Strategic Media Planner

**How you'll role**
As the Strategic Media Planner, you’ll take briefs from clients, and formulate and implement media plans in order to help promote clients’ products and services. The company is looking for a strategic media thinker, who is proficient in media planning tools, familiar with the media landscape (ATL and digital), and able to understand and communicate media data and research findings; omnichannel experience at a strategic level and previous experience working in a global agency would be preferable. You need to have a curious mind, and a strong appetite for new technology, emerging platforms, pop culture, and trends.

**What you'll do**
- Work within a team and remotely
- Take and interpret implementation/medium-weight strategy briefs from clients and meet expectations
- Formulate and implement media plans and creative approach in order to help promote client products and services
- Managing the implementation plan with your team from start to finish
- Collaborate with clients’ advertising, public relations, and product teams
- Be capable of interpreting briefs, developing and understanding media objectives, target market’s consumer journeys, and relationships with media touchpoints
- Work closely with the lead strategist when creating and presenting flow-plans
- Constantly demonstrate a strong appetite for new technology, emerging platforms, pop culture, media engagement behaviour, and trends
- Mentor interns / Assistant Strategic Planner
- Understand the role of digital and ATL media platforms
- Take initiative to learn and grow in other areas
- Liaise with clients, and manage their expectations while ensuring deadlines are met
- Develop/create strategy documents in line with the discussed strategic direction
- Understand how to set media objectives and include the objectives in the strategy and implementation thereof
- Build relationships with media owner representatives and encourage creative media thinking
- Attend industry presentations and bring back learnings to the agency and clients
- Media planning across all offline channels, owning elements of planning and implementation
- Evaluate media opportunities in line with brand strategy
- Continuously build on understanding the role of media and insight into other marketing mix elements with a view to integrating and understanding the full consumer journey
- Maintain a constant awareness and monitoring of core competitors’ communication activities and actively inform lead strategist and clients thereof
- Follow the buying and booking processes with your media assistant
- Consistently look for good media buys and negotiate the best deals for clients
- Post campaign analysis and insights development
- Assist in managing and resolving financial queries
- Account/client profitability management from an implementation perspective

**What you'll need**
- 8+ years of experience in a similar role
- Experience working in a large agency environment
- Telmar skills
- Above-the-line media planning strength with an understanding of strategy
- Strategic media thinker
- Technical media maths, definitions, concepts, budget settings, etc.
- Know the media landscape - all media platforms, continuously upskilling yourself
- Understanding of media data (updates in the data) and research findings
- Ability to develop relationships - internally, with your team, and externally, with clients, media owners, and partner agencies
- Digitally connected with a curious mind
- Proficient in Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint
- Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills
- Administrative
- Diligent with high attention to detail (accuracy is critical)
- Strong organisational, interpersonal, and project management skills
- Desire to learn more about the trends shaping consumer behaviour today, and in the future
- Problem-solving skills
- Strong analytical skills, understanding of systems, and processes
- Ability to train interns

**Salary**: R50,000.00 - R60,000.00 per month