Group Strategy Director

3 weeks ago

Chicago, United States DDB Chicago Full time

**About Us**

DDB Chicago is a communications agency dedicated to making creative work that works.

We believe in the power of creativity to create the change we want to happen in the world and develop audacious and famous ideas for our clients that help to grow their businesses and shape culture by driving behavior change at scale.

We are a global network of agencies who believe firmly in respect, kindness, openness, self-expression, and creativity, making spaces for the lived and learned experiences of all our people, and helping them to be the best they can be. We are intellectually curious about difference, embracing change for the better, and are committed to opposing injustice and constantly challenging the status quo. We are a place packed with the energy and passion to make things happen.

The Group Strategy Director is an expert in building brands that impact culture, drive business and create emotional resonance with consumers. This person is a nimble strategic thinking that "knows enough to be dangerous" about all parts of the marketing mi and specializes in partnering with creatives to create unexpected work that has an outsized impact in the market.

**Responsibilities**

Creativity
- Has an ambition for the brands we lead, and a plan for how to get them there
- Inspires original creative ideas among every team member (creative, account, clients, partner agencies)
- Stays engaged in the crafting and selling of ideas, always finding ways to make the work better and more impactful
- Evangelizes insights and POVs to trigger original creative ideas among every team member in every aspect of a brand's behavior
- Leverages client trust to help take business-appropriate risks and knows where any given assignment fits into overall strategy
- Collaborates with Creative Department to ensure creative product is the highest quality, meets client objectives and leads the category
- Uncovers opportunities to maximize current marketing plans, engage customers in new ways, and increase customer loyalty through integrated communications solutions
- Encourages the exploration of innovative ideas, including non-traditional media options
- Feels as comfortable writing headlines and commenting on directors treatments as they do crafting comms plans and running focus groups
- Develops innovative consumer insight(s) for specific client's brand issue

Productivity
- Makes the strategic choices necessary to give clear and single-minded direction for all of the brand's actions
- Works to keep simplicity and focus over time - always with an eye toward creative output
- Synthesizes large amounts of data into actionable insights
- Always exploring new ways to understand how effective we are, from forming KPIs to working with clients on research and testing approaches
- Able to translate client feedback into actionable creative guidance, in real time
- Develops projects / white papers that improve the quality of the agency's work and publishes these as appropriate

Knowledge & Skills
- Strong understanding (how to use, strength and weakness, etc.) of tools that allow us to understand the effectiveness of our work. Cross-pollinates ideas from new sources including consumer understanding, wider trends and forecasts and internal DDB tools and resources
- Networks with internal experts and industry contacts to keep informed of trends and issues affecting the client's business
- Stays current on as much relevant research as necessary to keep clients' brands and agency's reputation ahead of competitors

Relationships / Communication
- Develops excellent relationships with senior managers within the client organization
- Is the senior strategist in the development, with the client, of long-range brand planning and annual communications plan
- Brings the team together by creating shared thinking about our brands and our consumers
- Provides a POV (verbal and written), which is so persuasive and inspiring, it, can convert a skeptic on the team to an advocate
- Is the advocate for the single-minded strategic idea with all partners
- Delivers compelling presentations and facilitates internal and client meetings

Leadership
- Is equally passionate about "better results" as "better ideas"
- Creates an environment for continuous learning to ever increase the effectiveness of our solutions across all media channels
- Generates a high level of passion among the entire team
- Displays empathy and decisiveness
- Keeps an eye out for good talent, knows what makes a strong DDB employee
- Rewards and motivates people allowing them to step up and encouraging them to lead their own career development
- Leads team to establish appropriate measures of success and criteria for judging performance

**Qualifications**
- 12+ years' experience as strategist on global brands, preferably at creatively driven agencies
- Proven ability to create consensus and strategic direction from multiple opinions
- Reputation for being able to tap into the minds of ot

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