Strategy Director Nike EMEA Initiative - Netherlands

OUR COMPANY

Initiative is different to other media agencies.

We are not trapped by a legacy structure primarily centered on paid advertising. Instead, we are liberated by a new world structure designed to deliver the best work for clients.

We understand the marketing world is complex, wrought with challenges and ever-changing at blistering pace. To navigate this world we believe in two fundamental principles of what great marketing, great brands and great media can achieve; connecting people to something bigger, and connecting people to themselves. By connecting to something bigger, uniting people in culture around shared experiences – brands build Fame. By connecting people to themselves, their individual needs and guiding them on their journey – brands build customer Flow.

We believe brands need Fame and Flow to grow. This is the entire framework our organisation and approaching to marketing communications is designed around.

Fame is more than awareness or relevance. Famous brands are sticky, memorable and talked about. Fame lodges your brand deep into the consumer mindset and thereby drives favourable brand choices when it matters the most. Flow moves consumers through the purchase process in the most seamless way. Flow happens when experience design, personalised content and precision media work in tandem to help consumers navigate the complex decision-making process leading to purchase. Critically they cannot exist in siloes - or in fragmented teams - but when correctly calibrated they reinforce and amplify each other.

Fame and Flow is our DNA and differentiator, and it’s what sets us apart from all other agencies – and of course, forms the foundation for how we look at bringing new talent and skill sets into the business.

NIKE

NIKE Inc. is the world's leading designer, marketer, and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessories.

Founded by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight in 1972, Nike has grown over the last 50 years into one of the most valuable, most loved and most emulated brands in the world, singular in its ability to create cultural conversation within the world of sports and fashion and far beyond.

Nike's mission is to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world; a mission expressed every day through product design, digital and physical retail consumer experiences, and brand communications.

Nike is relentlessly committed to innovation and moving the brand forward. Their goal is to continue driving growth for the consumer, the Nike Brand and the Business which is our core focus as the team working on the Nike account.

DISCIPLINE OVERVIEW: STRATEGY

Above all else, Initiative’s Strategists take the Initiative.

This team generate smart and strategic thinking that inspire and inform the conditions needed for each brand to grow. They understand the relationship between Fame and Flow and do not classify themselves as an either-or type Strategist. To succeed at Initiative, understanding the digital landscape and performance aspects which heavily influence ‘Flow’ are as well versed as their big, broadcast, fame-building thinking.

Future-focused and independent, Strategists sit as an entrepreneurial, agile unit of consumer, creative, digital and analytical experts who are cast and deployed according to the brief and skillset vs. Client. They take a holistic view to drive smarter, better and broader ‘media’ thinking that generates more interesting and rich territories for a brand to explore. They work in creative collaboration with all teams - Client Advice, Communications Design and Partnerships - to inspire and inform the creation and design of culturally led brand experiences.

On a Client Brief, Initiative Strategists are: 

• The Guardians of Growth – they understand how to utilise tools, systems and data to identify areas of growth for a brand that help set the direction of travel for the response to brief.
• Experts in audience – they understand that an audience strategy requires deep understanding of the brand’s growth goals, along with consumer and cultural insight. They are also constantly raising the bar for how we can help clients understand their consumer in new and interesting ways.
• Relentless in their pursuit of meaningful insight – they understand the tension an insight needs to deliver; the moment of provocation to inspire our clients and have them lean in. They also can distinguish when different types of insight are required – for example: behavioral vs media to add the most value in cross-functional or multi-agency scenarios.
• Fluent in Full Funnel marketing – With budgets shifting toward addressable media, it is an imperative Initiative Strategists are confident in speaking both Brand and Performance.
• The Leaders of the Communications platform which sets the clear direction for Communications Design and employs Fame and Flow principles that will follow through into the delivery of a plan.
• Protectors of the Strategy – While our process inevitably works its way through different teams through to activation, Initiative strategists are not hands off. They are there to ensure the strategic direction maintains its integrity and have an active role in PCAs to ensure end to end involvement.

Outside of a brief, Initiative Strategists are:

• Strategic businesses consults to our clients well beyond media – this is exhibited through their confidence and expertise in data and technology, and the application of our craft to their broader business challenges.
• Growth minded in every way – We don’t wait for briefs, we get close enough to our clients to understand the nuance of their business challenges and proactively go to them with opportunities and areas they should be thinking about.
• Thematic Thinkers – Initiative Strategists look beyond their patch to understand the themes multiple clients are facing and get a head start on problem solving, solution finding and optimising work streams to maximum effect across the client portfolio.
• Actively curious in our industry and motivated to share findings with the wider agency group to help propel fresh thinking and keep everyone abreast of trends.
• Owners of thought leadership – from conception to delivery, constantly pushing the boundaries for the most innovative ways to experience it, ie. They think beyond the white paper.

 ROLE OVERVIEW: STRATEGY DIRECTOR

The Strategy Director on Nike is responsible for developing strategic recommendations that solve client communication challenges. They have a major in Fame (Building Brand’s) and minor in Flow (Lower Funnel).

They will sit within the specialist strategy team. Their time focused on creating the best full funnel product on a case-by-case basis. They will do this by working flexibly across both the Nike Men’s and Women’s constructs, which include all Kids marketing as well. 

Reporting directly into the Head of Strategy and Group Strategy Director who are the Nike leadership team leads. The Strategy Director role will prioritise the creation of game changing responses that bring together audience insights, bold and integrated media ideas and innovation that helps grow the Nike business. A collaborative mindset, agility and the ability to move at speed are critical to succeed in this position.

With the support of their Strategy Head you are responsible for driving Nike’s vision for growth and sound strategic responses that result in positive outcomes for the Nike business. Everything we do it to move the Nike business towards growth.

You have a passion for people, brands and ideas and an innate, almost insatiable curiosity for culture in every sense. You believe that brands are driven by the desire to understand the changing world and people’s subsequent shifting motivations and behaviors.

The focus for this role is the quality and creativity of the work. This requires the ability to identify, embrace and sell new thinking.  Excellent presentation skills and leadership behaviors are essential to the job.

Creative thinking, excellent presentation & KeyNote skills are also critical in delivering success in this role. You should produce work that is held up as 'best practice' & 'award winning' both within the agency and externally.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Client:

• Lead the creation of strategic responses for Nike from briefing to final document
• Collaborate with the broader team to produce innovative, culturally relevant and best in class strategies
• Work alongside the Head of Strategy and Group Strategy Director to provide thought leadership
• Identify, develop and oversee the delivery of unique and innovative strategies to deliver Growth for Nike
• Demonstrate a good understanding of consumers and their behaviours
• Ensure rigour to support the strategic platform by employing industry & Initiative strategic tools/processes
• Clearly demonstrate how the strategy delivers on the business need and focus on results and measurement
• Ensure implementation remains true to strategic platform by working with the implementation team
• Drive exciting executional ideas and seek out unique media opportunities for clients ahead of the pack
• Collaborate with creative agencies and Mediabrands Special Business Units to deliver a seamless product
• With the strategy leads, maintain relevance of the Strategy ahead of client presentations
• A passion for creating innovative media ideas born through collaboration
• Excellent narrative construction and stakeholder management

Internal: 

• Drive integration on Nike’s business verticals (Consumer Field of Play, Channels, Marketplace, Data Capabilities).
• Understand, and explain the Nike bespoke planning process and its benefits to new staff or clients
• Adherence to agency process / engage the right people at the right time – supply clear implementation briefs to the implementation team and offer support during the implementation process, through to PCA’s.
• Take a leadership stance in sharing work internally, contributing to the Newsletter and other proactives
• Recognise potential PR-able, award-winning work & liaise with the Head of Strategy to develop awards
• Support training needs of junior Strategists as directed by the Nike Head of Strategy
• Deliver ‘best-in-class’ work as the standard for both internal & external documents and presentations
• Behave proactively by recognising projects to get involved in that will help bolster one’s experience
• Know when Nike’s briefing/planning periods are and manage team expectations in terms of workload

Prioritisation: 

• 100% Nike

Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s): 

• Client and New business
  • Client retention and satisfaction (TRR Scores)
  • Casestudies and external awards
• Internal
  • Proactive solutions and ideas
  • Positive 360 Reviews

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in related field or equivalent work experience
• 7+ years in integrated planning role in media, creative, innovation or communications discipline
• Ability to think differently: creative and adaptive, entrepreneurial, independently-minded; deeply immersed in cultural understanding and driven by a desire to know more the world / to better understand people’s motivations and behaviors in the shifting landscape

It is the policy of Initiative and IPG Mediabrands, divisions of the Interpublic Group, to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, citizenship, genetic information, veteran status, disability, or any other basis prohibited by applicable federal, state, or local law.