The Media Director is a senior member of the GA media practice who serves as a strategic media leader for GA and its clients. They oversee and guide the development and execution of comprehensive media strategies across their direct teams, align these strategies with Good Apple’s overall goals, manage media budgets, foster collaboration across disciplines, and drive the creation of bespoke media and analytics solutions that deliver business impact. They maintain client partnerships, manage vendor relationships, and develop their direct team's skills and professional growth.
Media Team Management & Leadership
- Partner with senior media team members to build a successful media organization.
- Take a leadership role in recruitment, attracting, evaluating, and selecting top talent, aiming for diversity.
- Collaborate with senior media leadership to align media strategies with organizational goals.
- Ensure media efforts contribute to the overall success of the organization.
- Inform team members of the broader company vision and how their work contributes.
- Cultivate a positive, creative, collaborative, and innovative work environment.
- Conduct regular team‑building activities to enhance camaraderie and communication.
- Define specific, measurable, and achievable performance goals for each team member.
- Provide constructive feedback and development plans for career growth.
- Identify training needs and implement professional development programs.
- Conduct training sessions on best practices and emerging trends.
- Encourage team members to pursue certifications and educational opportunities.
- Align tasks with growth areas to provide skill development opportunities.
- Empower team members to take ownership of projects, fostering accountability.
- Allocate resources efficiently and monitor workloads for balance.
- Collaborate with other department heads to share resources and expertise.
- Encourage cross‑functional projects for a holistic approach to marketing and media.
- Address conflicts promptly and professionally, mediating disputes as needed.
- Recognize and celebrate team achievements.
Strategic Media Leadership
- Ensure the team’s media strategy aligns with the brand’s strategic intentions and goals.
- Collaborate with stakeholders to analyze business objectives and marketing goals, developing cross‑discipline solutions.
- Align media strategies with broader organizational goals, contributing to Good Apple KPIs.
- Manage the media budget in partnership with senior media team and account teams.
- Lead internal cross‑discipline collaboration, identifying and overseeing execution.
- Establish Good Apple and the media team as thought leaders internally and externally.
- Foster an agile mindset, enabling quick adaptation to changing market conditions.
- Stay informed about media‑related regulations and compliance standards.
- Embrace flexibility to respond to evolving industry and client landscapes.
- Create high‑level client decks demonstrating business impact and value.
- Lead new business pitches, including strategy development and tactical presentations.
- Develop value‑creating client deliverables such as rebates, savings analysis, and competitive analysis.
- Lead future‑proofing strategy, incorporating latest GA products and technologies (e.g., AI).
- Represent the organization at industry events, contribute to publications, and engage in speaking opportunities.
- Present overall strategy and high‑value client wins to senior client leadership.
Client Partnership
- Partner with account leads to drive client satisfaction, business outcomes, and innovation opportunities.
- Lead client conversations, empowering them with strategic rationale for media decisions.
- Communicate persuasively, tying back to business and media landscapes, audience trends, and client climate.
- Lead client media education, including Media 101 sessions and Media Day efforts.
- Provide appropriate detail levels for tactical versus high‑level communications.
- Present to senior clients, translating their requests into actionable internal plans.
- Stay current with marketplace and industry trends, informing strategic discussions.
- Create and share points of view with clients.
Vendor/Partner Relationship Management
- Negotiate account‑wide or agency‑wide partnerships with media, data, and measurement partners.
- Drive awareness of new channels and partners through training sessions and insights.
- Educate the team on the media landscape and negotiate using outcome‑based techniques.
- Audit and guide partner proposals with a scorecard framework.
- Ensure favorable terms and manage partner issue escalation.
Media Innovation
- Motivate the team to develop transformative media solutions across all levels.
- Foster continuous improvement, gathering feedback and identifying process enhancements.
- Create frameworks for media innovation ideas and share‑outs.
- Partner with discipline leads to ideate and execute opportunities improving efficiency (e.g., adops, AI).
- Lead agency initiatives that differentiate in the marketplace.
- Organize inspiring Media Days that expand client horizons.
- Attend industry conferences, sharing strategic POVs on leveraging trends.
- Lead cross‑lead initiatives such as adops integration and video education.
- Act independently, relying on advanced experience and judgment.
Qualifications
- 8+ years media planning experience.
- 4+ years management experience.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Strong negotiation and influence skills, with industry, brand, and competitive knowledge.