Associate Strategy Director

At Giant Spoon, the Strategy department is central to every project and client partnership. We are the provocateurs of the agency, helping to fuel big, creative ideas with unconventional thinking. We exist to illuminate new ways to see problems, and make ourselves essential through deep knowledge of consumers, technology, and culture.

As an Associate Strategy Director, you will be responsible for setting the strategic vision for the brand and acting as a thought partner to clients across entertainment, retail and other categories. We are seeking individuals with a creative and entrepreneurial drive and excitement to work in a fast-paced environment. The ideal candidate is passionate about technology and culture. But most of all, they are someone who is ready to become a Spoon - to give a damn, try anything, and enjoy the people they are working with.

This role will be working out of our LA office on Tuesdays.

Responsibilities

• Act as the custodian of two key AOR brands, with a passion for understanding, translating and expanding the prominence and cultural impact of those brands.
• Proactively find opportunities for your brands to create strategic output.
• Design, implement, synthesize, interpret and transform research into actionable insights from multiple primary and secondary sources, including qualitative and quantitative research, and audience and social media market research tools (e.g. Simmons, GWI, Brandwatch and Affinio).
• Understand the difference between a fact and an insight, and be able to craft concise and compelling presentations and strategic narratives of insights and creative thought starters.
• Develop strategic brand approaches for clients that are based on a deep understanding of culture, category dynamics, brand DNA and audience behavior, and deliver on business goals and objectives.
• Write strong, concise creative briefs that solve business problems and inspire creative brand and integrated experiences with measurable results.
• Lead the implementation and execution of strategy, including managing day-to-day client needs across multiple projects and new business pitches, and throughout creative development (from ideation to execution).
• Ideate and implement effective approaches to measuring and reporting campaign effectiveness, optimizing to adapt to client, market and campaign changes.
• Collaborate across offices and account, media and creative departments throughout various phases of a project, to develop creative brand and integrated campaigns.
• Deliver presentations to internal teams, senior management, clients and agency partners that clearly communicate and sell in strategy .
• Monitor industry, emerging tech and sociocultural trends, identifying new growth opportunities for a client’s business .
• Mentor and guide junior strategists and interns, supporting their professional development and strategic outputs.

Requirements

• 6+ years of experience as a brand strategist at a creative advertising agency or in a comparable environment
• Ability to lead meetings and work directly with senior management and clients, developing relationships that progress strategy and client business 
• Experience designing, implementing and mining research, data and market research tools for actionable insights that inspire effective creative brand and integrated campaigns 
• Demonstrated ability to craft essential brand and communications campaign elements, including brand purpose, brand positioning, communication frameworks, and campaign and social media messaging
• Excellent creative brief writing, presentation, deck creation and storytelling skills 
• Advanced writing ability with exceptional attention to detail when telling a story
• Ability to effectively prioritize tasks and be resourceful, flexible and quick to adapt in a fast-paced environment
• Creative and entrepreneurial drive with a passion for coming up with big ideas
• Ability to foster trusting relationships with teammates and clients
• Open to receiving and providing thoughtful feedback
• Strong appetite for cultural information, whether a subculture of people, emerging platforms, social media content and trends, pop culture and everything in between
• Digitally connected and passionate about technology and innovation with an insatiable curiosity for how it applies to our industry
• Familiarity with Google Suite, Slack and Microsoft Office

The anticipated annual salary range for this position is $115,000 - $150,000. Salary is determined based on a wide range of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, job duties, and geographic location. For this role, we also offer programs such as medical/dental/vision insurance, 401(k) matching, paid time off, and various other benefits and perks.