Pr Account Director

Company Description
MSL South Africa is part of one of the largest Public Relations (PR) and strategic communications networks in the world - MSL, as well as the PR & Influencer arm of Publicis Groupe Africa (PGA). Through its diverse skills base, coupled with cutting edge PR and Influencer platforms, MSL seeks out the places that build **Influence **and deliver measurable **Impact **for its clients, while also safeguarding their brand reputation in an ever-evolving global environment.

**Job Description**:
As an Account Director at MSL, you have overall responsibility for your portfolio/s of clients, which may be expanded from time-to-time to include other MSL teams and clients. You will be required to lead the teams managing this / these portfolio/s to deliver on all PR requirements for the clients under your purview. You are a trusted advisor and consultant for all the clients in your portfolio/streams - they come to you directly to escalate matters/with matters of importance.
With the help of your team (i.e. intern/AA/AE/AM/SAM), you ensure the smooth running of all your accounts - with a focus on ensuring your stream is profitable and your clients are happy.
**Core Capabilities**
- Account management: Demonstrate real-time knowledge of client activities, ensuring that all operational hygiene activities happen smoothly (status documents updates, contact reports etc.), take overall ownership for initiatives on your accounts, and ensure that your team is meeting the agreed-to client scope of work
- Delegation: Demonstrate ability to effectively delegate tasks to your team, while still ensuring timeous completion and quality of work
- Project management skills: Take responsibility for the management of specific projects from start-to-finish, whether doing the project or overseeing your team’s implementation
- Selling ideas: Demonstrate advanced presentation and persuasion/influencing skills
- Strategy: Develop, strategic and tactical client proposals, and work with your AM/SAM to develop bespoke plans and calendars for clients
- Writing: Demonstrate an ability to write effective content for your full client portfolio and display excellent editing skills, giving guidance to team members on their writing; ensure the team effectively brief the content team when specialist help is needed
- Media relations: Ensure that that journalist relationship-building initiatives are driven within the team, across your full client portfolio, display an excellent knowledge of the South African media landscape (and an interest in the broader African media landscape), maintain solid media relationships, and oversee the effective running of your team’s entire media relations process
- Pitching skills: Write and pitch (or oversee your team’s writing and pitching of) excellent quality, relevant story angles to targeted media, displaying creativity and an understanding of newsworthiness
- Research: Demonstrate strong research skills, and assimilation and presentation of information
- MSL Newsdesk: Participate in 1 x weekly newsdesk/media meeting and ensure relevant news and angles are marked and shared with clients
- Media lists: Work with SAM/AM to ensure that your team regularly updates media lists, informs the broader agency of media changes, compiles tailored media lists per client content piece (which are saved to the server), and ensures that master client media lists are kept updated

**Personal Attributes**
- Quality: Consistently deliver quality work to professional, MSL standards, and ensure quality output from your team prior to submitting to client
- Proactive upskilling: Constantly work to ensure, within your team, an excellent understanding of content for all clients (even beyond your portfolio), your clients’ industries, and that both you and your team stay abreast of the broader news environment to spot opportunities for media conversation building. Proactively identify areas in which your team/team members are less skilled, and work to upskill your team in these areas
- Proactive learning: Demonstrate use of the Marcel Classes portal and other internal training tools/sessions to upskill yourself, taking initiative and responsibility for your learning journey. Encourage this same approach within your team
- Time management: Ensure both you and your team are managing your time effectively
- Profile: Manage and build your own profile within your team and the broader agency

**Client Services**
- Client relations: Demonstrate excellent client relationships, ability to manage their expectations and to mitigate risks and issues as early on as possible, while guiding them in a strategic direction appropriate to their goals
- Client meetings: Drive participation in client meetings, ensure your team manages meeting protocols, agendas, minutes/contact reports, etc.
- Understanding: Perfect a detailed, thorough and informed understanding of your clients’ businesses and knowledge of their competitors, for effective