Programmatic Associate Director, London

Publicis Groupe, known for its world-renowned creativity, best in class technology, digital and consulting expertise, is the world’s third largest communications group in the world. With more than 80,000 people in over 100 countries, the Groupe has four Solution hubs: Creative with Publicis Communications, Media with Publicis Media, Digital business transformation with Publicis.Sapient, and Health & Wellbeing with Publicis Health.

Adobe are one of the largest and most diversified software companies in the world. Adobe empowers everyone — from individuals and small businesses to government agencies and global brands — to design and deliver exceptional digital experiences. Headquartered in San Jose, California, and with a diverse global population of more than 26,000 employees, they achieved revenue of US$19.4 billion in fiscal year 2023. Adobe have three major product lines; Creative Cloud to unleash creativity, including famous apps such as Photoshop, Document Cloud to accelerate document productivity, including Adobe Acrobat, and Experience Cloud to power digital businesses, including Adobe Analytics. Adobe have been at the forefront of digital technology for over 40 years and continue to see rapid sales growth.

They are an exciting, dynamic company with a respectful internal culture based on their four key values: Genuine, Innovative, Exceptional & Involved. From a marketing perspective, Adobe are one of the most sophisticated digital marketing businesses in the world. Their activity is split between upper funnel and performance budgets and they invest circa ~$160mill in media in EMEA alone. This model, with a country led approach, is called the “Power of One” and gathers all the capabilities of the Groupe under one roof, putting clients at the core of the organisation.

About Adobe.PUB....

In March 2023, Publicis Media won the Adobe business for Europe, APAC, and Japan. We have established the Adobe.pub team to act as a seamless extension of the Adobe marketing team. Adobe.pub sits within the Zenith Global team and benefits from the opportunity, infrastructure and culture of one of the best international agencies in London.

The EMEA team, which has 70 members spread across London and India, covers all EMEA activity, from establishing strategy to media planning, activating media across digital channels, and reporting on campaign results. We handle both performance and upper funnel activity and are dedicated to creating full-funnel strategies to maximise Adobe's digital engagement. 

About the role....

We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Associate Director to lead the programmatic strategy for our biggest billing client, Adobe. This role requires an analytical and strategic thinker who can thrive under pressure, deliver revenue-based and goal-based KPIs, and work seamlessly with a highly technical and engaged client team. The ideal candidate will possess a deep understanding of the programmatic ecosystem and exhibit strong leadership and innovation in biddable media.

About the work...

• Team Leadership: Lead a team of 4 programmatic experts across the UK and India. Provide guidance, training, and career development opportunities for team members
• Client Engagement: Serve as the primary point of contact for programmatic strategy and recommendations. Maintain clear and timely communication with clients to build and grow client confidence
• Strategic Development: Design and implement strategic plans for branding and direct response campaigns. Utilize advanced knowledge of programmatic supply ecosystems and best practices.
• Performance Management: Drive performance through innovative solutions and in-depth performance tests. Develop and execute cookie-less strategies and client CRM segmentations
• Process Optimization: Develop and implement efficient standard processes across the team to streamline tasks and enhance effectiveness
• Thought Leadership: Deliver thought leadership and POVs across industry topics, sharing insights with the wider agency. Lead working groups to explore new possibilities and identify testing opportunities
• Accountability: Take responsibility for all team outputs, ensuring high-quality work and client satisfaction. Develop and grow client relationships to increase agency responsibilities

On a day-to-day basis you will:

• Lead the programmatic team, ensuring goals are met and team capabilities are continuously enhanced
• Act as the main client contact for programmatic strategy, providing best-in-class tech recommendations
• Conduct one-on-one career development catch-ups with direct reports and manage the appraisal process
• Champion best practices, increasing team efficiency and effectiveness
• Explore new possibilities in programmatic advertising through working groups and testing frameworks
• Share thought leadership and industry insights with the wider agency to foster a culture of continuous learning

What you need to succeed.... 

• Experience: Previous Programmatic experience as a Senior Account Manager or Associate Director looking to work on a big budget high profile account 
• Analytical Expertise: You need to be a very analytical person and know your numbers at all times. Be able to be challenged and work well under pressure
• Direct Response Experience: Have worked in a direct response capacity before, with a high record of delivering revenue-based and goal-based KPIs as clients have very strict goals
• Campaign Experience: Have years of experience in both branding campaigns and direct response campaigns
• Measurement & Attribution Knowledge: Be very knowledgeable about how measurement works, how attribution works, and how multi-touch attribution platforms function
• Programmatic Leadership: Be a programmatic lead that has worked on huge clients before. Be very knowledgeable and able to design in-depth performance tests
• Cookie-less Ecosystem: Understand the cookie-less ecosystem and be able to create recommendations for a cookie-less roadmap.
• Client CRM Segments: Understand how to work with client CRM segments
• Proactive & Self-Starter: Has to be a proactive individual and a self-starter
• Technical Skills: Experience planning, managing, and activating a high volume of campaigns for programmatic across different DSPs – DV360, TTD, Yahoo, and Amazon
• Regional Knowledge: Advanced knowledge of the programmatic supply ecosystem and best in breed strategies and partners across EMEA
• Team Management: Experience managing a team of 4+ people: hiring and developing talent, training, conducting appraisals, as well as performance management
• Leadership & Communication: Strong leadership and communication skills, with the ability to engage with senior clients.
• Innovation: Demonstrable examples of driving innovation in biddable media
• Solution Driven: Be solution-driven and innovative in driving performance for accounts
• Strategic & Commercially Minded: Be strategic and commercially minded in planning goals for teams and shaping biddable strategies.
• Digital Knowledge: Good knowledge of all digital elements to fully understand digital – Paid Social, Programmatic, Remarketing, Video, etc.

Publicis Groupe operates a hybrid working pattern with employees being office-based on Mondays and two other days during the working week.

If you have any adjustment needs arising from a disability or medical condition to fully participate in the recruitment process, please discuss this with the recruiter who contacts you.

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