Communications Planner

for my collection of IXD, UX job descriptions. all found here

Although not specifically IXD or UX I could see many of the talents we hold translating well to this job

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Summary:
Comms planning genius required to create the best work of their life.

Background

Wieden + Kennedy London is a creative communications agency.
In fact, our ambition is to be the most admired creative business in the world. This
goes way beyond just advertising. Sure, we make ads for our clients (which
include Nike, Honda, Nokia, Lurpak and The COI, amongst others), but that’s only
the tip of the iceberg. We’re constantly thinking about, talking about, and making
stuff for both ourselves and for our clients (both in the real and digital spaces)
that challenges convention and gets people thinking, or behaving, differently.

The Planning Department (or, possibly more appropriately, the Planning
Collective) at W+K London plays a central role in this. Made up of a motley bunch
of people that, in a former life, have variously been digital planners, content
planners, partnership experts, media planners, clients and even good old account
planners, we’re all bound by a few things that, regardless of background, remain
sacred: strategic nous, curiosity and passion. On top of that, as the source of
inspiration for the agency, it’s vital that we’re both interesting and have a point of
view.

The Role

Communications Planning at W+K London is quite different to Communications
Planning in, say, a big Media Agency. For a start, there are none of those big
process flow diagrams that you traditionally see wheeled out at pitches. The
‘process’ here is far more iterative – you’ll work hand-in-hand with account
teams, creatives, producers and other planners to make world-class work happen,
whatever it takes. You’ll be involved from idea inception, right through to final
implementation – and beyond.

Specifically, this role is to support the Planning and Creative Departments (and
the Agency at large) in understanding how we take what we make and connect it
with people; whether it be housewives buying butter, teenagers drinking too much
alcohol, or football communities hungry for Nike’s point-of-view on Wayne
Rooney’s hat-trick at the weekend.

You’ll need to be able to bring comms planning alive for the agency, and show us
how media can be used creatively to give ideas an extra dimension. You’ll need to
challenge and inspire the creative teams day in, day out, and encourage them to
think differently about how channels can work to enhance what they’re
producing.

This is a horizontal role. By that, we mean that rather than running one or two
accounts, you’ll work project by project across all pieces of business in the agency,
as well as the odd pitch. Part strategy, part creative, and part media, this is a high
profile and vital role which sits at the very heart of what we’re striving to achieve
as a company.

The Person

Ultimately, we need someone that gets how communications planning and media
works. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to have worked in a media /
comms agency, but for obvious reasons, that might help.

We need somebody that’s digitally fluent but not myopic. The right person will get
how digital media fits into a broader communications framework and will be
equally comfortable talking about ‘old’ media, too.

At the risk of this sounding too much like a formal job description, the person we
hire will have to be a ‘self starter’. This isn’t because you’ll be left to sink or swim
(you won’t, we promise) but there will be many occasions when you just need to
get on with stuff. We work in structured chaos, and that needs to be something
that you’re happy and comfortable with.

You’ll need to leave your ego at the door. We have an aphorism at W+K that gets
used a lot: “The work comes first”. This comes straight from the top – it’s a
founding principle of the agency and it applies across the board, from the grad
Account Exec right up to Dan Wieden himself. It basically means that we need
people that are willing to put our creative output above their own ego. And as
such, we don’t tend to hire many ‘glory hunters’.

Similarly, and this probably goes without saying, we tend to go for people that
have something a little different about them, whether it’s an interest, a skill or
whatever. It doesn’t mean we’re a bunch of nutters, but it does mean that we’re
constantly learning from each other and being stimulated by the people we sit
next to. Which we think is a great thing.

And being funny, alongside an appreciation of Nathan Barley, will probably help
too. (Although that’s not a pre-requisite).

Details

We expect the right person to have around 4-6 years’ professional experience.
But that’s not fixed – if you’re up to it, feel free to prove us wrong.

We also recognize that people don’t work for free. So if we like each other, we can
chat about money and benefits later on.

from Wieden + Kennedy

found 11.03.2009

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