About Our Agency:

Leo Burnett is where great, big, populist creative ideas happen. 

These are the sort of ideas that get us excited, the sort of ideas our clients want, and the sort of ideas that we believe actually work. This has just always been the Leo Burnett way but, recently, we’ve really turned up the volume… 

Over the last two years, Leo Burnett has evolved to deliver these ideas through one of the most innovative service offerings of any creative agency in London. 

The agency has built incredible new momentum with major new business wins, including Iceland, McCormick Schwartz, Premier Inn, AXA Global, and Vision Express.

In fact, for the last four years, Leo Burnett has consistently been in the Top 10 of Campaign’s New Business Wins League Table. 

And most importantly, our creative output has never been better. In fact, according to AdAge, Leo Burnett is now the most creatively awarded agency in the world. Not bad. 

But, how does that all happen? Well, that’s what really makes Leo Burnett different - we put our people first. 

It’s this distinctive approach, combined with our passion for populist creativity and restless pursuit of excellence, that makes Leo Burnett such a uniquely special place to work. 

About The Department:

The Planning Director will be joing a team of 12 planners of varying levels of experience, the strength and breadth of this department will mean you have the opportunity to learn from some of the best in the business. 

The department also has a social & content function, as well as a specialist insights department, both of which you will engage with as you look to deliver on the big and exciting creative opportunities of McDonald’s.  

Overview 

As a Planning Director, your time will be spent leading the strategy across a number of key projects on the McDonald’s account.  

McDonald’s is one of the nation’s biggest, most beloved and creatively outstanding brands, and so each of these projects will represent both an exciting creative and strategic challenge. You will be expected to lead your team to harness and leveage these opportunities to their fullest.

To assit you in this role, you will be provided with oversight from our Head of Planning and CSO, and support from up to two different Junior Planners, a social & content Planner and our agency’s insights department. 

Key responsibilities:

• Leading brand & creative strategy across a number of key projects on the McDonald’s account.  
• Executing campaigns with strategic & creative excellence.
• Managing the work and development of up to two Junior Planners.
• Managing, directing, synthesising and (occasionally) contracting a range of data & insight resources.
• Developing strong client relationships, to ensure that your strategies are bought and that your influence is felt early in client strategic process.
• Developing trust with the creative department, by reliably providing them with insight, inspiration and guidance.
• Actively contributing to the knowledge sharing and mentorship of the planning department.
• Becoming known as a respected and much depended on source of energy, inspiration and wisdom within the wider agency

THE APPLICANT 

• Demonstrable experience in leading brand and creative strategy (majority of experience to be within creative agencies).
• Specific category experience not necessary, but strategic experience in the retail or food categories (or both) is a bonus.
• Must have evidence of contributing to strategically and creatively outstanding campaigns.

Competencies:

• Above all else, must be highly experienced and skilled at developing clear, simple and incisive strategies that lead to outstanding creative work. 
• Must be highly experienced and skilled within the broader subject of brand strategy – well practiced at positioning and protecting the brands they work on. 
• Must have a thorough understanding of campaign and brand effectiveness – able to monitor, analyse and evaluate both. 
• Must be able to drive projects forward and make them happen.
• Must be able to lead, mentor and have the ability to inspire others to follow in the direction they are are suggesting.
• Must be motivated by outstanding creativity and ambitious in raising the bar. 
• Must be a proactive self starter, hungry for finding new opportunities. 

Diversity and inclusion is a core part of our DNA at Publicis UK. We’re committed to building an inclusive culture that encourages, celebrates and supports our wonderfully diverse employee group irrelevant of their age, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability or ethnicity. Diversity and inclusion fuels our creativity and innovation, it enables us to be closer to our people and audiences. We will continue to strive to create a culture and environment where everyone feels empowered and more importantly comfortable enough to bring their full, authentic selves to work.