VP, Brand Strategy (Healthcare Provider)

MERGE•Kansas City, MO

7d•Hybrid

About The Position

MERGE is a marketing and technology agency focused on health and wellness, employing a "Whole Human Marketing" approach that integrates storytelling with technology and AI to create natural, contextual, and relevant brand interactions. The company aims to unite people and brands to empower healthier, happier lives, fostering a work environment where talented individuals can grow and do their best work. The VP, Brand Strategy will serve as a creative and intellectual leader, guiding Health brands to be powerful and emotionally resonant. This role involves acting as a strategic brand leader for Provider and Health clients, partnering with senior leadership to develop bold solutions and drive business growth. Internally, the VP will be a key leader, inspiring new perspectives and driving strategies to solve client issues, independently leading the development of large-scale and complex brand strategy deliverables. MERGE is strategically expanding its Brand Strategy practice, offering this role a pivotal part in shaping its future. The MERGE Brand Strategy approach, known as "The Whole Human Insight Advantage," is a proprietary mindset that deeply understands individuals as both consumers and patients, triangulating insights across Lifestyle and Health divisions to create empathetic, relevant, and seamless brand journeys that advance clients' goals.

Requirements

12+ years of relevant professional brand strategy experience, primarily within a marketing agency setting, supporting external accounts.
4+ years of recent care delivery and healthcare systems experience, with a proven track record of achieving ambitious outcomes for companies ranging from agile start-ups to Fortune 100 organizations.
Expert ability to apply strategic principles across complex care delivery and healthcare systems while navigating industry-specific nuances and regulatory landscapes.
Proven expertise in architecting holistic strategies across a complex stakeholder ecosystem—including consumers, physicians, donors, the business community, and internal teams.
Deep ability to design seamless, multi-channel brand journeys that leverage digital experiences and segment-driven insights to ensure a cohesive and impactful brand presence.
Applicants for employment in the US must have work authorization that does not now or in the future require sponsorship of a visa for employment authorization in the United States.

Responsibilities

Be a creative and intellectual leader who believes that Health brands can be as powerful, distinctive, and emotionally resonant as the best consumer brands.
Serve as a strategic brand leader for our Provider and Health clients, partnering with the most senior leadership to guide them toward bold solutions and drive business growth.
Be a key internal leader, sparking new ways of looking at the world and helping drive strategies and solutions that solve the real client issue.
Independently lead the development of large-scale and complex brand strategy deliverables, ensuring excellence across all stages of the process.
Lead the development of large-scale, complex brand strategies and "Big M" marketing visions for both current clients and new business pitches.
Drive the creation of foundational outputs—including audience insights, positioning, launch strategies, and brand plans—while maintaining the agility to tailor strategic frameworks to the unique demands of the job at hand.
Demonstrate a deep understanding of healthcare delivery business pain points and the ability to address C-suite priorities in this space.
Lead effective collaboration with clients, creative leads, and extended partners in both informal and formal settings—such as brand workshops and creative ideation—to develop and sell inventive, strategic solutions.
Champion the use of inventive research methodologies to discover fresh customer insights that others miss, ensuring our work is grounded in deep human truth.
Leverage predictive and generative AI tools to validate brand hypotheses and scale hyper-personalized creative strategies.
Connect modern marketing strategies (e.g., AI, tech, apps) to healthcare transformation trends and articulate their role in driving industry change.
Write the "master briefs" and partner closely with creative leaders to ensure our strategic vision translates into award-winning, culturally relevant creative work.
Uncover insights tied to client business objectives that unlock growth; actively leading strategy for new business pitches and identifying opportunities to expand services with existing clients.
Act as a strategic advisor to C-Suite clients, guiding them toward bold solutions and encouraging investment in progressive brand building.
Build strong relationships with specific stakeholders such as CMOs and leaders at major care delivery and healthcare systems to ensure alignment with their unique needs and priorities.
Actively champion and embed AI-driven strategic tools and proprietary platforms into the Brand Strategy workflow, ensuring our team is a first-adopter and active contributor to our firm’s AI roadmap.
Build trusting partnerships across MERGE by educating stakeholders and demonstrating the value of the Brand Strategy offering.
Foster an environment of curiosity regarding culture and human behavior, while actively overseeing the professional development and strategic deployment of strategy staff.
Demonstrate executive presence through high-quality deliverables, strong follow-through, and the ability to inspire confidence in strategic leadership roles.
Author and publish forward-thinking thought leadership pieces (white papers, articles) that challenge the status quo and elevate our agency’s reputation.
Proactively engage with clients by asking insightful questions to uncover their priorities and needs, ensuring strategies are tailored to their goals.
Simplify market complexity to provide a clear analysis of trends, translating them into opportunities that position our clients (and our agency) ahead of the curve.