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.
The Craft Founders
Jen Jones
Jen is the co-founder of Craft. She has over 25 years’ experience in media agencies in London and globally, including Mindshare, PHD, & Maxus
During her career, she has been nominated for and won various Media Week and Campaign awards and has been named one of Campaign’s Top 10 Planners in the UK for the last 7 years. She is a regular speaker at industry events and is never short of a point of view on the world of comms.
She regularly judges at industry events including Cannes Media Lions, Campaign & Media Week awards, D&AD, APG & YouTube Effectiveness.
Sally Weavers
Sally is the co-founder of Craft. She has over 30 years’ experience in the industry and has worked for agencies covering the full range of communication disciplines: creative (JWT/WCRS), brand (Branded) and media (Vizeum, UM, Initiative).
Sally is a member of WACL: a network of the most senior women in the
communications industry, sits on the Facebook Client Council, is a long-term tutor for the Ad Association’s Media Business Course, a Campaign Top 10 planner and a regular judge on industry awards panels.
Her career highlights include launching the new MINI for BMW, rattling the directory enquiries market with 118 118, helping Tesco through some significant challenges and bringing Amazon Alexa to the UK.
Small but mighty
We are small but have already started to make our mark, working with startups like Skin & Me and Huel, through to established brands which needed some strategic love – like Freddie’s Flowers, Beats, The Gym Group & St Johns Ambulance through to the biggest brands on the globe – Apple, Amazon & Brewdog
We never know what the next brief might be….
Planning Manager
The role of the Planning Manager is twofold:
They are a key part of the client and account team: it is their responsibility to make sure that day-to-day client and agency partner work is running smoothly
They are a key part of the media planning team: they work alongside the Strategist and/or Planning Director to translate brilliant strategy into brilliant and effective media plans.
Behaviours:
We want you to have a high level of enthusiasm, you should care about the business and want to make a difference.
You need to be adaptable and can think on your feet.
You actively contribute (to a process, a meeting, ideas etc.)
You can mentor junior team members
You are a do-er and love to get involved
We want to do work that makes others jealous, which means we need to do the thing that they can’t or won’t. And we need to do it with style.
Key Requirements:
You should have a background in comms, media or marketing and have experience helping manage projects or campaigns from start to finish.
You should have an understanding of media touchpoints and have experience articulating qualitative and quantitative data in a coherent story.
There are three core disciplines we use to map out expectations, these are; Team, Clients & Planning.
Team
You should have a high level of enthusiasm; care about the business and want to make a difference for your clients and projects. The Planning Manager should develop their direct reports & lead key processes with confidence:
Able to take full management responsibility for your direct reports.
Experienced at setting client and partner expectations; building in time to work with direct reports to ensure the work is of the Crafty standard expected.
Set time to help develop the Planning Executive’s planning skills.
Able to build relationships & wider network across media owners & partner agencies.
Champion a specialist subject across Craft.
Clients
Relationships are paramount to this role, and you should find joy in your ability to build and maintain strong client and agency relationships. A Planning Manager will:
Create trusting relationships with key client contacts.
Be able to manage status sheets, project timelines & meeting agendas.
Take responsibility for follow up actions.
Maximise your effectiveness by investing time where it matters most.
Planning
You should be comfortable having a point of view on the brief and process. It is the responsibility of the Planning Manager to ensure we deliver the best possible Crafty Planning work for our clients by:
Leading responses to briefs, demonstrating experience of qualitative and quantitative media tools (e.g. AdIntel, TGI, GWI).
Being able to tell a coherent story about observations & implications of analysis.
Supporting Planning Director / Group Planning Director / Business Director on articulating strategy into media response.
Owning the buying brief and process with clients & partner agencies.
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 are going to take on a special interest with the media landscape.
You should endeavour to build relationships with the key media owners, 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 specialist 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.
As a stretch target you are also tasked with identifying a Craft campaign which could be entered into your category sector awards.
Process
Send CV & note summarising why you would like to work at Craft 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 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 between £35-40k depending on experience
You would be eligible for the Craft Pension, AXA health cover, life Insurance and the company bonus scheme, (new wellness benefits coming in Q1).
Flexibility
We are open to considering this as a flexible role.
We expect this to be a hybrid role between home & our office based on Tottenham Court Road.
Diversity
We actively encourage applications from those with diverse backgrounds