Manager, Planning, Global Client Solutions

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A key player within the One Ford Media team, the Account Manager works closely with Ford’s Media and Marketing function and WPP’s Ford teams to ensure Ford delivers on its brand electrification vision, and that media plays a proactive role in delivering it while maximising short-term sales goals.

The successful candidate will partner with many WPP Media and WPP teams, including media strategy, media planning and activation, analytics and creative, to ensure best-in-class media support across the Ford Business Unit they are responsible for.

• →Be a Ford Business Unit expert, providing education, guidance, business-level knowledge and customised media support for Ford Media functions and stakeholders across the broader WPP group.
• →Support the Business Unit Lead in partnering with the Ford Media client to understand and socialise Business Unit-specific measurement, the usage and relationship of brand and performance media, how to invest successfully in both, and how to evaluate and maximise return against Ford business objectives.
• →Manage stakeholder relationships by aligning Ford EU media campaign frameworks and ensuring regional and local teams are incorporated early in the planning process.
• →Support the operating and engagement models, ensuring effective dissemination of information, continual engagement and collaboration with cross-functional teams, alignment and education between global and international teams, and support the workflows, touchpoints and outputs from the team.
• →Support the management of EU Business Unit media budgets.
• →Identify potential risks and opportunities within existing media plans and programmes over the immediate and long-term horizons.

Delivering client performance

• →Focus on integration to drive integrated strategy and data-driven marketing in line with offline activations and brand goals.
• →Work with the team, enabling them to present media plans and documents incorporating communication goals, recommendations, rationale, ideas and implementation, planning costs, budget splits and KPIs.
• →Collaborate with the team on plans, insights and recommendations.
• →Support the Business Unit Lead in surfacing and sharing insights back to the client, and work with the team to surface optimisation opportunities across media activations, ways of working and collaboration processes.
• →Articulate key drivers and barriers to delivering Ford media targets.
• →Develop an understanding of the Ford business across new cars, used cars, business, aftersales and subscriptions.
• →Support the annual plan for the Business Unit, setting out upcoming campaigns, activities and timeline requirements.

Raising our profile

• →Surface and share great work from the team, internally and externally.
• →Contribute to case studies and points of view, and lead an area of planning expertise to keep the team on top of the latest trends and technology.
• →Develop a clear and concise writing style with confident, persuasive presentation skills.
• →Build and maintain relationships with local client leads.

Inspiring our people

• →Maintain a positive attitude towards all areas of our work, looking for opportunities and solutions in challenges.
• →Play an integral role in fostering a culture of collaboration and best practice within planning and activation teams and beyond.
• →Establish relationships with key clients through QBRs and proactive projects.
• →Maintain strong communication with all team members, especially with increased remote working, and know when to raise issues to prevent escalation.

You will use your own initiative to support the Director, Clients, Global Client Solutions in managing and coordinating workstreams to deliver integrated media campaigns. You will lead by example, supporting an environment where all cross-functional team members have the opportunity to fulfil their potential and deliver exceptional work for our clients.

• Manage the more junior central clients, following clear ways of working and process practices.
• Ensure Business Unit campaigns are best in class and push the Ford business forward.
• Support the end-to-end client key deliverables for your Business Unit (e.g. quarterly/yearly planning a), working in full collaboration with the central planning teams as one unit.
• Maintain clear, regular contact across the Ford team to surface successes and challenges, so they can be shared or remedied quickly before escalation.

• Supporting teams in delivering excellence in idea creation, client market management, workflow management and deliverable output.
• Informed teams, measured via 360 and informal feedback.
• Client satisfaction via formal and constructive feedback.
• Strong relationships with all key contacts via 360 and informal feedback.
• Involvement in internal projects, including driving team culture.
• Demonstrating the skills and behaviours outlined above, leading by example.
• Quality of work delivered by you and your team, and performance against client objectives.

Attitude

• Ability to create strong partnerships with key stakeholders and, over time, become a trusted advisor who informs decision-making and is happy to give an opinion in ambiguous situations.
• Passion for media planning and strategy, facilitating internal and external teams to deliver remarkable omni-channel programmes.
• Curious about topics and debate around the media and digital industry.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to adapt communication style and navigate roadblocks.
• A team player, excited to learn more about the world of media and the automotive industry.
• Ability to navigate groups and organisations with matrixed and sometimes conflicting perspectives and goals.
• Calm approach to managing urgent deadlines.
• A mindset of continuous development across all disciplines.
• Interest in how creativity and data join to deliver tangible results.

Skills

• Strong media planning and buying experience, ideally local and global.
• Well versed in media planning across channels, with knowledge of connecting digital and offline media.
• Understanding of brand and demand media planning capabilities.
• Confidence in client-facing communication and presentation.
• Data-driven and detail-oriented, questioning received wisdom and suggesting new approaches.
• Confidence in presenting conceptual topics simply and meaningfully, with the ability to transform marketing challenges into solutions.
• Thorough understanding of how digital media supports and integrates with other media channels, both owned and paid.
• Ability to understand and share client briefs with broader teams.