Senior Account Planner

Our client an Advertising Agency in Chicago is seeking a Senior Account Planner who is responsible for the consumer relevance of the brand communication strategy and execution.  Acting in concert with a team that includes clients, account managers, media planners and creatives, the account planner takes a lead role in formulating consumer driven creative briefs – documents that help the copywriters and art directors with the message, style and tone of the campaign.  To do this the account planner will analyze consumer data and conduct primary research with a trained eye for those insights that spark the creative process.

The Senior Account Planner will also be actively involved throughout the creative process, helping the agency arrive at the most powerful work by using consumers as a sounding board for ideas.  This stage requires highly developed interpretive skills as they are on the front line conducting and analyzing what people say about the work.The Senior Account Planner must also take primary responsibility for evaluating the effects of the campaign in the marketplace.  This requires superimposing sales and share data with consumer research tracking brand saliency and image over time.


Previous experience should involve work with consumer research including working with suppliers to establish methodologies, conducting consumer interviews and moderating focus groups.  Previous experience may also include involve experience with new product development and launch.  Some of this experience can be on the client side with a Fortune 500 company.


Specifications to this Opportunity:  The Sr. Account Planner will play a key role; partnering with the Account, Creative, Events & Promotions and Media teams to develop strategically driven, creative work against Urban and African-American consumer audiences. This person will be able to communicate effectively within inter-agency groups and act as the voice of the consumer within the agency.


Search CriteriaExperience developing consumer strategies for Youth/Urban/African American/Multi-Cultural target audiences
Ability to analyze a range of information including market data and qualitative research with enough detail to develop a comprehensive understanding of consumer behaviors; leading to consumer advertising strategies.
Qualitative and quantitative research experience with an ability to design research projects and methodologies, write and edit proposals, screeners and discussion guides, and interpret the data. This includes experience managing outside research organizations using qualitative methods such as focus group discussions and structured interviews.
Able to reconcile the differences between target consumers' current perceptions of the brand and the current focus of sale or brand positioning.
Experience monitoring cultural and social trends and their impact on consumers' attitudes, behavior and perceptions, using a variety of market and research data.
Interest in understanding the product and category, which may involve gaining technical or specific knowledge
Ability to function in a collaborative work environment, partnering with Sr. Account Managers and Creatives to develop novel approaches to communicating with the target
Provide the creative team with clearly defined briefs that contains concise information on the product, audience and strategy enabling them to develop creative that can be applied to a variety of media vehicles
Ability to present conclusions and ideas to clients and other agency staffMust willing travel

QUALIFICATIONS:


A thorough understanding of the discipline of brand planning


The ability to reconcile product truths and consumer truths that lead to copy strategy/ brand positioning.


Experience with insights into the African-American consumer, Youth and Urban markets is essential.


Experience working on automotive accounts is a plus.

Bachelor’s degree (B.A. or B.S.) from a four-year college or university required; advanced education qualifications a plus.

A minimum of 5 years experience as an account planner; targeted marketing or general market advertising agency experience preferred.

The selection process will require recent writing samples; examples include presentation decks and Agency POV’s.