Director of Planning

Croud is a marketing and media agency that drives growth for brands in a world where there are no funnels, brand and performance are united and analytics leads the way.

We're rooted in our performance heritage, and we bring that mindset to everything we do: brand planning, strategy, integrated media, social, creative, and data. We're passionate about partnering with clients on their journey towards incrementality-centric marketing with strategic consulting, analytics and smart tools in support.

The result is cutting-edge digital marketing that drives real business impact, supported by a network of over 2,500 independent consultants helping us to deliver work in over 120 markets and 60+ languages.

Located in the heart of SoHo, our New York office is home to a group of 100+ highly-skilled marketers, passionate about driving innovation and delivering great work for clients. With a rapidly expanding team and client portfolio, Croud New York offers hands-on experience working with some of the world's leading brands across every industry sector.

Croud is recruiting a Director of Planning to help develop, coordinate, and lead our strategy offering in New York. Together we want to create a new type of strategic process: one that is based on intelligence data surfacing actionable insights, forming a connection to brand from our performance heritage, and actively preparing our clients and solutions for the next iteration of the media landscape.

We are investing in Strategy & Planning as a priority arm of the business, and we want to add to our quickly growing US team with additional leadership. Global Strategy & Planning has continued to be the quickest expanding vertical in the business and this US role will sit alongside our UK counterparts to form our key proposition.

As a Planning Director, you will be responsible for improving our client's business by creating strategies that connect brand, marketing, and commerce. Expanding the agency's playbook to deliver incrementally centric marketing. Simply put, developing a new type of brand strategy & media planning; one that puts disruption first (frequency centric, spike & sustain) and is based on material outcomes (market share, brand equity, incremental revenue).

At Croud, our vision centers around the idea of unlocking potential. We do this by elevating everyone in an inclusive and progressive culture, empowering individuals to deliver their best work. This means we build better brand outcomes, and unlock potential for our people, our clients and our communities.

We live and breathe five key values at Croud, which build a culture that elevates everyone, allowing our people to thrive:

• In it together - our value on integration, collaboration and outcomes
• Eye on the future - our value on futurism, creativity and passion
• Generous in spirit - our value on people, development and inclusion
• Do what you say - our value on integrity and accountability
• Make a difference - our value on purpose and impact

As a Planning Director, you will be responsible for:

• Complex Problem Solving: Demonstrating an ability to build from scratch. Turning solutions into strategies to present back to clients.
• Data-Driven Brand Building: Understand client's business KPIs and create programs to connect their initiatives to drive brand growth. Focused on outcomes based & disruptive media planning.
• Deployment of Vision & Partnerships: Define a digital program's strategic vision, real operations and negotiate key partnerships to further the brand.
• New Business: Work with new business teams on Croud's proposition and pitch storytelling and platform strategy for all cross-channel clients
• Innovation: Facilitating effective brainstorming and ideation sessions to spur growth, turning ideas into actionable programs and/or products.

Examples will include:

• Work closely with senior client stakeholders to identify and solve key marketing challenges, as well as internal collaboration with other teams at Croud to pull plans together
• Cross-channel media planning, ensuring that investment decisions made on behalf of clients are rigorously informed by all the available data
• Creating compelling stories that are able to engage, enthuse and impel various audiences to clear shared action.
• Reviewing, analyzing and helping teams to align brand experiences to marketing plans and drive measurable results.
• Oversee audience, market and competitor intelligence projects, ensuring that work is insightful and actionable
• Oversee measurement and testing strategy across channels, driving constant improvements in performance
• Lead strategic review of solution development; ensure experiences, technology and marketing are delivered on-strategy.

This role would sit within our US Management team and feed into teams internationally. We want you to be a part of the Croud leadership team and community, contributing to our proposition and driving the business forward.

The successful candidate in this role as Director of Planning will report to the VP of Strategy & Planning and work closely with Croud's Biddable team, Media Measurement Directors and VP of Client Leadership in the US.

The objectives of this role include:

• Establishes & oversees team's planning process including research, strategy, evaluations and recommendations of media vehicles and tactics, through plan development, presentation, execution and follow-up
• Defines high level strategy and holistic management of the media plan development, implementation, and execution
• Lead strategic planning initiatives including deck writing, budget and channel allocation, and audience development
• Support development of strategic approach by delivering channel ideas and providing the link to reality of historical performance and in-market opportunities
• Data backed story telling, comfortable using data to tell stories and guide decision making, familiarity with MMM, MTA, Standard Campaign Reporting in addition to syndicated research tools
• Thorough familiarity with media research resources, capabilities and limitations (planning tools, competitive tools)
• Be an ambassador in the development of new insights, audience segmentation and cultural analysis that will build clients' businesses
• Identifies key target insights based on client brief necessary for formulating strategic recommendations, and ensures alignment into broader long-term goals
• Maintain an in-depth knowledge of the client business and competitive landscape
• Ensure teams adopt best in class tools, techniques, and systems to deliver plan recommendations aligned to client's objectives and expected business outcomes
• Demonstrate an intimate, and strategic, understanding of how consumers interact with channels and technology, while championing across internal agency teams

Essential skills and experience include:

• Experience of elevating over campaign planning and having to drive demonstrable results for c-suite executives.
• Expected to be an expert across all media, including digital, social and traditional, demonstrating advanced knowledge in all areas.
• Extensive experience of presenting to clients and 'selling-in' ideas, and of working closely with senior stakeholders to understand their business objectives.
• Great communication and presentation skills, with good attention to detail.
• Experience managing a team.
• Responsible for growth and development of direct reports / team by providing clear, direct, actionable and motivating feedback

Desirable skills and experience include:

• Bias for action, someone with a natural inclination to get things done and foster an ownership mindset
• Exposure to big budgets, complex organization structure with multiple stakeholders, overlapping planning processes with multiple competing priorities
• Hands-on experience of key digital marketing platforms is preferred. These include (but are not limited to) Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook Ads Manager, DV360
• Represent Croud at industry events, public speaking and thought leadership.
• Experience in CPG and/or Multi Brand Retail a bonus, but not a requirement.

Every employee is eligible for the benefits listed on our careers site which include:

• PTO/ Vacation: 20 days vacation a year 12 public holidays observed
• Sick Days: 7 days annually
• Summer Fridays: Early finishes from Memorial Day to Labor Day
• Bereavement Leave: Paid time off for personal loss
• Parental Leave: Enhanced leave plus FMLA through NY state
• 401(k) Savings Plan: 100% on contribution up to 2%
• Sales commission with pitch opportunities
• Recruitment referral bonus
• Pre-tax commuter benefits
• Full Paid Medical Insurance for Employee Only (including dental and vision)
• Dependent contribution to Medical, dental and vision coverage
• Employer paid life insurance coverage
• Monthly gym membership stipend
• Access to personalized health guidance via Health Advocate
• Free Citi bike membership
• Membership to TalkSpace (Mental Health Support)
• Hybrid workspace support - home office setup is provided
• Agile working policy
• Complimentary access to fruit, cereals, snacks, soft drinks, tea, and coffee

Salary Range for this position is $150,000 - $175,000 per year.

Where an employee or prospective employee is paid within this range will depend on, among other factors, actual ranges for current/former employees in the subject position, market considerations, budgetary considerations, tenure and standing with the Company (applicable to current employees), as well as the employee's/applicant's skill set, level of experience, and qualifications.

Standard hours are from 9.00am to 5.30pm, there's flexibility if agreed in advance with your line managers (it may also be necessary on occasions to work outside of these hours).

Croud is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the grounds of a person's gender, marital status, race, religion, color, age, disability or sexual orientation. All candidates will be assessed based on merit, qualifications and their ability to perform the requirements of the role.