Director, Brand Strategy

Objective:

    •    Maintain strong, lasting client relationships based on progress in achieving client's branding objectives in a manner that results in profit to the Company.

Major Role:
The Director, Brand Strategy leads the day-to-day company efforts on assigned accounts. In this role, the Director, Brand Strategy insures that the Company provides:
    •    Insightful strategic brand counsel
    •    Sound project planning.
    •    Proper and innovative execution of work in all areas.
    •    A consistently superior end product.

Major Contacts
The Director, Brand Strategy's position requires ongoing and in-depth interaction with the following:

1.    Internal: The Director, Brand Strategy reports to the Principal, Client Leadership. As assigned, the Director, Brand Strategy has overall responsibility for leading the client service effort. Within the Company, the Director, Brand Strategy is the leader for the client and works closely with the Brand Strategy and Creative Teams in developing plans, recommendations and outputs.

2.    External: The Director, Brand Strategy will have direct client contact with Company clients.

Major Responsibilities and Duties
The Director, Brand Strategy has two areas of responsibility (specific duties of each are explained below)
1.    Planning, Analyzing, Evaluating
    •    Develop workable budgets, work plans and realistic timetables.
    •    Understands clients marketing and branding challenges.
    •    Collaborates with the Principal, Consulting on preparation of branding recommendations, strategies and actions of the client.
    •    Collaborates with the directors in the Retail and Design groups to provide marketing and strategic direction to ensure that our creative work solves the clients’ marketing and branding challenges

2.    Leading, Coordinating, Managing
    •    Provides strategic leadership with the client on behalf of the Company team and within the Company on behalf of the client.
    •    Prepares all work requests and monitors all budget, research and production activity on assigned accounts and communicates status of each project to appropriate Company and client personnel.
    •    Maintains communications with appropriate Company and client personnel to ensure positive workflow.

Performance Evaluation Criteria
The Director, Brand Strategy is evaluated on the quality of both the Company's output and service, the degree of client satisfaction, and on the level of skills demonstrated in performing the job.

Work Quality. Listed below are the jobs result factor used to evaluating overall Director, Brand Strategy performance. Each is defined in the terms of the key observable and measurable events that indicate the quality of performance.

1. Account Status:
    •    Maintains a positive relationship between the Company and the client.
    •    Meets goals set for the client.
    •    Ensures that the Company output meets agreed - upon objectives and strategies.
    •    Optimizes the Company's productivity.
    •    Optimizes quality of the Company's product
    •    Always keeps ahead of client and account needs.
    •    Internally generates strategic brand recommendations and creative guidelines when judged prudent.

2.    Client Satisfaction:
    •    Receives individual praise for initiative, personal style and work style.
    •    Received client acceptance of proposed plans and recommendations.
    •    Receives timely client approval of the Company's output.
    •    Deals directly with client through client's initiative rather than that of the Company's management.

Skills. The process by which the Director, Brand Strategy accomplishes his/her objectives involves a number of distinct skills and/or abilities, defined below. These skills, and the key observable and measurable behavior associated with each, are listed in order of their relative importance:

1. Perception and Analysis:

    •    The ability to accurately identify the key elements of data or a problem; to understand the implications and impact of data or action on subsequent events; to generate innovative and creative solutions.
    •    Understand the components of marketing and branding strategies and applies them to making decisions.
    •    Recognizes client needs and relates those needs to work plans.
    •    Generates innovative, creative, ideas and solutions.
    •    Identifies and anticipates potential problems and finds alternate solutions.
    •    Recognizes the opportunity to utilize appropriate Company resources.
    •    Recognizes project constraints from both the Company and the client.
    •    Knows when appropriate client or Company management approvals are required.

2. Organizing and Planning:
    •    The ability to establish priorities and objectives, to gather, classify, categorize and readily retrieve information to met deadlines.
    •    Sets up complete and orderly work plans on a timely basis.
    •    Prioritizes job projects and revises plans when required.
    •    Inputs work expeditiously and orders the workflow so that no Company-caused project due date extensions or revisions are required.
    •    Keeps up-to-date on project process, both internally and with the client.
    •    Develops complete project conference and status reports on a timely basis.
    •    Balances the importance of an activity versus the constraints the serve to prevent it from occurring.

3.    Decisiveness:
    •    The ability to take action when called to do so; to maintain a firm and stable position.
    •    Provides timely and constructive reaction and responses to problems and questions.
    •    Maintains a firm position in explaining decisions and/or recommendations
    •    Directs others in a firm, precise manner.
    •    Troubleshoots difficult problems by going to the appropriate source for ready solutions.

4.    Decision - Making:
    •    The ability to use sound and logical judgment when solving problems; to generate alternative solutions.
    •    Makes realistic/workable commitments.
    •    Recommends sound solutions and ideas.
    •    Balances the needs of the client with the resources of the Company.
    •    Heads off potential conflicts and problems before they materialize.
    •    Involves appropriate Company resources.
    •    Compromises when necessary to resolve an impasse.

5.    Leadership:
    •    The ability to direct and coordinate the activities of others; to motivate and inspire others; to assign and delegate work to others; to control and monitor the work of others.
    •    Controls work flow and its progress.
    •    Delegates tasks and offers direction and suggestions.
    •    Solicits ideas from others.
    •    Motivates others to commit their total effort.
    •    Follows-up on activities and others.
    •    Inspires others to generate imaginative, innovative work.
    •    Sets an example or model for work effort quality.

6.    Interpersonal:
    •    The ability to be sensitive to the needs of others; to establish rapport and trust with others; to be tolerant of others and their views.
    •    Gives support and reinforcement to others.
    •    Obtains trust and confidence of others.
    •    Respects the expertise and personal/professional concerns of others.
    •    Accepts constructive criticism objectively.
    •    Admits mistakes when appropriate.
    •    Collaborates effectively with peers on interdisciplinary projects.

7.    Initiative:
    •    The ability to take action by oneself without direction from others; to anticipate and develop solutions to problems without involvement from others.
    •    Takes assignments readily.
    •    Self-motivated; needs no prodding or direction.
    •    Offers unsolicited suggestions and ideas.
    •    Assumes initiator role, rather than follower role.
    •    Gives extra effort and hours to the job as may be required.
    •    Anticipates problems before they surface.
    •    Maintains and improves personal knowledge base.

8.    Flexibility:
    •    The ability to maintain constructive behavior in the face of adversity; to manage stress and pressure when working through tasks.
    •    Changes course of action when appropriate or necessary.
    •    Handles pressure and stress without sacrificing quality.
    •    Maintains constructive goal direction in face of unanticipated time constraints.
    •    Alters the style of directing others commensurate with their varying abilities and needs.

9.    Oral Communications:
    •    The ability to deliver clear, concise and accurate messages to others through oral means; to listen to others.
    •    Maintains clear communication channels with all Company personnel.
    •    Organizes thoughts in a clear, concise manner.
    •    Is able to persuade or 'sell' ideas to others.
    •    Uses visual and other aids in an appropriate and compelling manner in formal presentations.
    •    Uses appropriate examples and/or analogies to clarify ideas and issues when necessary.

10.    Written Communication:
    •    The ability to deliver clear, concise and accurate messages through written means.
    •    Organizes thoughts in a logical, clear concise manner.
    •    Uses appropriate examples and/or analogies to clarify idea and issues when necessary.