Group Strategy Director

San Francisco, CA, US (Hybrid)
✓ Dental Insurance ✓ Disability Insurance ✓ Health Insurance ✓ Life Insurance

Description

Group Strategy Director

 

Who We Are

We are a fiercely entrepreneurial ad agency that blends creativity and performance to build great brands. We call this approach Soul + Science. With offices in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Seattle, we serve as collaborative business partners to some of the world’s best brands including Ben & Jerry’s, Jose Cuervo, Alaska Airlines, Charles Schwab and Amtrak, among others. 

 

Being a Mekanista requires a rare combination of being a weird, fearless and wonderful person who enjoys birthday cakes, well-behaved dogs, and shared sensibility of respect and not taking ourselves too seriously.

 

Mekanism has been named to Ad Age’s A-List and twice to their Best Places to Work list. Most recently, Mekanism was named Independent Agency of the Year by The Drum and a Top 10 Most Effective Independent Agency in the US by the Effie Index. We have been profiled by The New York Times, Fast Company and ABC’s Nightline. Our campaign methodologies are studied by Harvard Business School.

 

Role

Mekanism’s Strategy Department is made up of creative-minded brand leaders who understand people as much as we understand business. Our belief is that Strategy is the practice of being openly obsessive to help brands and businesses become the most iconic version of themselves. We are part anthropologist, part business thinker, part planner, part new business insights creator and part trend watcher. It is our job to connect the dots between human behavior, creative development and business strategy. 

 

The role of a Group Strategy Director is about overseeing a team of rockstars and sharpening the work they produce. This is a collaborative, fact-driven, creative thinker with great human and business instincts. Reporting to the Head of Strategy, the position is designed to be in service of, and in partnership with, the full spectrum of strategic and creative thinkers at the agency - from fellow Brand Strategists, to Social, Digital, or Connections Strategists, to creative teams and client teams. You’re gonna get your money’s worth here!  Our goal in the Brand Strategy department is to be the starting point for groundbreaking, culture-shaping, award-winning, creative work and to become the go-to resource for our clients regarding deep, analytical business thinking and strong perspectives on their industry, consumer, marketing and business strategies.  

 

Key Areas of Responsibility

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

The Group Strategy Director is responsible to Be the Face of Strategy on the West Coast

  • Work with leadership in San Francisco and Seattle to be the client-facing and internal go-to person for business, consumer and connections planning insights and inspiration.
  • The West Coast Strategy team will report to and be mentored by this person 
  • All West Coast clients fall under the GSD’s watchful eye of oversight
  • Work in ongoing direct partnership with WC Mek President, and WC Mek CCO
  • Tag-team with Head of Strategy to run and pitch West Coast-based new business pitches 
  • Reports directly to the Head of Strategy

 

Brand Strategy, Connections Planning, Insights and Leadership

  • Lead all high-level, long-term brand strategy and evolution, medium-term connections and campaign planning and shorter-term engagement strategies to accomplish communication objectives. 
  • Develop opportunities for proactive brand and connections strategy workshops to evolve client thinking, brand positioning/purpose and align on business/campaign goals. 
  • Participate and consult in all consumer research and brand/social/sales analytics conversations, ensuring our work is always aligned with the metrics of our clients.
  • Lastly they will take accountability to be Inspiring and keep the team honest on the things that people are connecting with, helping define the cultural space any given brand will cover.

 

Grow Strategy Offering

  • Work proactively in partnership with Business Management, Creative Leadership, the broader Strat Pack, and key clients to analyze our client’s businesses and recommend revenue-driving opportunities for strategic projects; develop proposals (with Brand Management) for the work, including processes, SOWs, tools, deliverables and timeframes.
  • Run research and strategy projects for clients including (but not limited to): Soul & Science Workshops, competitive analysis, Brand DNA creation, positioning pyramids, brand tone of voice/verbal identity and Brand Book creation. 

 

Creative Brief Development 

  • Partner with the Strat Pack (brand, connections, social, digital) and Business Management to transform client briefs into strong creative briefs for our creative leads, taking research, information and insights and distilling them down into a singular strategic idea for creative teams to operate from. 

 

Research and Insights

  • Primary Research: concept, write discussion guides and facilitate focus groups, man-on-the-street interviews, surveys, customer segmentation studies, etc. as necessary; manage 3rd party vendors for the above. 
  • Secondary Research: Be resourceful. Find unique, unexpected insights and stories about our clients, our consumers and the way the world is changing around them.

 

Help Make Award-winning, Teeth-gnashing, Breakthrough amazing Creative

  • Stay involved in and help guide creative ideation and concepting throughout the process, ensuring that we produce breakthrough work that drives our clients businesses forward.

 

Qualifications:

  • Served for at least a year as a Group Strategy Director at a creative agency
  • Killer work you can proudly point to and honestly say “I was a part of this!”
  • Understanding and POV on digital strategy, technology, culture, and the role of AI in our industry
  • A player/coach mindset and desire to be in the work and a mentor to the team
  • Noteworthy skills is writing, presenting, and storytelling through deckmanship
  • Proven creative courage
  • Track record of kindness, curiosity, ambition, and originality
  • Shared values with the agency
    • Believe in Bold
    • Bring your Weird
    • Practice optimism
    • Have each other’s backs
    • Pursue What’s Next
    • Give a sh*t

 

Salary: $175,000

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