Senior Account Manager, London

About Our Agency:

As Leo Burnett himself once said: “At the end of the day, we’re just people talking to people.”

And that sums up how we think. We never forget that on the other side of every screen, watching every ad or reading every tweet are people. Not just pairs of eyes with credit cards. But human beings, who want to be entertained, engaged and listened to.

At Leo Burnett we like to make the good stuff in life accessible to everyone. It’s our agency’s big shiny North Star, guiding everything from our work and how we build our culture, to the values we uphold and the initiatives we implement to improve Diversity Equity & Inclusion.

We believe in the power of a strong culture that puts people and creativity at the heart of everything we do. Our incredible team is made up of some of the most passionate and creative minds in the industry, and you’ll be hard pushed to find a more genuinely friendly bunch. We’ve created an informal atmosphere where everyone is invited to share their ideas and thrive. And that way of working. Well, it’s working. We’re proud to say that our staff survey shows record happiness scores over the last 12 months.

We are an open, down to earth and friendly bunch who are always on the lookout for passionate and curious people to join our gang.

It’s never been more important to us to reflect the wonderful mix of people who consume our advertising, which is why when it comes to improving Diversity Equity & Inclusion we’re not just talking the talk, we’re walking the walk. Our internal group D&I Allies at Leo’s (DIAL) was formed to help us make and track progress against our commitment to DE&I. DIAL spearheads policies, processes and initiatives to actively advance positive change.

Furthermore, in 2022 we created The Everyone Way, a process designed to embed positive DE&I practices into the creative process with our clients, working alongside DE&I consultancies The Unmistakables and The Diversity Standards Collective.

We also support industry-wide initiatives such as Unstereotype Alliance, Free the Work, Just Runners, WACL and Bloom to name a few.

It’s our distinctive approach, combined with our passion for populist creativity and relentless pursuit of excellence that makes Leo Burnett such a uniquely special and enjoyable place to work.

What You’ll Be Doing:

We’re looking for a Senior Account Manager to join our team at Leo Burnett.

Specific, we’ll need your help with:

• End to end development and delivery of big, TTL campaigns
• Expanding and pushing our work to channels and formats; social, content, activation, tactical/cultural
• Owning the day to day detail and client relationships, with direct counterparts and stretching up to seniors (as appropriate)
• Managing and supporting junior members of the team in their work and development
• Overseeing production costs and fees across your workstreams

What Skills We’re After:

Creative

• Passionately care about great creative work. Identifying great work and articulating why
• Demonstrate good creative judgement and voice your opinion within creative conversations, including internal creative reviews
• Understand the difference between idea and execution
• Understand and interpret client feedback
• Provide inspiration during creative briefings with relevant references.
• Support creative presentations, by preparing all the stimulus to build the most compelling creative “sell” meeting for the clients
• Have an understanding of the overall process for production across different channels. Working with AMs and Producers to be able to create project timing and keep these up to date throughout the project
• Read trade publications and keep a finger on the pulse of new exciting work both in and out of category

Culture

• Develop relationships internally with key point people in all departments and within your team. Have an infectious can-do attitude, which makes people want to come to you as they know you approach all tasks with a positive attitude
• Have outstanding organisational skills, meaning you are always on the front foot with key information to hand
• Ensure all your communications/interactions are clear, concise and action orientated
• Be curious and constantly seeking to learn
• Demonstrate clear communication and listening skills
• Manage your workload effectively and efficiently

Commercial

• Share key commercial data and business information with your wider team
• Deliver all tasks on the deadline OR flag where this is not possible to line managers in advance
• Begin to demonstrate an understanding of the client and Leo’s commercial landscape
• Demonstrate a strong sense of commercial responsibility - understanding the importance of POs and billing
• Learn to treat client and agency money as if your own
• Support pitch teams with financial administration - helping to track and protect costs

Client

• Represent the Agency in a professional manner at all times, with clients and external partners
• Understand the landscape your client is operating in and the impact that has on their communication strategy as well as understanding their target audience, their relationship with the client’s brand and how this impacts messaging within a campaign
• Articulate the different brand positions for your client’s key competitors
• Constantly consider the small details of each client interaction, to ensure Leo’s is always striving for a better working environment
• Practice front-foot account management, planning ahead, knowing your timings inside out, knowing the team’s movements and planning around these commitments to ensure smooth project delivery
• Develop strong relationships with all client contacts
• Have excellent attention to detail. Making it your mission to know the clients brand guidelines inside and out, ensuring all presentations are delivered to the correct standard
• Support new business pitch teams with a can-do and proactive attitude

What Qualities and Behaviours We’re Looking For

• A desire for great work
• Clear and concise communication style
• A collaborative working style and infectious energy
• Action oriented
• Highly organised with excellent time management
• Passionate about great creative work and good creative judgement.
• Persuasive presentation skills
• High EQ, understanding how to read people and always thinking of others.
• Flexible and adaptable; taking ever-changing circumstances and project demands in your stride, always the picture of calm and control.
• Curious, always seeking to learn from those around them

Leo Burnett has fantastic benefits on offer to all of our employees. In addition to the classics, Pension, Life Assurance, Private Medical and Income Protection Plans we also offer;

• WORK YOUR WORLD opportunity to work anywhere in the world, where there is a Publicis office, for up to 6 weeks a year.
• REFLECTION DAYS - Two additional days of paid leave to step away from your usual day-to-day work and create time to focus on your well-being and self-care.
• HELP@HAND BENEFITS 24/7 helpline to support you on a personal and professional level. Access to remote GPs, mental health support and CBT. Wellbeing content and lifestyle coaching.
• FAMILY FRIENDLY POLICIES We provide 26 weeks of full pay for the following family milestones: Maternity. Adoption, Surrogacy and Shared Parental Leave.
• HYBRID WORKING, BANK HOLIDAY SWAP & BIRTHDAY DAY OFF You are entitled to an additional day off for your birthday.
• AGENCY DISCOUNTS, onsite gym, and discount in our Publicis-Owned Pub – “The Pregnant Man”

Full details of our benefits will be shared when you join us

Publicis Groupe operates a hybrid working pattern with full time employees being office-based three days during the working week. 

We are supportive of all candidates and are committed to providing a fair assessment process. If you have any circumstances (such as neurodiversity, physical or mental impairments or a medical condition) that may affect your assessment, please inform your Talent Acquisition Partner. We will discuss possible adjustments to ensure fairness. Rest assured, disclosing this information will not impact your treatment in our process.

Please make sure you check out the Publicis Career Page which showcases our Inclusive Benefits and our EAG’s (Employee Action Groups).

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