Planning Lead

About MARS
Mars is a multinational company with 3 major business segments: Mars Wrigley Confectionery, Petcare, and Food.
Mars Wrigley is the world’s leading manufacturer of chocolate (including Snickers, Galaxy, and M&Ms) chewing gum (Extra), mints, and fruity confections (Skittles), whilst Mars Pet Nutrition boasts some of the world’s best-known & loved Pet food brands – including Pedigree, Whiskas, Sheba, Cesar, and Dreamies.
EssenceMediacom has worked with Mars for many years in many key markets and we have a very strong relationship with them – we work very closely not just with the Mars Communication & Marketing teams in Europe but across their total business. One of Mars’ key pillars is ‘Mutuality’ which is reflected in the way they work with EssenceMediacom as the agency partner.
We are very proud of the work we have done with Mars in driving growth for their brands and this has been recognised with a host of awards - including Media Week, Campaign, and Cannes. We believe these awards are a testament to how closely we work with Mars and our integrated approach, both within EssenceMediacom and working in partnership with other agencies.
Mars is embarking upon a transformation of their communications, moving away from their legacy model of mass-reach broadcast-led marketing. Future growth will be driven through a sophisticated understanding of audiences, their growth potential, and the ability of content and communications to target audiences at different stages of their consumer journey with relevant messaging in service of driving outcomes.

• Accelerating transformation to an intelligent reach model
  • Reinventing Reach
  • Connecting at meaningfully personal moments
  • Proven growth through integrated brand experiences (brand through to D-Commerce)
• Establishing actionable 1PD framework
• Deploying agile content model
• Driving performance through the funnel
• Continued pressure on reach-based media pricing to drive efficiency or re-deploy

Role Description
This role is for the Planning lead in the MW EU regional team based in London, connecting to and working with blueprint markets of the UK, Germany, France, Poland, and the Netherlands.
This regional team delivers

• Strong Media Leadership - execute the full regional agenda for media and deliver regional ambitions for growth

• Transformation Acceleration – driving the transformation agenda across addressable, biddable, and Integrated brand experiences across the region
• End to End Strategy & Planning – providing close partnership to regional brand leads at Mars across the end-to-end process, from strategy through to optimisation. Building regional strategies for some of the biggest brands in the world – Mars, Snickers, Galaxy, Extra

The core focus of this role is to lead a team of planners, across media and content, to develop regional strategies for MW’s biggest brands. Delivering insight fuelled, data driven brand experiences with audience planning at the heart of them
In this role you will:

• Support regional teams with Opportunity Analysis, working with markets to develop regional strategy fueled by local intelligence
• Support Brand Growth Strategy, providing clear & aligned direction for markets to act upon
• Develop campaign media strategy, working closely with agency partners
• Work with specialist leads to develop a biddable & addressable campaign strategy
• Work with media and content leads and agency partners to develop Content Handbooks + Toolkits

To be successful you will:

• Opinionated expert on audience and market issues.
• Experience in media transformation
• Have a proven track record in collaborative relationships
• Success in developing winning campaigns and innovative media ideas
• Success in getting the best out of the people you manage

You will have a team of 5 planners and you will work alongside the EU client lead and EU Strat lead to deliver excellence and accelerate transformation in media for Mars through brilliant regional strategies
Essential Skills, Knowledge, and Experience:
Experienced Media Planner

• Proven communication planning skills, leading the development of media strategies & plans
• Strong understanding of the CPG category, media behaviours, and landscape

Persuasive Communicator

• You have good communication skills, the ability to build strong relationships with clients and networks, strong at presenting

Insightful analytical thinker with attention to detail

• Good at handling data and extracting learnings

Experienced at working with a diverse team

• Collaborative, able to work with a team and inspire, guide and manage the output

High energy and driven

• Committed and passionate about what you do!
• Striving to work on industry-leading campaigns

What we can offer you.

• 
  Company pension scheme
• Private medical insurance
• 25 days holiday (increases with length of service)
• Life assurance
• Permanent health insurance
• WPP share options scheme
• Discretionary bonus scheme
• Free eyecare vouchers and money off glasses
• Extensive training and development
• Corporate gym memberships
• Cycle to work scheme
• Interest free travel loan
• Free breakfast (cereal and fruit)
• Smart shopper (online discount on a variety of products)

Sounds good? We’d love to hear from you!
About EssenceMediacom

We are a global communications agency leading with breakthrough thinking, building explosive growth for brands, and helping our clients see the bigger picture. Our daring global network of 10,000 influencers help our clients breach traditional boundaries in media, uncover novel ideas, and unleash exponential growth. EssenceMediacom challenges conventional thinking to build, propel, and supercharge our clients’ businesses at scale and lead our industry in critical areas such as diversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability.

EssenceMediacom understands that our people are tasked with big goals: building breakthrough growth for brands and leading with breakthrough thinking in our industry. Our people are at the heart of this work because their ideas will enable us to decode the intersections of people, content, and technology to bring our aspirations to life. Our success is down to our eclectic, diverse, and talented people. EssenceMediacom is a place for us to grow our careers and expand our horizons. EssenceMediacom is committed to building an agency culture that supports our people, puts diversity at the forefront of our operations, and creates opportunity for all. This collective culture will be our “new power” where ideas are freely exchanged, and collaboration is actively encouraged in a place where you can innovate in our hyperconnected world.

*Although we cannot make guarantees, we welcome conversations about flexible working for all roles at EssenceMediacom London*