’s a

big ambition that we will judge by our ratio of awards to staff numbers versus

other agencies.

Our mindset can be summarised as ‘Taking one step further’. This doesn’t mean

pushing every part of every plan and spending 1000 years to get to an answer. It

means finding an opportunity to make at least one part of the plan better than it

would have been, every time.

There are three key behaviours supporting our mindset, by making these a part of

our day to day, we produce world class campaigns:

We build around micro-insights: Whilst the big game changing sledgehammer insights are important, we don’t stop there. We keep investigating to find ‘micro’ insights that may affect how we execute a plan, and weave these throughout.

We are audience obsessives: We identify interesting target audiences, avoid lazy demographic platitudes and use a diverse range of data sources to complete our understanding. Then we bring them to life through brilliant storytelling.

We foster a culture of creativity: We reject the notion that creativity is something people either have or they don’t. We use a number of techniques to come up with ideas that get campaigns truly noticed.

Key requirements:

You should have a strong planning background with the ability to translate a communications strategy into a media planning recommendation, considering

best formats, weighting, flighting and activation tactics to deliver against core

objectives of a campaign.

You should have a solid understanding of all media touchpoints and be able to

define the tasks for media and content, develop channel roles and investment

priorities based around tasks.

You should consider the role of non-Paid media channels in your response for your

client - stretching your thinking into Owned, Earned and Shared comms.

Team:

You should have a high level of enthusiasm; care about the business and want to

make a difference. The Comms Planning Director should develop the team & lead

with confidence.

● Ensure the Planning Managers have space & opportunities to lead client

projects.

● Build time to demonstrate the application of media strategy & the bridge

into a media plan.

● Develop & master the ability to manage upwards.

Clients:

Relationships are paramount to this role, and you should find joy in your ability to

build and maintain strong client and agency relationships. You should be the

central point of contact for your clients.

● Integrate into your client’s team; establish & develop close client

relationships built on trust.

● Effectively communicate & preempt potential issues.

● Run (agree with clients) the process for campaign planning.

● Build out your network within your clients business.

Planning:

You should be comfortable thinking beyond paid media (make recommendations

on owned, earned and shared) and have a point of view on creative. It is the

responsibility of the Comms Planning Director to ensure effectiveness (e.g.

econometrics and brand-health modelling) is appropriately embedded in our

work.

Ensure our work demonstrates Crafty planning. Support the Business

Director /Strategic Business Consultants / Comms Strategists to deliver

best-in-class media solutions for your clients.

Lead on media strategy: translating comms frameworks into planning

principles

Overseeing relationships with buying agencies (where relevant) and the

media implementation process.

Speed of thought (use experience to get to the answer quicker).

Master of planning & insight tools (inc media owner network).

Lead core-client RTBs.

Championing our culture of open, honest and respectful feedback.

Experience

5-8 years of experience within a media / communications agency. Measure of success

This role will be judged against the specific delivery of the outlined tasks

By 360 degree feedback from key client personnel

From 360 degree feedback from Craft

From 360 degree feedback from Media Agency key contacts.

Area of special interest

All members of Craft take on an area of special interest / media owner with

the media landscape.

You should endeavour to build relationships with the key media owner(s), to

be kept abreast of new developments and technology.

You should contact trade bodies and work closely with our media buyers to

ensure we fully understand the media planning tools and systems that are

used.

We should look for new ways to leverage insights from your area and apply

it to our work.

If there are training courses, or conferences you would like to attend you can

apply for funding.

You should spread your knowledge around the wider Craft team.

You should champion the sharing of knowledge in your area across Slack

and also Google Drives.

Process

Send CV & note summarising why you would like to work at Craft and how you have demonstrated the key core skills we are looking for to Jen@craftmedia.london

Shortlist invited to have a 30 min chat with one of the Partners

Shortlist will be given a short brief to demonstrating your thinking style

Present to Hiring Manager & Founders

Final Selection

Timing

It is important we find the right person for this role so we are not putting time

pressure on needing this to be filled by a date. We would rather give ourselves

time to find the right person.

Salary bracket & benefits

This Role would be offered starting at £55k - £70k depending on experience

You would be eligible for the Craft Pension, health cover, life Insurance and the

company bonus scheme.

IT and equipment

You will be provided with an Apple Laptop, additional accessories required will be

supplied on request.

We work primarily on Google Drive, with Slack, we also provide Office 365 to enable

better collaboration with some clients and agencies.

We stay in contact across email, Slack and Whatsapp depending on type of

project, account and other stakeholder involved.

You will provide your own mobile phone, of which 75% of the bill can be expensed

monthly back to Craft.

We are supported by an IT contractor for any issues.

Working hours, flexibility and holiday

Craft works a flexible working policy

We are all in office on Thursdays

Our working hours are 9.00am - 5.30pm We then expect in a normal week Craft staff come into the office 3+ times or more.

This is not mandated and you can speak to your line manager about what working

style is best for the task you are working on.

We believe in hiring grown-ups and trusting you, but we ask you to think about:

‘What working pattern is best for me?” as well as ‘What working pattern is best for

my team?’

We operate a right to disconnect policy ensuring clarity in the break between work

and personal life is clear and transparent for all staff.

You are entitled to 28 days annual leave a year, 3 of which are taken between

Christmas & New Year. (We close Christmas Eve)

Work from Anywhere

We offer 1 week (5 working days) a year where you can work from anywhere.

You need to ensure your hours are shifted or co-ordinated with your team to

ensure all client needs & team needs can be accommodated.

It is your responsibility to ensure WiFi is adequate for work requirements.

Please note that ‘Anywhere’ is defined as working in a location other than home or

the office.

Diversity

We actively encourage applications from those with diverse backgrounds.