Media Director (Pharma)

The Media Director is a senior member of the GA media practice who serves as a strategic media leader for GA and their clients. They oversee and guide the development and execution of comprehensive media strategies across their direct teams, and the MD is responsible for aligning these strategies within Good Apple’s overall goals, ensuring effective use of media budgets, fostering collaboration across disciplines, and driving creation of bespoke media and analytics solutions that drive our client’s business impact. They play a crucial role in maintaining their client partnerships, managing/negotiating vendor relationships, and their direct team skills/professional development. The MD is starting to get more involved with overall media team strategic planning, staying abreast of industry trends, and driving innovation in media campaigns across the media organization. Leadership, strategic thinking and a deep understanding of media channels and technologies are essential for success in this role.Media Team Management & LeadershipPartners with senior media team members to build an overall successful media organizationTake a leadership role in the recruitment process to attract, evaluate and select top talentAim for diversity in skill sets and backgrounds to enhance team capabilitiesCollaborate with senior media leadership to align media strategies with overall organizational goalsEnsures that media efforts contribute to the broader success of the organizationEnsure that team members are informed about the broader company vision and how their work contributes to itCultivates a work environment that encourages positivity, creativity, collaboration and innovationConduct regular team-building activities to enhance camaraderie and communication within the teamFosters a sense of unity and shared purpose through team-building initiativesDefines specific, measurable, and achievable performance goals for each team member, aligned with overall departmental and organizational objectivesRegularly assess team members’ performance through constructive and timely reviews - provides feedback on strengths, areas for improvement and areas of outstanding contributionsWorks collaboratively with team members to create individual development plans, career growth and opportunities for skill enhancementIdentifies training needs within the team and implements professional development programs to address skill gaps and enhance overall team capabilitiesStays informed about industry developments and shares relevant knowledge with the teamConducts regular training sessions to keep the team updated on best practices and emerging trendsEncourage and support team members in pursuing relevant certifications and educational opportunities that enhance individual and team expertiseProvides opportunities for skill development by strategically assigning tasks aligned with growth areasEmpowers team members to take ownership of projects, fostering a sense of accountability and autonomyProvides guidance and support while allowing space for creativity and independent decision-makingAllocates resources efficiently to ensure the team's success in executing media campaignsMonitors workloads and adjusts team assignments as needed to maintain a balanced workloadCollaborates with other department heads to share resources and expertise as necessaryEncourage cross-functional projects to promote a holistic approach to marketing and media within the organizationAddress conflicts or issues within the team promptly and professionallyMediate disputes when necessary, fostering a positive and collaborative team dynamicRecognizes and celebrates team achievements, both big and smallStrategic Media LeadershipResponsible for ensuring the team’s media strategy aligns with the brand’s SIs and goalsCollaborate with key stakeholders to analyze overall business objectives and marketing goals, to develop cross-discipline solutionsAlign media strategies with broader organizational goals, ensuring contribution to Good Apple KPIsProvides strategic guidance to align the team’s efforts with broader GA goalsEnsures teams are adhering to overall GA media team goals - 2024 goals include scorecard based media planning, R/F measurement, migration to self-service, preferred managed service partnersFiscally responsible for the media budget in partnership with the senior media team and AccountLeads internal cross-discipline collaboration & integration, swim lane identification and execution oversightEstablishes Good Apple and the media team as thought leaders internally and externallyFosters an agile mindset within the media team, enabling quick adaptation to changing market conditionsStays informed about media-related regulations and compliance standards - ensures that all media activities adhere to legal and ethical guidelinesEmbraces flexibility in strategies and tactics to respond to evolving industry and client landscapeCreates high-level CMO level decks that show how Good Apple is driving business impact and value Leads new business pitches - responsibilities include brainstorming, media strategy development, tactical slides, and pitching Leads the team to develop value creating client deliverables - rebates, savings analysis, competitive analysisLeads future-proofing thinking and strategic roadmap developments incorporating latest GA products and industry technology (i.e. AI)Represents the organization at industry events, contributes to publications and participates in relevant speaking engagementsWhen applicable, presents the overall strategy of the media plan and larger strategic presentations - larger value-add wins (i.e. rebate, savings decks) across brands to senior level client leadership (i.e. procurement)Client PartnershipPartners with account lead (i.e. AD) to drive client satisfaction, deliver business outcomes and to drive account/business innovation and opportunitiesPartnership with account lead should serve as leadership example to the team with successful communication, strategic synergy, proactive, positive dialogue and continued encourage of the team to execute in support of the client’s visionLeads and guides client conversations to empower them with the media decisions and strategic rationale for the media decisions that drive business impactCommunicates persuasively tying back to business and media landscape, audience trends, client business climate, consumer/HCP insightsSupports and actively leads client’s media education - explains media concepts, leads Media 101s, spearheads Media Day efforts and brokers publisher relations when applicableGuides the team to provide the appropriate level of detail based on receiving audience - tactical information vs high-level CMO communication needsAssembling the right resources/support to achieve comms needsPresents to the most senior level clients (i.e. procurement, CMO) Translates clients wishes/request into actionable plan for internal cross-discipline team - the what, the why, the how Remains up to date with marketplace and industry trends and overall understanding and landscape of client businessCreates and proactively socializes POVs along with presenting to clientsVendor/Partner Relationship ManagementNegotiates larger account-wide or agency-wide partnerships with media, data, or measurement partners Drives awareness and education of new channels/partners among the media team by organizing relevant learning sessions and sending out POVs/trends Educates their team on the larger media landscape by organizing training sessions and sending out industry POVsPromotes a culture of curiosity and continuous learning by encouraging team members to ask questions and to setup new partner learning sessions Teaches the team how to negotiate using techniques like outcomes-based and value creation and how to measure negotiated savings using SQAD benchmarking dataRegularly audits and guides the team on how to evaluate and analyze partner proposals using a scorecard based frameworkResponsible for making sure the team is reviewing Ts and Cs to ensure desirable payment terms, out clauses and sequential liability; instills importance of desirable Ts and Cs among internal media team Responsible for escalation and resolution of partner issues, bringing senior media team members and other relevant team members along to teach/guide them on partner conflict resolution techniquesMedia InnovationInspirational leader who motivates their team to develop transformative media solutions at all levelsFosters a mindset of continuous improvement, regularly seeking feedback and identifying areas of enhancement in team processes and workflowsCreates frameworks, processes and structures for the team to develop media innovation ideas - meeting of the minds, cross-discipline and cross-team share-outsPartners with discipline leads to ideate, detail, phase and execute opportunities that improve and make GA workflows more efficient and cost-effective → Adops solutions, PRISMA adoption, AI & automationLeads key GA agency initiatives that drive differentiation in the marketplace - proprietary products marketingLeads the team to develop inspirational, mind-blowing Media Days that wow and inspire the client to expand beyond their media horizonsAttends industry conferences and studies market trends; shares their strategic POVs on how teams could leverage it for their clientsPartners with the other senior media leads on larger strategic initiatives - adops integration, video education/expansionRequires minimal supervision, relies on advanced experience/judgment8+ years media planning experience and 4+ years of management experienceExcellent verbal and written communication skillsNegotiation and influence skills - steeped in required industry, brand, and competitive knowledgePowered by JazzHRKMwQdpCrAL