Senior Strategist

The Senior Strategist within the Strategy function in Edelman will work closely with the account teams, Associate Strategy Director and Head of Strategy in research, analysis and developing multi-channel communication strategies to achieve client/brand goals. You will also work closely with multi-disciplinary teams such as creative, digital content, PR, DXI (Data & Intelligence), Public Affairs, and Workplace Advisory to participate in the different stages of OnE Edelman solutioning to bring the program strategy to life.

You will help shape contextual, relevant content and social strategies that Earn Attention and Drive Trust. You are an experienced strategist that has a hunger to better understand the clients, categories and industries that we serve and to figure out what makes things tick. You’re relentless in the way you blaze new trails, platforms, and the latest tech and figuring out how to make it relevant to clients or internal teams. You’re collaborative, always ready to hear teammates out to find the most effective ways to achieve collective objectives. You’re tough on the work but kind to the people. 

What you will do:

Lead cross-functional teams in coming up with the most effective ways to earn trust for our clients to help solve their business and reputational problems.

RESEARCH:

o   Leads research projects from research design to analysis.

o   Has experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods.

o   Understands the various research tools available and actively use them (Newswhip, Brandwatch, GWI, eMarketer, Gartner Iconoculture, Socialbakers etc) to bring information and insights for better, more data-driven briefs

o   Open to learn new tools and research sources.

o   Avid “student of strategy”

o   Proactively researches all aspects of strategy sources from academics to Google case studies to Fast Company / Harvard articles to help inform and shape client work.

o   Actively pulls advertising case studies from sources like WARC, etc that can help open up new opportunities.

o   Lead in crafting innovation, research or emerging platform projects.

o   Interested in learning both B2C and B2B audiences.

o   Interested in keeping abreast with new media and emerging platforms and technologies.

STORYTELLING

o   Leads the development of strategy, insights, creative briefing deck thought-starters, communication presentations and inspiration decks for both current clients and new business pitches.

o   Knows how to win pitches and to fail forward – to learn from losses to be better.

o   Crafts creative and/or media briefs and inspiration stimuli such as case studies, analogies and other campaigns to prompt new ideas and thinking.

o   Enjoys using online listening tools and be able to leverage them to identify relevant conversations and influencers and potential trends for client implementation.

o   Happy to brainstorm, conceptualize and work closely with the creative team.

o   Presents proposals, recommendations, and analysis effectively to internal and external stakeholders.

CONNECTING THE DOTS

o   Ability to mine insights from data collected to come up with impactful solutions to client problems.

o   Ability to utilize insights to come up with clear strategic directions to guide creative solutioning.

o   Ability to craft multi-stakeholder messages while ensuring consistency with global, regional, and local brand guidelines.

o   Channel/ Consumer Journey: Works closely with cross-functional teams in defining the channels and their roles across offline and online touch points.

o   Content Strategy: Works closely with cross-functional teams such as digital, social, and PR teams in crafting content recommendations based on platform and audience learnings.

COUNSEL

o   Ability to build client trust.

o   Unafraid to share POV on client’s business and reputational challenges.

o   Directs competitive analysis or trends updates to internal and external teams with the right metrics in mind.

o   Ability to run client workshops to come up with effective communication solutions to client problems.

o   Provides sound counsel to clients as well as be comfortable providing editorial and content/social response recommendations to clients.

o   Be able to support issues management campaigns.

o   Ability to lead projects, demonstrate good judgment when working with team members and client contacts.

o   Ability to critic and help refine creative ideas.

COLLABORATION

o   Ability to lead multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural teams from across the region.

o   Ability to empathize and inspire team members to bring out their best work.

o   Ability to manage conflict and re-direct focus back to solutioning.

o   Ability to rally team members towards aligned objectives.

Who you are:

• Have a degree in marketing and/or social sciences (Communications / Marketing / Creative).
• Have at least 5 years of experience in marketing/creative agency, brand, communications strategy/research.
• An accounts or a creative/PR practitioner looking to move to strategy
• Solid research, writing and editing skills.
• With proven track record of creative effectiveness.
• Detailed-oriented and ability to manage multiple project deadlines efficiently for ‘what comes next’
• Flexible and agile and the ability to adapt to new conditions, assignments and deadlines.
• Exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal, to be effective in inspiring compelling, creative content.
• Language skills: Fluency in English (Essential).
• Excellent use of Microsoft Powerpoint & reporting formats.
• High EQ and all round enjoyable to work with.