Director, Brand Strategy

Reset your expectations of a health and wellness agency. From our inception, Fingerpaint has been driven by an unstoppable collective spirit of possibility. It’s that curiosity that’s at the heart of everything we do. From our legendary people-first culture to the hundreds of Fingerpainters who define us, we’ve reimagined what it means to be a healthcare and wellness advertising agency. Here, creativity happens naturally—we attract top talent and give them a space to grow and collaborate.

Objectives of This Role: 

We’re looking for a big-idea, original-thinker brand strategist who can encourage clients (and internal account and creative teams) to improve strategic outputs, question assumptions, and reshape assignments into category-challenging propositions to create unique brand experiences. We’re seeking someone who can act as a catalyst to move brands forward and devise innovative ways to engage customers.

In this position you will lead and contribute to new business and ongoing strategic client engagements, developing a deep understanding of the client’s business environment, competitive landscape, brand goals, vision, and strategy. You will regularly lead the charge to identify compelling insights, customer needs, and market opportunities that create a competitive advantage and help drive business for our clients.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Leverage a deep understanding of brand marketing to collaborate on the successful building of effective, innovative brand strategies across multiple channels
• Initiate brand strategy discussions and subsequent market research initiatives to identify market needs and create and exploit brand opportunities
• A strong passion for people and the desire to uncover key customer/market insights as the basis for strategies and communication, which change perceptions and influence behavior to create a competitive advantage
• The ability (and desire) to think big across a wide range of strategic opportunities, from launch planning to the evolution of long-standing platforms
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary team members in the development and presentation of integrated, innovative, strategic marketing solutions
• Create dynamic and compelling presentations that deliver new thinking, bring audiences along for your ride, and create “yes, and” moments
• Ability to produce clear and concise written documents (proposals, strategic rationales, point-of-view statements, case studies, discussion guides, etc)
• Follow trends and innovations to impact integrated communication strategies (eg, media, digital, research, etc) in relation to category, customer, competitor, and brand health dynamics
• Partner with other strategic disciplines on projects or assignments as appropriate
• Take on increasing levels of responsibility as it relates to business development
• Collaborate with clients/team in research design and stimuli development, participate in ongoing research, and provide strategic point of view via reporting
• Lead/direct secondary research/audits to gather insights and inform strategy in relation to category, customer, competitor, and brand health dynamics
• Responsible for managing and developing team members
• Lead annual brand planning efforts for assigned client(s)—proactively work to expand agency role, presence, and contribution as key partner
• Lead development/presentation of strategy deliverables, including brand platform, positioning, manifestos, and team briefings
• Identify opportunities to expand the strategic remit and develop/sell in additional strategy deliverables and workshops
• Act as brand steward, representing the customer and brand’s voice in all engagements
• Lead team ideation sessions and lead the development, moderation, and reporting of strategy workshops
• Lead pitch activities, including presentation and team collaboration

Know-how?

• Entrepreneurial “can do” attitude and a relentless passion for collaboration and innovation
• Demonstrated expertise for uncovering insights and leveraging them to achieve marketing objectives
• The ability to translate clients’ goals and objectives into actionable and measurable marketing recommendations
• Knowledge of marketing/advertising mix (interactive, sales support, traditional, broadcast, experiential, events, etc)

Job Requirements: 

• Bachelor’s degree required. Graduate degree preferred in behavioral sciences, business marketing, and/or advertising
• Must have 7+ years of brand strategy experience, delivering custom marketing solutions within a digital marketing, consulting, and/or advertising agency environment
• Experience in the pharmaceutical and/or medical/healthcare industry is a plus
• Must be able to travel to clients in NJ