Senior Vice President, Earned Media Strategy, Brand

Adelphi Group•New York, NY

6d•$160,000 - $225,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Weber Shandwick is seeking a Senior Vice President, Earned Media Strategy, Brand with deep consumer, sports, entertainment, and cultural media expertise to lead earned media strategy for top-tier CPG, spirits, food and beverage, and consumer lifestyle brands. This leader will develop modern, integrated strategies across earned, social, creators and influencers, owned content, podcasts, emerging platforms, talent partnerships, experiential, and paid amplification. They will identify where brand, business, and consumer conversations intersect—turning cultural insight into ideas that earn attention, drive relevance, and deliver business impact. The SVP will bring a strong understanding of major U.S. sports—including the NFL, NBA, NHL, and key tentpole events—and the athlete storylines, fan behaviors, rivalries, and cultural conversations that surround them. They will know how to translate those moments into credible brand opportunities, build strategies around sports partnerships and activations, and help shape earned approaches for athlete, celebrity, musician, and creator relationships. Success requires an ability to move at the speed of culture while maintaining strategic rigor, strong judgment, and a clear understanding of when a brand has permission to participate. The ideal candidate is a strategic counselor and creative storyteller with strong media relationships, sophisticated integrated communications experience, and a proven record of developing standout work for major consumer brands. They bring authentic fluency in sports, fandom, entertainment, and internet culture, along with the judgment to distinguish a fleeting trend from a meaningful earned opportunity. This leader will play a key role in senior client counsel, new business, and developing the next generation of earned media talent.

Requirements

10+ years of public relations, communications, or earned media experience, with increasing responsibility leading integrated communications for major consumer brands.
Agency experience preferred.
A strong track record of developing and leading earned media strategies and campaigns for brands in CPG, food and beverage, consumer lifestyle, entertainment, sports, or adjacent categories.
Genuine passion for and deep knowledge of sports, entertainment, culture, and the fan communities surrounding major U.S. sports and cultural moments.
Experience developing earned ideas that have broken through around major sporting, entertainment, or cultural moments.
Established relationships across top-tier sports, lifestyle, business, food and beverage, mainstream news, entertainment, culture, commerce, and pop culture media.
Demonstrated success working with high-profile talent, including athletes, celebrities, musicians, and influential creators.
Experience leading thought leadership, product launches, brand campaigns, sponsorships or partnerships, celebrity programs, and executive visibility initiatives.
Deep fluency in the modern media ecosystem, including traditional outlets, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, podcasts, newsletters, Substack, creators, and emerging platforms.
Ability to integrate earned strategy with social, creator, experiential, owned, and paid media efforts.
Strong judgment and an instinct for distinguishing a culturally relevant opportunity from a moment when a brand should not participate.
Strong strategic, written, verbal, and presentation skills, including experience leading new business efforts.
Proven ability to mentor and develop talent, manage complex programs, and deliver excellent work across fast-paced, integrated teams.
Bachelor’s degree preferred.

Responsibilities

Set and lead integrated earned media strategies for large consumer clients, aligning work with business goals, brand priorities, cultural relevance, and broader marketing efforts.
Identify opportunities across sports, entertainment, music, fandom, food, lifestyle, and internet culture where brands can credibly show up and earn attention.
Lead earned strategy for major brand moments, including tentpole sporting events, entertainment moments, partnerships, product launches, activations, talent programs, and real-time cultural opportunities.
Counsel senior clients, executives, and spokespeople on communications strategy, positioning, reputation, talent, media engagement, and real-time decision-making, including media training.
Develop culturally relevant narratives and sharp audience insights that can become distinctive, headline-worthy earned ideas—not simply press announcements.
Monitor the media and cultural landscape to identify timely conversations, trends, and opportunities, differentiating between a fleeting moment and a meaningful opening for the brand.
Build and leverage relationships across national, regional, digital, and social-first media, including sports, business, lifestyle, food and beverage, news, entertainment, culture, and commerce.
Lead campaign development and execution with strategy, creative, account, social, influencer, experiential, and other agency teams—spanning thought leadership, launches, brand campaigns, and talent partnerships.
Guide programs across traditional and emerging platforms, integrating earned with social, creator, owned, experiential, and paid approaches.
Partner on the identification and activation of athletes, entertainers, musicians, celebrities, and creators, developing earned strategies that make those partnerships newsworthy.
Lead strategic recommendations and presentations for new business; develop and share points of view on the evolving media, sports, and cultural landscape.
Lead and develop teams, oversee resources and delivery, and foster a collaborative, inclusive, high-performance culture grounded in curiosity and cultural fluency.