We are looking for an outstanding Business Director to join our award-winning sport division.

The role of the Business Director is to develop the entire agency, ensuring that the day-to-day running of the business is as effective as possible, that we deliver strategic and creative work we are proud of and that we continue to grow, both in terms of profitability and agency reputation.

Working as part of the management team you will have a pivotal role in leading the sport team and driving it forward. You will be responsible for nurturing our client portfolio and developing the way in which we operate, to achieve our company’s broader vision.

In addition to the care of direct reports, you are responsible for the overall agency culture, epitomising our philosophy of Brutal Simplicity of Thought, growing and shaping client business through creativity and strategic innovation.

Industry Specialist

Candidates Must

• Have at least eight years’ experience of having delivered innovative, strategic and creative campaigns for big global brands, with a specialism in the sector or sport
• Remain abreast of market trends and provide feedback and suggestions as to how the business can use these to its competitive advantage, staying one step ahead of clients in terms of changes and developments in the industry
• Continue to cultivate and maintain solid relationships with a variety of media, influencers and industry figureheads, leveraging these relationships to support clients and gain insights

Required Experience

• Worked on a variety of creative campaigns and projects demonstrating true leadership
• Multi-channel sponsorship activation expertise including social, digital, experiential, and earned.
• Experience and a passion for all things sport, culture and entertainment
• A working knowledge of global football and the media landscape around it will be a bonus for this role

Commercial Growth

The successful candidate will have a proven record of generating new opportunities through:

• Cultivating a broad network to become aware of any potential new business briefs, ensuring that we are considered for any relevant opportunities
• Organic growth – actively volunteering ideas / solutions as add-on services to increase fee income
• Participating in selling new projects / ideas / solutions to increase fees and ensuring that all additional projects are profitable and well managed
• Creating best in class new business responses, including strategic and creative development

Clients

The successful candidate will:

• Constantly strive to develop and execute creative ideas that will deliver fame for our clients and the agency, constantly exceeding expectations
• Remain committed to retaining clients through developing strong relationships with all client contacts, proactively developing the relationship and being a trusted business partner and respected advisor / consultant
• Provide strategic counsel to executive-level clients, based on your understanding of their business, its challenges, competitors and the marketplace

Leadership

• Leading by example, you will exhibit clear and concise thinking that delivers on the promise of Brutal Simplicity of Thought, conveying a passion for success, attention to detail and outstanding professionalism always
• We are looking for someone to inspire and empower our team, nurturing our talent to safeguard the evolution of our work, so we can continue to drive the industry forward

We have an exciting opportunity for a hungry and enthusiastic Senior Account Executive. Your role will be to provide a strong foundation for our account teams and ensure that campaigns are run as efficiently and professionally as possible. As a Senior Account Executive, you are the key support on the account, responsible for assisting the AM’s and AD’s throughout daily tasks. That said, we operate a relatively flat structure within the agency, so you will be included in a variety of meetings / events and given the chance to contribute creative ideas and experience the many different things that our industry has to offer. The successful candidate will have a proactive and diligent approach as well as previous agency experience.

 Approach:

• Be a dedicated, positive and enthusiastic team member
• Proactively support more senior members of the team and have a sense of responsibility and accountability for your work
• Immerse yourself in accounts, showing a keenness to learn and passion for the business
• Go above and beyond to demonstrate your commitment to the accounts and to push yourself toward new achievements

Administrative Work:

• Take ownership of essential administrative tasks and deliver them to a high standard
• Take initiative with managing the day-to-day team administration (e.g. status docs printed before calls, all docs from clients saved on the system, meeting rooms booked etc.)
• Take responsibility for managing regular account tasks (e.g. reporting, coverage documents, status reports, ensuring folders are kept well organised etc.)

Creativity and Industry Insight:

• Offer ideas and contribute to brainstorms – show interest and proactivity
• Become immersed in the competitor landscape and creative industry, developing a broad knowledge of the industry outside of your specialism
• Keep your team updated with any brand activity, creative executions, media news and related topics

Marketing and PR:

• Understanding of the role that PR plays for the client’s business and what our deliverables are as an agency
• Accountability for your role within the team structure and understanding what your responsibilities to the client are

Media Management (where relevant):

• Have a strong knowledge of media, especially in relation to the specific needs of your client, and be aware of the importance that media plays in the role of a PR agency
• Build relationships with key media and keep an extensive contacts book – you are encouraged to meet with media for breakfast / lunch / coffee
• Drive editorial coverage and opportunities
• Continually monitor media for all client coverage and articles of interest
• Have a thorough approach to coverage from initial sell in to final delivery
• Take pride in reporting and presenting media coverage
• Manage all media related documents e.g. ringround updates, media lists, forthcoming coverage etc.

Social and Digital:

• Demonstrate a thorough understanding of social media platforms and the digital landscape
• Develop an understanding of emerging technology and its potential use in marketing
• Monitor both client and competitor channels on a regular basis
• Conduct research for client or new business campaigns where appropriate
• Manage the reporting process

Campaign Execution:

• Support your AM’s and AD’s by undertaking essential everyday tasks and responsibilities
• Become experienced in producing essential event and campaign documents alongside your AM’s
• Approach practical tasks with a ‘make it happen’ attitude and explore all routes to deliver requests from your team
• Manage status reports and ensure that they are completed in a regular and timely fashion

Client Services:

• Show genuine interest in your clients’ business
• Respond promptly to client requests – keep the client informed if there is going to be a delay
• Flag anything that may be of interest to your client – competitor activity, news relating to Brand Ambassadors, media insights etc.

We are looking for an outstanding Account Director to join our growing lifestyle division. This exciting and fast paced team is developing a reputation for creating and delivering some of the most culturally relevant and impressive campaigns for brands such as Reebok, Smartwater and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The successful candidate must have a passion for fitness and fashion and will have the opportunity to work on some of the industry’s most exciting campaigns with leading talent and influencers. They must have a thorough knowledge of the social and influencer landscape, be able to suggest the hottest up and coming names and have their finger on the pulse culturally.

Reporting directly to the Head of Lifestyle, you will be responsible for leading global business and ensuring that the work is completed to the highest possible standard and achieves the client’s strategic objectives.

As Account Director, you will also play a key role in the wider business and should have commercial awareness and an understanding of our business and financial objectives.

The right candidate will have:

• Broad awareness of cultural trends across fashion, music and fitness
• Interest in and knowledge of sneaker culture
• Insight into forthcoming trends across fashion and music, including an ear to the ground on up-and-coming artists
• A network of high-level relationships with key fashion and lifestyle media (both UK and global e.g. Hypebeast, Highsnobiety etc.)
• An understanding of the sneaker retailer landscape and the role that PR plays in brand / retailer relations
• Impressive creative skills – constant creative delivery is a key component of the role
• Aptitude for new business

Core responsibilities include:

• Strategic and creative development of client campaigns from conception through to implementation and delivery
• Assuming full responsibility for the accounts, reporting into the Head of Lifestyle
• Drawing from insight into and broad awareness of cultural trends to inform work
• Exemplary client management with the skill to build close client relationships, ensuring that you are viewed as a source of sound strategic, creative and operational advice
• Overseeing and nurturing an account team
• Utilising strong relationships with high-level, relevant media
• You will play a broader role within the company, including seeking and developing new business opportunities

To apply for this role, send a short covering letter and your CV to: brilliantpeople@mcsaatchi.com

M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment is looking for an experienced and multi-disciplined Creative Director. By multi-disciplined we mean someone that hasn’t just worked in advertising, we’re not looking for a ‘creative’ in the most traditional sense of the word.

If you are a Senior Creative or existing Creative Director that wants to make ads and / or have more 60 second TVCs to add to your reel, then that’s great but this this isn’t the job for you.

If, however, you are a creative who is excited by working with brands to influence how consumers think and behave, whether that’s through an experience, a piece of content, a new partnership, an editorial story, an innovative use of technology and so on – then we could be just the place for you. Every idea we have, is created through the lens of earned and shared media therefore we challenge every idea with the question ‘why will anyone care about this?’. We find this is a pretty good stress test for whether our ideas have what it takes to create genuine impact.

Have a look at our website to get a feel for what we do. We’ve always been known for our creativity in our space and we want to make sure we remain at the very top of our game. We’re looking for a leader in this space to help us kick on.

Our company ethos above is not meant to sound arrogant. Quite the opposite in fact. We employ confident, smart and engaging people who love what they do. Our clients consistently say how much they love working with us and that’s something we want to protect at all costs. We will do that if we employ the right kind of people delivering the right kind of impactful work. We want to be the type of agency you’d love to have a drink with.

From a Creative Director POV, we’re looking for someone who is as comfortable working with teams to come up with ideas as they are directing, moulding and articulating them.

This is a new role for the business. Ideas are currently created and articulated by the teams. We are not set up like a traditional ad agency with planners, account teams and creatives. We have people that are experts in their field – be that sport, film, music, trend etc. Everyone gets involved in the creative process, but we are looking for someone to really drive that forward and make us impossible to ignore. We have a studio of nine that is made up of two dedicated Creatives, Designers, Editors and Producers. Key part of this role is overseeing their output.

Some specific requirements / skills for the role:

• Recognised by industry leaders and peers for pushing and setting the standard for great creative work i.e. an idea, a design, a product, a service, an experience
• Be a confident storyteller when presenting a body of work, an abstract idea or a concept to peers right through to director-level audiences
• Be able to explain the problem, opportunity, collaborative process, aesthetic, brand, thinking, work / UX / content etc.
• Inspire people around you to innovate, propose new ideas and produce great creative work
• Produce award winning work that is respected externally
• Identify great creative that we should be driving towards
• Taking initiative rather than looking for clarification or permission
• Ability to present an idea and facilitate a meeting to both an internal and external audience with various levels of seniority and with a diverse understanding of the relevant topic
• Be culturally aware and knowledgeable across the worlds of Sport & Entertainment
• Can persuasively tell a story to both clients and internals teams
• Ability to be able to reframe a presentation or idea from the perspective of the target audience
• Ability to lead a small team of Creatives, Designers, Editors and Producers

To apply for this role, send a short covering letter and your CV to: brilliantpeople@mcsaatchi.com