Agency :
Havas Play
Job Description :
Account Director that sits within the Account Management Team at Havas Play, delivering integrated communications activations for sport, culture and entertainment clients.
The Account Director should have experience delivering both physical and digital
experiential campaigns for brands, with a strong understanding of project management, event production and delivery.
Job Title: Account Director (Experiential)
Reports To: Business Director / Managing Partner
Role Summary
Account Director that sits within the Account Management Team at Havas Play, delivering integrated communications activations for sport, culture and entertainment clients.
The Account Director should have experience delivering both physical and digital
experiential campaigns for brands, with a strong understanding of project management, event production and delivery.
Purpose of Role
- The Account Director is the most senior day to day account support and it is their
- responsibility to delegate out the work that comes in and have an eye on all work going out.
- Aware of and managing workload of all team members, flagging any capacity pinches ahead of them becoming a problem.
- Having an indepth and current knowledge of the industry, as an AD you should be a trusted source to both the team and clients for advice and guidance on campaign planning, executions and potential growth opportunities.
- The AD is responsible for the teams response to briefs and on time delivery of campaigns and projects (with support and guidance from SAD/BD/Managing Partner).
- An AD requires strong interpersonal skills, understanding demands of both clients, rights holders, and suppliers – connecting the different teams in the business to deliver on briefs and campaigns; as well as being abreast all of the financial procedures throughout their accounts.
Key Responsibilities
As an Account Director, you should be confident in all of the areas laid out below:
Account Management:
• Ability to oversee multiple workstreams and increased workloads through proof of delegation (both upwards and downwards) of other tasks and responsibilities.
• Working across multiple projects at one time whilst maintaining a high work standard. Staying calm and displaying a positive attitude whilst under pressure, and successfully delegating in order to keep work manageable.
• Ability to proactively drive projects forward autonomously, bringing in wider agency expertise & personnel in the process; ensuring all steps & stakeholders are factored into project timelines.
• Connecting teams within the business to deliver on client work.
• Supporting on managing the capacity of the account teams, keeping work to scope and having a handle on any over or under delivery.
Writing and Presentation Skills:
• Have strong creative and corporate writing skills, to be used across external
documents such as client proposals and reports, as well as internal documents such as toolkits and case studies
• Ability to adapt your communications based on the needs of your clients & your team.
• Effectively communicate both verbally and in writing to be clear & concise in client-facing comms as well as when briefing suppliers and the internal team
• Have great attention to detail and ensure all written work is delivered to a high
standard of quality
• Demonstrate confidence in competently talking clients though a document or pitching an idea, outlining the process you’ve taken to answer the brief
• Instill confidence by showcasing your understanding of the client’s brand/business when “selling” the idea to them.
• Reviewing and reinforcing a high standard of comms and presentation amongst the teams going out to clients and businesses
Approach, initiative & problem solving:
• Be positive, proactive and solutions-driven – always think one step ahead
• Aspire to be fully accountable for day-to-day operations at the same time as
empowering the team (particularly SAM, SAE, Producers) to feel in control and
accountable themselves
• Stay close enough to the day to day work coming and out of the accounts, anticipating potential problems and issues
• Always think ahead – leaving enough time for planning, scope and budgets to be
created ahead of work beginning
Relationships:
• Have a strong working relationship with your client and be seen as the trusted point of counsel. Be an active listener to really understand your clients world
• Feel comfortable and confident challenging & pressing the agency view, always with a solution-based mindest
• Be approachable and accessible to every member of your team
• Work fluidly with different departments such as strategy, insights and creative, and following the processes of these teams
• Work seamlessly with partner agencies (across Social, Digital, Media, PR), ensuring you’re an advocate for strong process and efficient ways of working
• Manage line reports staying cloise to their development, ambitions and objectives.
• Sets the standard for your team to learn & develop from
Strategic skills & answering briefs:
• Champion for the agency’s processes – have a strong POV on how to interrogate and answer a brief creatively, and how to position and articulate ideas to the client
• Be confident in the brief process from interrogating the brief, to insight, strategy and creative briefing, delegating to your team and drawing on other business team leads where necessary
• Demonstrate clear strategic thinking in your day-to-day work across your accounts and how this is framing the client’s campaign against their business objectives
• Have a good understanding of how to structure a brief response
Campaign execution & administration:
• Oversee all plans and activations, including brand experiential activations, live events (e.g. launch events), sponsorship rights activation, content generation, influencer engagement as well as coordinating managing event production suppliers
• Understand time to execute projects. Write scopes and negotiate these with client, where necessary (with support of SAD/BD/MP)
• Ensure you have the right team in place, with the right capacity and skillset
• Make sure your team is aligned on the objectives for the client and as an agency team
• Maintain motivation of your team – ensuring no one is overwhelmed with workload or falling behind on deliverables
• Oversee the SAM/SAE administrative processes on your accounts (status reports, campaign reporting, budget trackers) and ensure they are being updated and delivered to the client on time
Event Delivery & Production:
•Work closely with Senior / Junior Producer to manage event delivery and production workstreams
•Confidently be able to identify and manage key suppliers, including but not limited to location/venue, scenic build & fabrication, technical, AV, content, branding, catering, merchandise, staffing & security suppliers.
•Have a good understanding of scenic fabrication, print & digital branding, content
production and knowledge of tech and how it can be leveraged/utilised within live
activation projects – including VR, AR, projection mapping, social mechanics
(GIF/Photobooths etc.)
•Have experience in managing and negotiating with venues, space providers,
landlords/local councils
•Demonstrate strong on-site event delivery experience and team management
Client services & industry knowledge:
• Understand your client’s business so that you are in the best possible position to
advise, challenge and upsell
• Stay abreast of new innovations within the industry to be able to contribute effectively in brainstorms and be proactive about new ideas for current or prospective clients
New business
•The AD should look to identify ways to grow their clients organically – capitalising on these moments and taking initiative.
•Support on delivering a target of 10% YOY organic growth
•An AD should have contacts within the industry, making sure they nurture and grow these relationships in order to bring in new opportunites to the business
•An AD should be instrumental in helping deliver pitches, understanding briefs,
galvanising teams and delivering on time
People Management
- Management of day-to-day running of the team including keeping all members of the team up-to-date with account work and ensure that regular internal status meetings and/or check-ins are arranged.
- Continuous assessment of teams and distribution of work.
- Give clear guidance to your team, from initial briefing, through to support along the
- way and any developmental feedback required.
Time Management
- AD encompasses good logical planning, strong communication and the ability to manage expectations both internally and externally.
- Efficient time management is essential.
- Ensure that you and the team are delivering work on time and are conscientious with deadlines.
- Anticipate pinch points on your accounts. Be aware of your teams time – any under-capacity or those feeling the pressure with too much on
- Line Management of Senior AccountManager, ensuring regular developmental
- check ins, alongside managing bi-annual
- Appraisal process, working to set and review objectives.
Finance
- Be competent with the finance processes; monitoring your team are setting up new job numbers, processing POs and invoices efficiently.
- Clear understanding of driving client account profitability, scoping and negotiating fees for projects and understanding feasibility.
- Be inquisitive about your clients and what else they’re up to. Understand which other agencies they work with and how the relationship is working.
Contract Type :
Permanent
Here at Havas across the group we pride ourselves on being committed to offering equal opportunities to all potential employees and have zero tolerance for discrimination. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applicants irrespective of age, sex, race, ethnicity, disability and other factors that have no bearing on an individual’s ability to perform their job.
