Comms & Marketing Director, UM UK & EMEA - Maternity Cover

About Us 

UM is a global media agency committed to empowering brands to their full potential of growth through the power of patterns by opening a brand’s aperture and rejecting black-and-white marketing decisions. As the leading global media network in IPG Mediabrands, UM operates in over 100 countries, with more than 3,000 people serving a roster of global clients including American Express, General Mills, Emirates, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss & Co, Dyson, Enterprise holdings, Upfield, Eat Takeaway.com and Mattel. For more information, please visit uk.umww.com

Role Description 

This is a unique opportunity to help shape the reputation of one of the UK’s top 10 media agencies, with additional responsibilities across the EMEA region. Reporting into the Global SVP, Comms and Marketing (with a line into UK mediabrands comms), this role exists to build UM’s reputation and drive agency growth in our industry – through marketing strategy, internal and external communications, events and PR. We are seeking someone with a genuine passion and flair for B2B marketing, who will bring great imagination to the task of making UM stand out to all key stakeholders including clients, prospects, internal stakeholders and staff. We are proud of the special culture and capabilities we have at our agency, and so we aim to spread the word with as many people as possible, within our industry and beyond.

The person we seek will enjoy building their network, both internally within our agency and externally, and will always have an eye out for new opportunities for how we can elevate our agency’s messages.

As a media agency, we know that the ‘medium and the message’ matter equally (i.e. the way we say things is as important as what we’re saying), so we are looking for someone with real originality in terms of designing and creating new ways of communicating with our external and internal communities.  

Key Responsibilities

• Manage the UK comms team, and build a robust UK marketing strategy, working closely with the SLT, in line with the agency’s growth objectives
• Work in close collaboration with the growth team to ensure our marketing activity maximises opportunities to promote the agency across all platforms to prospective clients
• Work closely with the SLT to build and execute cultural experiences that unite the agency under shared goals
• Build successful, growth-focused partnerships with key industry stakeholders, including media partners, identifying sponsorship opportunities and collaborations where appropriate.
• Oversee cultural initiatives for the UK and co-ordinate across EMEA, including Impact Day.
• You will be responsible for driving UM’s reputation and keeping UM connected with our external and internal communities
• Support the Global SVP with global and regional comms requests

External:

• Agency positioning: Have a point of view on what our primary messaging areas should be for external-facing comms, as well as our agency tone of voice, and build an external comms strategy to reflect this.
• PR: Manage the agency’s PR output, working with (and managing) external PR partners where appropriate. Ensure that we have a healthy pipeline of coverage and opportunities that align with the overarching marketing strategy and work with our agency spokespeople to ensure they are continuously producing content for PR (e.g. thought pieces and industry commentary)
• Social Media:Own the strategy and every-day activity on our social media profiles (Instagram and LinkedIn accounts), building engagement with our followers by sharing relevant updates. Building our community engagement on our social feeds by producing content and updates that are engaging and differentiated
• Website: Manage and maintain our agency website by keeping it up-to-date with new content. Proactively generating new ideas for content to publish on our agency website
• Events: Own the events strategy for the UK and running online and offline events to engage both clients and new business prospects. Maximise opportunities to build UM’s reputation at industry events through speakers and thought leadership.
• Awards: Support the CSO in building and executing the strategy and entry of UK award entries to help build UM’s external profile in the industry, including the Campaign School Report and Agency of the Year submissions.
• Profile building: Identifying and driving opportunities to help raise the profiles of our talent, including awards
• Culture: Strengthen our relationships with charity partners in line with our ‘Responsible Media’ growth strategy
  

Internal:

• General leadership: build and maintain close relationships with internal stakeholders across all departments, in order to stay attuned to agency developments, build relevant content and showcase best work and practice
• Write copy for internal updates
• Work with the SLT to create content and execute internal events such as Monthly Company Meetings
• Suggest and build flagship internal events (such as FCM Day) to engage and inspire UM employees in line with business objectives
• EMEA: Support the SVP in building a connected EMEA comms community, sharing best practice and rolling out global marcomms initiatives

Desired Skills & Experience

• A creative thinker who’s passionate about spotting, generating and launching new ideas
• An optimistic and proactive attitude
• Outstanding project manager; detailed and conscientious with timings
• Proven ability to manage senior internal stakeholders and external partners, as well as management of a team
• Excellent, confident and accurate copywriter
• Effective at striking up positive and collaborative working relationships
• Experience with B2B marketing
• Experience overseeing and running online and in-person events