Job Description

Agency :

Havas PlayHavas Play:
We live in the space between traditional advertising and media to create work that is connected through culture, powered by partnerships.

We believe in the power of the remarkable to create distinction and measurable impact in our work, with our clients and for our people.
Havas Play. Building brands in culture.

OurWork
We turn cultural understanding into commercial advantage
From sport to music, gaming to fashion, we createculture-ledthinking, ideas and conceptsdesigned to travel- activated through partnerships, creators, talent,mediaand experiences.Weshiftbrands from famous to favourite;andbuildbrand love into brand growthIt’sworkthat works.Work worth remarking on.
That’s the PlayWay.

Our People:
We are a home for distinct specialists and culturally driven talentthe go-getters, the misfits, the people who push ideas further thantheobvious or expected
We collect remarkable people.
Because webelieve remarkable people create remarkable work.

Why we need you

We’relooking for apartnershipsstrategy expertwithcreative flair anddemonstratedexperience of helping brands build equity in sport,musicor gamingthrough partnerships

You will be leading partnership strategy onour flagship accounts, EE and JBL, andwe thereforelooking forsomeone readyto step intoor step up toa senior roleto take our clients to the next levelin brand partnerships.

We’re looking for someone remarkable…
You will be immersed in culture, live andbreathebrand partnerships, andcandemonstratehow compelling strategiescreativelyactivated deliverreal commercialimpactYou’llbe as tenacious as you are curious, andabove all,you’llbe aRemarkableteam playercompelled to create Remarkable work

PartnershipsStrategy

• Proven experience ofshaping and deliveringpartnership strategiesfor household namebrands

• Strong understanding of thenuance of themodern media landscape andexperience indevelopingtherole for partnerships across an integrated media mix

• Good working knowledge of the UK partnerships landscape, particularly in sport,musicor gaming

• Confident in workingwith or alongside rightsholders (governing bodies, leagues, talent, venues, clubs) to understand how IP is structured, licensed and enforced.Someone who knowsthe difference between what a rights package says and what it practically allows for brands

• Practical experience ofdeveloping partnership selection criteria andbuilding robustpartnershipsselection frameworks

• Strong rights holder relationships andan understanding that the best outcomes come from building trust with the rightsholder, not just extracting value

• Proven ability to maximise the value of a rights deal byidentifyingwhere there is genuine headroom to push assets further, whether through creative interpretation of category exclusivity,leveragingand sweating key rights, or unlocking media and/or activation value that brands might overlook

• Strong understanding of fandoms and fan culture, and how to help brands show up authenticallyin new spaces

• Expertiseincraftingcreative strategythat drives innovativepartnership activation, beyond a badging exercise

• Ability to shapecreative thinking, toplineideasandconcepts forpartnershipactivation

• Diligence and risk awareness in IP-sensitive environments:Understanding ofwhere the guardrails are strategically. Comfortable advising clients and creative teams on ambush marketing risk, IP clearance, trademarksensitivitiesand the reputational stakes of overstepping

Creative Strategy

• Strong insight gathering skills and the ability to turn these into inspiring creative springboardsandbriefsthat unlock distinctive, culturally resonant ideas

• Ability to buildbrilliant collaborative relationships withcreative teamsand work with themhand-in-handto ideateand co-create

• Strong storytellingand writingskillsetabletobringresearch,insightsand data to life in compelling and intriguing waysand tell a strong strategic story

• Great creative instinct and solid understanding of what ‘remarkable’,culturally fluent creative work looks like
  

Work& Strategic Outlook

• Track recordof building‘work that works’for clientsimpactful, meaningful work that shifts the dialfor brands and/or consumers

• Working understanding of the importance of Effectivenessin marketing

• Mastery of the written word: abilityto writeengagingdecks and pitches, attention-grabbingawardentriesandpowerfulcase studies

• Ambitionto deliverindustry recognised,award-winning work

• An openness to working with new tools, products and within new and innovative ways of working

• Interest intheapplication of AI to strategy andagency processes

Culture

• Several years working in partnerships across sport, music, gamingideallysignificant exposureto1-2 of these sectors

• Deep understanding of the role culture plays in brand building

• Experiencein leading and shaping strategy forwith a brand who has played a key role in culture,owned a key culturalspaceor made waves in culture

• Advanced knowledge of the key players (influencers, media partners, collectives, initiatives) in 1-2 core cultural territories

Clients& Inter-agency working

• Track recordofactingas strategic counsel to clients, building trusted relationshipsat alllevelsandservingas their go-to confidante on allthingsstrategy

• A seasoned expert inworking as part of all-agency teams – i.e. alongside creative agencies, media agencies etc –and building strong inter-agency relationships in these settings

• Experience leading client workshops for senior client stakeholders in marketing teams and beyond

• Top-tierpresentation skills confident presenting to senior clients

• Acommercially savvy andproactive opportunity seeker who can spotgaps in client capabilities or capacity and confidently upsell agency products and services

New Business & Marketing

• Track recordof leading pitcheshelpingto shape pitch win strategies, theteamstructureand the deck narrative.

• Brilliant contacts book across brands and culture

• An appetite for new business, helping to seek out and support new opportunities

• Ambition to be an industry expert confident in writing though-leadership piecesand taking part in industry events

Agency & Team

• Workingknowledge of navigatinga largeinter-disciplinary agency environment, managingworkstreams across multipleinternal stakeholders and teams

• Experience mentoring or managing junior strategists and insight execs

• The ambition to be a senior lead inastrategy team shaping strategic output for the agency

• Desire to own and shape areas of team development,productsand ways of working

• Aspiration to upskill the wider agency, across disciplines, on areas of specialist strategic knowledge

CorePersonalSkills

• A problem-solver, skilled in lateral, innovativethinking

• A proactive team player who puts their hand up and takes the initiative

• Strong storytelling and sellingskillsets

• Brevity,the ability to boil down a problem and solution into a distinctive strategic bounce off point

• Strong feedback skills: experienced in delivering and receiving constructive feedback

• A true collaborator, a team-player who brings everyone on the journey

Musts

• Sit with the team in the Havas Play office 3 days a week

• Open to occasional travel for client meetings and events

#LI-AC2

Contract Type :

Permanent

Here at Havas across the group we pride ourselves on being committed to offering equal opportunities to all potential employees and have zero tolerance for discrimination. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applicants irrespective of age, sex, race, ethnicity, disability and other factors that have no bearing on an individual’s ability to perform their job.