Strategy Director

Tombras•Knoxville, TN

10d•Onsite

About The Position

At its core, the job of a strategist is not to write great briefs, it is to ensure there is a great strategy. The strategist is responsible for finding the truth, sharply defining the problem, inspiring great creative work, and helping make that work unforgettable. Strategists at Tombras combine analytical rigor with creative thinking and emotional intelligence to move brands and people forward. You will be expected to put the first brave thought or POV on the table. To be close to the creative work, and to make the work better. If your creative team isn’t ‘getting it’, or the work isn’t happening, you need to adapt. Our clients have their own styles and situations and we need to understand and respond to those. And of course we need to work with each other. All this requires adaptability and great social skills. So be authentic to yourself but also empathetic to your wider team too. You will need only half your intellect but all of your emotional intelligence to be a great strategist. A Brand Strategy Director is primarily responsible for setting the strategy and direction on a brand. The kind of transformational thinking that takes a brand on a journey that changes how an audience sees it entirely. Beyond the core skills of interrogation, distillation and inspiration, they must also be accountable for fostering high level relationships with clients, for being the entrepreneurial engine for the brand, and for proving the effectiveness of the work. But as important as the work, is the fact they are also responsible for the people on the team that help deliver the work. They should be creating the conditions for everyone to thrive. The director should make the work better but they should make the team, and ultimately the agency, better, too.

Requirements

Ability to translate marketing jargon and brand onions.
Ability to cut through frameworks and get to plain-spoken truths that are creatively inspiring and make sense to real people.
Ability to define the problem, define the strategy, define the idea.
Ability to build a compelling narrative and bring a distinct perspective on the task, the market, the consumer and the work.
Ability to give the brand a POV and then build a strategy for how that POV will solve business problems.
Knowledge of how to set up research and segmentation on new clients.
Ability to bring innovation to how we research.
Ability to consider the impact of research and how it can be used offensively to create more opportunities for great work.
Ability to write the best briefs in the building, generating enviable and unforgettable work.
Ability to help others write briefs.
Ability to bring highly original, directional, and transformational thinking to the table.
Ability to change how real people see a brand when they think of it.
Ability to write the right brief and strategy for the right audience and task, knowing when to write half a page and when to write a 15 slide deck.
Ability to solve significant problems quickly.
Comfort working through problems with senior clients in real time.
Ability to change the direction of a brief, conversation or whole way of seeing a problem.
Ability to anticipate a client’s concerns before they come to us.
Ability to seek opportunities for the agency’s remit to grow.
Ability to set up effectiveness models and consult clients and partners on objectives and methodologies.
Ability to write gold standard effectiveness papers.
Ability to help others find their form in structure and storytelling.
Ability to increase the odds of great creative work being made and sold.
Ability to inspire, spot and nurture great ideas.
Ability to author and define enduring ‘brand platforms’.
Ability to set the initial direction for ideas and platforms.
Belief in an idea and the ability to make others believe in it.
Ability to create ideas and platforms across a wide range of brands and categories.
Ability to lead companies into transformative business and brand ideas.
Ability to help spread transformation throughout a business.
Ability to help ideas/platforms continue to evolve and strengthen over time.
Ability to enable the best possible work to be developed, bought and taken through a business.
Ability to create successful work across a range of brands and categories for the agency.
Ability to leverage and build key relationships within the business and the agency.
Ability to create conditions for brands to affect culture, not just reflect it.
Ability to help the agency unlock new ways to create cultural impact and make the case for why and how that creates more effective work.
Ability to persuade clients and colleagues to believe in strategic thinking.
Ability to command a room’s attention and take them on a journey.
Ability to act as confident but humble leaders in tough strategic debates with Creative Directors, Group Account Directors and key senior clients.
Ability to influence a client’s business, behavior and thinking.
Ability to be a valued partner who can help lead clients into the future.
Ability to debate with CMOs.
Ability to act as a partner to creative directors and GADs.
Ability to influence the team, the department, the agency.
Ability to be an inspiring presence within the department.
Ability to help others be at their best.
Ability to listen to quiet voices and help them make their voices heard.
Ability to run medium and large pitches.
Adaptability.
Great social skills.
Authenticity.
Empathy.
Half intellect, all emotional intelligence.

Nice To Haves

Relocation assistance may be provided.

Responsibilities

Setting the strategy and direction on a brand.
Fostering high level relationships with clients.
Being the entrepreneurial engine for the brand.
Proving the effectiveness of the work.
Responsibility for the people on the team that help deliver the work.
Creating the conditions for everyone to thrive.
Making the team, and ultimately the agency, better.
Translating marketing jargon and brand onions.
Cutting through frameworks to get to plain-spoken truths that are creatively inspiring and make sense to real people.
Defining the problem, defining the strategy, defining the idea.
Building a compelling narrative and bringing a distinct perspective on the task, the market, the consumer and the work.
Giving the brand a POV and then building a strategy for how that POV will solve business problems.
Setting up research and segmentation on new clients.
Bringing innovation to how we research.
Considering the impact of research and how it can be used offensively to create more opportunities for great work.
Writing the best briefs in the building, generating enviable and unforgettable work.
Helping others write briefs.
Bringing highly original, directional, and transformational thinking to the table.
Changing how real people see a brand when they think of it.
Writing the right brief and strategy for the right audience and task, knowing when to write half a page and when to write a 15 slide deck.
Solving significant problems quickly.
Working through problems with senior clients in real time.
Changing the direction of a brief, conversation or whole way of seeing a problem.
Anticipating a client’s concerns before they come to us.
Seeking opportunities for the agency’s remit to grow.
Setting up effectiveness models and consulting clients and partners on objectives and methodologies.
Writing gold standard effectiveness papers.
Helping others find their form in structure and storytelling.
Increasing the odds of great creative work being made and sold.
Inspiring, spotting and nurturing great ideas.
Authoring and defining enduring ‘brand platforms’.
Setting the initial direction for ideas and platforms.
Believing in an idea and making others believe in it.
Creating ideas and platforms across a wide range of brands and categories.
Leading companies into transformative business and brand ideas.
Helping spread transformation throughout a business.
Helping ideas/platforms continue to evolve and strengthen over time.
Enabling the best possible work to be developed, bought and taken through a business.
Creating successful work across a range of brands and categories for the agency.
Leveraging and building key relationships within the business and the agency.
Creating conditions for brands to affect culture, not just reflect it.
Helping the agency unlock new ways to create cultural impact and make the case for why and how that creates more effective work.
Persuading clients and colleagues to believe in strategic thinking.
Commanding a room’s attention and taking them on a journey.
Acting as confident but humble leaders in tough strategic debates with Creative Directors, Group Account Directors and key senior clients.
Influencing a client’s business, behavior and thinking.
Being a valued partner who can help lead clients into the future.
Debating with CMOs.
Acting as a partner to creative directors and GADs.
Influencing the team, the department, the agency.
Being an inspiring presence within the department.
Helping others be at their best.
Listening to quiet voices and helping them make their voices heard.
Running medium and large pitches.