Director, Planning

<div class="content-intro"><p><strong>About WPP Media</strong></p> <p>WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth. </p> <p>WPP Media is WPP's AI-driven media operating unit, bringing together media, data, and partnerships to deliver creative personalisation at scale. Connected through WPP Open and powered by Open Intelligence, clients see exactly where, how, and why their media investment is working.</p> <p>For more information, visit <a href="wppmedia.com">wppmedia.com</a>.</p></div><p><strong>3048 - Director, Planning, UK</strong></p> <p><strong>Role Summary and Impact</strong></p> <p>EssenceMediacom, part of WPP, is a new breed of media agency. Grounded in analytics &amp; insights and powered by data &amp; technology, we believe in the power of media and creative to drive breakthroughs for the world’s best brands. We help clients understand the modern marketing paradox and discover the breakthroughs brands need to win with their consumers. We are designed for the new communications economy — built on data &amp; technology, built for people &amp; algorithms, built around diverse schools of thought, built to test &amp; learn at scale, and, crucially, built to evolve.</p> <p><strong>The Role:</strong></p> <p>In this role you will work across the EE/BT consumer account, focusing on EE’s brand activity across a variety of products including Mobile, Broadband, TV and Gaming, as well as Masterbrand.</p> <p><strong>Position/Title: Business Director - Brand</strong></p> <p>We’re looking for a highly experienced, smart planner who loves both new ideas and the craft.&nbsp; EE/BT is one of the biggest advertisers in the UK, so our benchmark is not work that’s merely good enough - it has to be great.</p> <p><strong>Practice Summary:</strong></p> <p>As planners we’re the conductors of the orchestra that is paid [and beyond] media.&nbsp; We work collaboratively with Strategy and Activation to ensure our approach is fully integrated across POES.&nbsp; We search for insight and intelligence so that we can build innovative media plans, owning the process and incorporating cross-channel budget allocation, in-flight cross-channel optimisation, reporting and post-campaign analysis. We are our clients’ key contacts for a unified view across all aspects of their campaigns.</p> <p><strong>Position Summary:</strong></p> <p>The Business Director will oversee media campaigns with support from more junior planners and assist the Client Lead in ensuring our work is delivered to the highest quality. They will be responsible for elevating our agency's strategic planning function through a robust, data-first approach. This role is key to integrating advanced analytical capabilities with creative strategic development, ensuring our recommendations are always evidence-based and ahead of the curve. They will demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the overall media landscape and available research, using these to inform and communicate planning recommendations. The Business Director has oversight and responsibility for the day-to-day management of media plans, working to fulfill the client’s media strategy in the context of changing market conditions. They are responsible for ensuring investment is optimal to deliver campaign objectives, via effective planning.</p> <p><strong>Our clients:</strong></p> <p>We work across the EE/BT group.&nbsp; Although their public faces are very different, the two brands are managed very closely together.&nbsp; They’re one of the nation’s biggest spenders, and some of our most-loved brands.&nbsp; They are genuinely important to the nation with their creation and management of the UK’s connectivity networks, and we reflect that importance with how we try to help consumers and give them useful solutions in a modern world.</p> <p><strong>Our team:</strong></p> <p>Team Connect is a very big team that is 100% allocated to EE, BT and Plusnet.&nbsp; A successful candidate can expect to work on multiple aspects of these brands. This includes broadband, mobile, TV, as well as Masterbrand. This role is purely Brand focused but will involve close collaboration with Performance planners.</p> <p><strong>Skills and Experience:</strong></p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong><strong>Essential Functions/Responsibilities</strong></p> <ul> <li>Maintain fantastic relationships with key clients in media and marketing teams.</li> <li>Ensure the delivery of high-quality response presentations, actionable weekly reporting, insightful post campaign analyses and clear briefs to Activation.</li> <li>Deliver clear and compelling rationale to support media investment recommendations and to evidence campaign performance versus expected outcomes.</li> <li>Spearhead the integration of data analytics and insights into the core of our strategic planning processes, ensuring data is used proactively and upfront in all client engagements and internal initiatives.</li> <li>Accelerate AI adoption and transformation across the team, ensuring we are regularly sharing work and that clients see the tangible benefits of WPP Open.</li> <li>Take a lead role in developing and presenting best-in-class Strategic Response to Briefs (RTBs).</li> <li>Support ADs in delivering Media Detail RTBs and in briefing Activation teams.</li> <li>Work closely with the Head of Strategy &amp; Planning on wider cross-portfolio strategic workstreams.</li> <li>Oversee and quality assure all deliverables produced by junior team members.</li> <li>Work with Activation and Analytics in the delivery and measurement of plans.</li> <li>Take responsibility for the performance of assigned media budgets against intended outcomes.</li> <li>Be a point of escalation for team issues (within and outside the team).</li> <li>Contribute to internal thought leadership and team process/workflow enhancement, to increase work quality and efficiency.</li> <li>Line-manage 3 direct reports (AD, AM, SAE), supporting their career development and driving job satisfaction.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Competencies (specific knowledge, skills and abilities)</strong></p> <ul> <li>Advanced knowledge of media landscape, media metric calculations and measurement techniques.</li> <li>Thorough understanding of industry standard media research tools (ComScore, Touchpoints, TGI, YouGov).</li> <li>Demonstrable expertise in understanding, interpreting, and applying various data sources (e.g., market research, digital analytics, social listening, econometrics, CRM data, first-party data).</li> <li>Deep understanding of current market trends, consumer behaviour, and the evolving media landscape.</li> <li>Superb client relationship and management skills.</li> <li>Outstanding verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to translate complex data and insights into clear, compelling narratives for diverse audiences. (internal teams, clients, senior leadership).</li> <li>Highly collaborative, comfortable working cross-functiona