Serves as primary strategic support for senior members of planning team, primarily Senior Planners, Associate Planning Directors, and Planning Directors. Accesses and analyzes Toyota data, automotive industry trends and emerging cultural trends that may relate to Toyota or new business.  Works collaboratively with the Planning Analyst and Senior Strategic Planners and finds opportunities to build relationships and add value to media, account, and creative partners.  Supports on research projects. Supports and/or develops creative briefs, strategies, and presentations. Assigned to specific independent projects as needed, based on skills.

The Strategic Planner will provide deep consumer understanding and insight to inform the development of marketing and communications solutions at every stage. They will manage all the research and process pertaining to strategy development and creative development. Bilingual Spanish/English is strongly preferred.

He/she is the ultimate insight-miner, someone who’s hungry to learn and to share what they love (and see!) with their co-workers to inspire creative briefs. Serves as primary strategic support for senior members of planning team, primarily Senior Planners, Associate Planning Directors, and Planning Directors. Accesses and analyzes data, automotive industry trends and emerging cultural trends that may relate to client business.   

Responsibilities:

·       Provides consumer understanding and insight

·       Inspires multidisciplinary teams (creative, media, digital and social)

·       Pulls and interprets data: secondary and primary research, both qualitative and quantitative

·       Gathers insight and information

·       Brings the consumer to life (i.e., creating insightful and visually stimulating presentations, videos, day in the life of, etc.)

·       Analyzes and presents data in an insightful way that tells a story

·       Provides market context and understanding of current and potential targets for communication strategies

·       Analyzes the marketplace and environment to identify trends and opportunities

·       Manages a variety of qualitative and quantitative primary research projects, including: development of RFPs, vendor briefings and bids, design, screener, discussion guide/questionnaire and logistics

·       Moderates focus groups and other qualitative studies when required

·       Manages the execution of strategy related projects

·       Participates in the execution of agency initiatives and research projects (i.e., new business, white papers, exploring)

·       Collaborates in the development of stimulating Creative Briefs

·       Facilitates the creative development, feeding the creative, social and media teams with insight and working with them to ensure the work is on strategy

·       Creates insightful, visually engaging presentations

·       Presents internally to agency members and to Client

·       Builds a relationship of trust and respect with Client

Candidate Experience should include:

·       3+ years strategic planning or equivalent relevant experience

·       Demonstrable ability to uncover consumer insights and apply them to actionable creative strategies

-        Comfortable gathering and interpreting quantitative data

-        Able to cut through the noise to find insightful nuggets in qualitative data and desk research

-        Relentless curiosity and passion for understanding consumers and what inspires and motivates them

·       Ability to inspire teams with their knowledge of consumer insight and cultural trends

-        Teams include creatives, but also social, media, accounts, and fellow planners

-        Ability to successfully represent the consumer, bringing them to life in relatable and motivating ways

·       Keeps current on industry news, political climate, pop culture, and social trends

·       Expertise and comfort with wide range of research methods

-        Ability to manage primary research, from RFP development to screener and discussion guide design, to reporting

-        Interest in and ability to moderate qualitative studies

·       Ability to participate in agency initiatives such as new business pitches, white papers, agency presentations

·       Be a clear and confident presenter

-        Ability to design engaging presentations

-        Ability to present them clearly, concisely and engagingly

·       Have strong and clear written and verbal communication skills

·       Be a strong collaborator, willing and eager to work with teams comprised of varying departments, personality types, and levels

·       Ability to interact professionally and effectively with all team members and directly with clients

Other Skills and Abilities:

·       Balance of analytical and creative thinking with strong writing skills

·       Digital and social media knowledge

·       Highly proficient in Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) or equivalent;

·       Experience with syndicated research tools, cross-tabulation software and other resources (e.g., Simmons, Quid, Helixa, Brandwatch, Netbase)

·       While not required, Bilingual Spanish fluency is highly desirable

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.