Senior External Communications Manager

  • Full-time

Company Description

Publicis Groupe UK is the second largest market within Publicis Groupe, one of the ‘big four’ marketing services groups employing more than 87,000 people across 100 countries. In the UK, we have 25 agencies and more than 5,000 talented people. Our ‘Power of One’ model means we can draw on expertise from right across our agencies and specialist divisions to deliver for our clients. This model is designed to encourage collaboration, and opportunities for our people to grow and develop.

Our agencies include Saatchi & Saatchi, Digitas, Leo Burnett, Zenith, Starcom, MSL, Taylor Herring, Langland, and Publicis Sapient and our clients are some of the biggest advertisers including P&G, BT, McDonald’s, Lloyds Banking Group, GSK, Samsung and Disney.

We introduced our flexible working programme three years ago. Emerging from the pandemic, we introduced a set of principles that accompany our hybrid working policy. These principles are ‘Heads Up, Heads Down and Heads Together’ and they guide where and how we work. The goal is to facilitate productivity, creativity and progress.

Our people can work from anywhere in the world for up to six weeks every year (after one year’s service). People can also find accommodation for their trip through Home Swap Home, on our AI platform, Marcel, which is available to all employees.

At Publicis Groupe UK, we’re building a workplace where people can succeed irrespective of background or circumstance. Our DEI Charter builds on the core Publicis Groupe principle of ‘Viva La Difference’ – the belief that we are better, stronger and braver when we celebrate difference. The Behavioural Charter informs the inclusive behaviours that we expect from everyone. We are working hard to attract people from more diverse backgrounds into the industry.

Over the past few years, we’ve introduced family friendly policies, which cover shared pregnancy/maternity, paternity/second parent, shared parental leave, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy loss, fertility and neo-natal care. We’ve introduced meaningful programmes to support people going through the menopause, and more recently, domestic abuse as well as disability and trans inclusion policies and a carers’ policy coming soon. They all provide a framework to help individuals and their managers navigate different life stages in a consistent manner with the right guidance and expertise where it’s needed.

 We’ve committed to delivering the transformation needed across our operations to be carbon net zero by 2030. We have a huge role to play in helping the world achieve the race to zero. The work we do with our clients means the reach and the scale of our potential impact is huge. We believe in progress not perfection, and the important role our people and our work can play in shaping a net zero society.

Job Description

The role:

This is a newly created role that is critical both in helping build the profile of Publicis Groupe UK to attract clients and talent, and in providing best practice, and streamlining the way we deliver external communications for our agency brands. This individual will lead on reputation building, focusing on our strengths in areas including leadership and DEI, making the best use of our spokespeople and coming up with innovative ideas to continuously improve the way we do things. The job will involve both identifying and packaging existing newsflow and creating news.

The individual:

We are looking for a communications professional with natural gravitas and a track record of developing and delivering communications strategies to achieve results. You’ll need to be a strong communicator with excellent writing skills, someone who enjoys the cut and thrust of media relations, is good at managing stakeholders and providing counsel, someone who is very action-oriented, organised and good on detail. You’ll need to be able to work at pace when it’s required and be comfortable working with senior leaders. You’ll be a thinker and a doer who can handle complexity and manage several projects in tandem. You’ll work closely with our CEO, Chief Talent Officer, Chief Data and Product Officer, Head of DEI and others.

Key responsibilities:

  • Develop and deliver strategies to build reputation among target audiences.
  • Help to articulate a distinctive narrative for Publicis Groupe UK.
  • Build relationships with journalists (business editors, media correspondents, planning desks, marketing trade titles etc.).
  • Hands on media relations, pitching news, profiles and opinion pieces.
  • Develop key messages for different areas of the business and initiatives
  • Write press releases, reactive statements and Q&As.
  • Amplify communications results on social media and through internal channels, as part of the wider communications team.
  • Identify and share best practice, striving for excellence and efficiency.
  • Build relationships with stakeholders from across the business to build trust and demonstrate the value of communications.
  • Regular reporting to ensure alignment with stakeholders.

Qualifications

  • Bright, self-starter who takes the initiative, proactive and resilient.
  • Organised, good at planning ahead with excellent attention to detail.
  • Natural gravitas, a great communicator and collaborator, working with multiple stakeholders, ability to command a room.
  • At home in a fast-paced environment with the ability to think on your feet, work in an agile manner and adapt to changing requests.
  • Engaging, positive, enthusiastic, good at building relationships.
  • Self-aware, comfortable bringing personality to work, challenges when appropriate, works well with others and leads by example.
  • Excellent presentation skills, able to structure intelligent and compelling plans.
  • Extensive knowledge and understanding of the media and experience of managing issues.
  • A proven team player, with the ability to remain flexible.
  • Digitally savvy and passionate about communications.
  • Experience in similar roles within an agency or in-house environment.

Additional Information

As part of our dedication to create an inclusive and diverse workforce, Publicis Groupe UK is committed to equal access to opportunity for people without regard to race, age, sex, disability, neurodiversity, sexual orientation, gender identity or religion. We are committed to providing reasonable adjustments for candidates with disabilities in our application process.

If you need assistance or adjustment due to a disability, please contact us.

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