Company description
Who We Are in the UK?
Spark Foundry, the Acceleration Agency.
We help brands to identify, learn and respond to opportunities faster than the competition.
Every client has an area of their business they need to accelerate, from short-term goals to long-term transformation.
We’ve proven our approach during the most difficult year on record. Now we’re using it to provide a launchpad for their future.
Come be an accelerator with us.
How we accelerate
- Planning: an approach that works in practice rather than theory, arming planners with the ability to create cutting edge campaigns
- Intelligence: a suite of tools that give definitive answers to big questions, and uncovers actionable insights about real people
- Trading: a model built on flexibility and trusted relationships, underpinned with bold guarantees
- Relationships: a culture of asking challenging questions to better understand the brief – we are not a ‘yes’ agency
- People: a strong history of recruiting talent from diverse backgrounds and accelerating their careers
Our Commitment
We are diverse though our experience, people and the clients we look after - and we celebrate that diversity. Our people hold us accountable to our beliefs and via regular surveys and our grass roots D&I team, The Collective, and internal next generation board, Firestarters, we hold regular events and work continually towards generating ideas, initiatives and educating our people to ensure we are a diverse and inclusive agency.
As part of our dedication to create an inclusive and diverse workforce, Spark Foundry is committed to equal access to opportunity for people without regard to race, age, sex, disability, neurodiversity, sexual orientation, gender identity or religion.
Overview
Spark Foundry’s Paid Social team sits within the overall Performance Department together with the performance disciplines. Our ambition is to ‘bring performance into the heart of media’, delivering a holistic and integrated marketing discipline. We host a performance month each year enabling us to elevate performance across the agency and an opportunity to accelerate and innovate for our clients.
Being part of Publicis Groupe gives us market leading access to tools, tactics and platforms developed internally and powered by Performics.
Our excellent relationships with key suppliers means as a team we get access to regular training, we are usually the first to trial new products across our clients, invites to industry events and a monthly lunch and learn session (with free lunch)!
We are diverse in our experience, personalities, nationalities and the clients we look after - and we celebrate that diversity. Our clients are professional but also creative and fun and this is reflected in the way we work and relate to each other. We know the way to deliver great work is to work together – and we enjoy it. We are a tight-knit team who socialize together and share in each other’s successes.
Our portfolio of clients includes global brands within a range of verticals such as retail, entertainment, FMCG, technology and finance. Brands we work with include, LVMH, Meta, Clarins, Cineworld, Crucial Memory, Jack Daniels, Hobbycraft.
We are passionate about the sectors our clients work in and would welcome people who share our enthusiasm.
Business Directors at Spark Foundry are crucial senior talent for our agencies growth and development.
Our Business Directors are collaborative, tenacious, and inventive experts. They are focused on client servicing, people management and helping shape and evolve the brands we partner with. The Business Director leads the overall relationship from client servicing, strategy, integrated acquisition planning and technology innovation to team management. As the fast pace of our client’s business changes, we look to our Business Directors to be the strategic partners to help facilitate and guide this change.
It is expected that they should be a self-starter and manage their clients autonomously elevating key priorities and communicating upwards not only at critical points but throughout the year, regularly informing the Head of Department of needs and requirements of our clients as they change.
This is a senior leadership role within the Paid Social team, responsible for delivering best-in-class strategic direction, team management and commercial excellence within the clients under your remit, as well as working with the Head of Paid Social to manage brilliant basics across the full team, build solutions to improve efficiency and continue to develop the department’s offering.
Our Business Directors are also responsible for managing the new business pitches in conjunction with the Head of Department.
We expect our people to lead by example and mentor and train the rising stars at our agency so we are always prepared for the future. This person should exude confidence and be able to motivate, educate and develop a large team.
Responsibilities
Clients
- Exude passion on all client business, lead the strategic thinking and media solutions that deliver on client goals
- Cultivate senior client relationships, develop contact strategy with senior clients and for your teams
- Manage your clients TRR and ensure rankings are increasing and not decreasing
- Be a source of knowledge for clients on the category and local nuances and what this means for media, particularly across global client requirements
- Support in developing clients business, matching resource to clients’ needs
- Ensure we strictly manage the scope of work to keep a lean and prioritised output
- Ensure all new clients are on-boarded smoothly, contracts and FTEs negotiated and record keeping/finance set up done properly
- Track and find win-win methods of value for the clients and agencies business
- Ensure margins are protected, clients business plans are clear and our agencies goals for cross-sell and upsell opportunities are well managed
Planning
- Understand and communicate the role of your channel strategies against delivery of core client KPIs
- Full understanding of key platform capabilities (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, etc) and an ability to talk independently about opportunities in client meetings and with team
- Recommend the latest media solutions, testing approaches, guide roadmaps and work closely with activation specialist teams
- Demonstrate an understanding of the media and technology developments that influence performance planning and clients business
- Inform clients of innovative opportunities as soon as they are in market and what it means for their business
- Quality control of the agencies output
- Working with Head of Department, manage forecasting, budgeting, finance controls
- Ensure excellent relationships with other agency partners and with media owners to enable quick turn around and a supportive environment for getting ‘work out the door’
Team Management
- Work with the Head of Department and Client Partner to optimise team revenue and profitability through effective management of financial processes and scopes of work
- Be a role model for people, displaying excellence in client servicing and the Paid Social planning process and rigour
- Ensure your team is adhering to all processes within the department and where new processes need to be developed to ensure greater account efficiency – identify improvements and work with other Business Directors and colleagues to implement
- Ensure a positive, collaborative and productive team environment
Internal
- Work closely with HR/Talent and Operations to ensure smooth onboarding and exit process, succession planning and training is executed
- Lead and contribute to department projects to help develop the Paid Social product
- Lead a team that develop various initiatives in support of a positive agency culture such as social events, charitable initiatives, office décor and wellness
- Participate in internal training, projects and agency initiatives, leading by example
- Understand the function and value of the other departments within the agency and Publicis
- Proactively work with internal teams to build client solutions
- Work on new business pitches from start to finish with the support of a team
Qualifications
- Extensive experience and a strong understanding across Paid Social channels
- Comprehensive understanding of the wider digital marketplace, inclusive of ad-tech solutions
- Extensive experience of managing teams
- Strong presentation, strategy and storytelling skills
- Proven record of driving value for clients and a strong demonstration of commercial understanding
Additional information
Sparkhas fantastic benefits on offer to all of our employees. In addition to the classics, Pension, Life Assurance, Private Medical and Income Protection Plans we also offer;
- WORK YOUR WORLD: opportunity to work anywhere in the world, where there is a Publicis office, for up to 6 weeks a year.
- REFLECTION DAYS: Two additional days of paid leave to step away from your usual day-to-day work and create time to focus on your well-being and self-care.
- HELP@HAND BENEFITS: 24/7 helpline to support you on a personal and professional level. Access to remote GPs, mental health support and CBT. Wellbeing content and lifestyle coaching.
- FAMILY FRIENDLY POLICIES: We provide 26 weeks of full pay for the following family milestones: Maternity, Adoption, Surrogacy and Shared Parental Leave.
- FLEXIBLE WORKING, BANK HOLIDAY SWAP&BIRTHDAY DAY OFF: You are entitled to an additional day off for your birthday, from your first day of employment.
- GREAT LOCAL DISCOUNTS: This includes membership discounts with Soho Friends, local restaurants and retailers in Westfield White City and Television Centre.
Full details of our benefits will be shared when you join us!
Publicis Groupe operates a hybrid working pattern with full time employees being office-based three days during the working week.
We are supportive of all candidates and are committed to providing a fair assessment process. If you have any circumstances (such as neurodiversity, physical or mental impairments or a medical condition) that may affect your assessment, please inform your Talent Acquisition Partner. We will discuss possible adjustments to ensure fairness. Rest assured, disclosing this information will not impact your treatment in our process.
Please make sure you check out thePublicis Career Pagewhich showcases our Inclusive Benefits and our EAG’s (Employee Action Groups).
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