Client Investment Manager

WPP Media•New York, NY

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Client Investment Manager oversees the spend and negotiations across their assigned clients. You are responsible for negotiating, managing and executing media buys associated with one or more assigned accounts. You will provide strategic market insights, trends and pricing benchmarks, oversight and management of spending across major vendors, identify new innovations and opportunities, while monitoring client budgets and adherence to KPIs. You also provide leadership and development tools for all junior investment team members.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in advertising, marketing, business administration, and communications; OR equivalent professional work experience.
4+ years of prior media investment experience desired.
Build and maintain strong relationships with media, technology, analytics and GroupM teams as well as media and technology publishers
Foster camaraderie within the Investment team and with all key stakeholders they support
Educate media teams on the media planning/investment process
Provide guidance to team members and nurture/promote team environment
Train employees on tools and best practices
Ability to work in a team environment that promotes collaboration
Adept at communicating effectively across all levels
Be capable of working successfully within a team as well as independently
Thorough understanding of the media landscape and fast-moving trends
Strong quantitative and analytical/results-oriented skills
Solid negotiation skills and tactics
Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Ability to multi-task, work successfully with teams, and work under pressure
Excellent time-management and follow-through skills
Advanced proficiency in Excel with intermediate PowerPoint and Word skills
Mastery of buying systems within MediaOcean
Strong understanding of interactive research tools such as Nielsen Net-Ratings, AdRelevance, @Plan and ComScore Media Metrix

Responsibilities

Take lead role in analyzing current and future marketplace conditions and pricing.
Oversee creation and presentation of buying strategies, competitive spending analyses.
Demonstrate working knowledge of marketplace trends, news, and innovations.
Centrally manage all investment aspects of a campaign – negotiations, rate tracking, planning costs, benchmarking, allocations/tactical plans, budget management, buy set up, delivery, billing, etc. of assigned account(s)
Collaborates with peer-set across SEM, Social and Programmatic teams to ensure consistency while informing holistic investment strategies
Ensure best practices are applied to all digital channels for brand safety/suitability, optimization and adherence to KPIs and inventory quality.
Oversee vendor RFP process – partner selection, RFP submissions, etc.
Negotiate digital programs and rates for clients
Demonstrate better pricing, efficiencies, and impact by consolidating buys across sites, Agency and GroupM
Coordinate and consolidate media spending across clients for sites/publishers by placement (display, video, social, search and programmatic)
Own portfolio/client roll ups
Approve all partners on tactical buys
Approve all campaign set up in buying systems
Meet with partners on an ongoing basis and provide updates and/or recommendations
Keep current on marketplace innovations, ad models, and technologies and bring first looks to client(s)
Investigate, interpret, understand, and provide marketplace condition updates
Establish investment best practices (intelligence/arbitrage), spend trends, benchmarking, and set market
Enforce key investment tenets around KPIs
Ensure all media activity adheres to client and GroupM best practices in the areas of accountability and brand safety
Forecast and provide Ad serving, Ad Verification, Viewability and Rich Media estimates
Be proactive in following up on client team requests with a key awareness of client deadlines
Ensure compliance and maintenance of all buy platform management, databases, etc. activities
Handle issue resolution, recommend process improvements, and oversee client budget
Create POVs
Actively participate in department projects/ committees
Work with junior team members to manage upfront and scatter budgets.
Negotiate multi-platform deals when appropriate.
Take an active role in or supervise the negotiation with vendors for price, programming mix, added value and promotions.
Ensure that all buy schedules are ordered properly.
Establish day to day workload, timelines and procedures for junior buying staff.
Manage workload of all junior staff, ensuring stewardship of all buys, content screenings, brand allocations, commercial positioning, etc.
Ensure that all account maintenance functions are performed accurately and on a timely basis.
Oversee post-buy examination to ensure buy integrity, meeting of goals, rotation requirements.
Responsible for hiring and development of junior team members.
Maintain in-depth knowledge of media research and tools.
Represent agency with the highest possible level of professionalism to both your account and vendors.
Ensure highest level of innovation delivered for all campaigns.
Play key role in training and mentoring of junior staff.
Teach and play a role in developing media school curriculum.
Keep current with industry news by reading trades, agency publications.