Group Strategy Director

About the Role

David Ogilvy famously said: “If each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.”  We’re looking for one of those ‘giants’ to join our family as a Group Strategy Director. The right person will be a progressive thinker who knows how to lead with heart to drive a team culture that helps us be better, think bigger, and go farther in driving growth and impact for our client partners. Leading by example as a partner, a mentor, and a provocative collaborator who thrives at bringing multiple disciplines together in service of crafting outstanding, effective ideas.

What You’ll Do

• Be a natural born leader. This is a heavily C-Suite facing role as well as active orchestrator between multiple disciplines beyond strategy.
• Steer the creation of culturally sound brand strategies across a portfolio of brands throughout the journey from end to end.
• Have a natural vision to elevate the brand’s ambition in ways that allow us to bring proactive ideas to clients that push the brands into new spaces.
• Champion the work by having a deep understanding of the client business and what makes it tick.
• Have the courage to tap into the unparalleled interplay among cultures taking place, thinking beyond the brand’s world today and combining new ways to expand it.
• Have the ability to bring the rigor of research and insight into the early stages of the process as a tool to unlock the full potential of the agency’s strategic and creative power. 
• Have the EQ to manage and mentor a team of Planning Directors, Senior Strategist, Strategists, Ogilvy Associates and interns who are assigned to the Group Strategy Director’s accounts.
• Be an integral part of new business pitches and other growth opportunities.
• Above all, live a culture of working smart, having fun, and putting people first to build an environment that thrives in human excellence.

What You’ll Need

• 12+ years of experience in strategic/brand /creative planning (including experience at creative agencies)

• Experience leading and mentoring other strategists and planners.

• Ability to work directly with clients and develop relationships accordingly on behalf of the agency.

• Rigorous brand building capabilities, without a rigid approach.

• Demonstrated talent for abstract thinking, spotting trends and patterns, an innate curiosity and insight into human behavior, an instinct for popular culture, and a nuanced understanding of creative work are critical.

• A believer in the power of an inspirational briefing.

• Global experience.

• Strong command of most forms of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies and working knowledge of when and how to apply them to a given client challenge.

How We’ll Support You

Ogilvy celebrates its people. Fully. Enthusiastically. Unhesitatingly. We’ll empower you with the tools you’ll need to succeed. We’ll give you the autonomy to seek out new paths and better ways of doing things. We’ll support you with colleagues who are experts in their disciplines, drawn from across the Ogilvy network. And we’ll provide opportunities for you to do work of which you’ll be proud, with people you’ll be proud to call your teammates.

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