Director, Multicultural

Director, Multicultural & Inclusive Strategy

Zenith is looking for a driven and passionate individual to fill the Director, Multicultural & Inclusive Strategy role to deliver more meaningful, culture-driven, and business-centric marketing and media strategies for a major financial services client. This person will be integral in the development, execution, and stewardship of integrated media plans for the client's business that deliver on a highly inclusive vision. This position reports directly to the VP, Strategy with practice support from EVP, Cultural Convergence.

Responsibilities include:

• Inclusive strategy, media plan development, and collaboration across practices is table stakes.
• Leads the development of Inclusive, Multicultural, and DEI media strategies that activate consumer insights, drive innovation for clients, and provides structure for brand channel presence/priorities.
• Acts as team lead on client's business and oversees all aspects of the assigned LOB(s). Responsible for managing projects and resources for subsidiaries/business unit.
• Distills client briefs and translates them into a culturally relevant & insights-led media strategy and activation brief with clear media objectives. Works collaboratively with broader Strategy team to analyze client business situation to identify key opportunities to reach and connect with diverse consumers.
• Builds audience profiles and insights that illustrate diverse consumer behavioral and psychographic motivations. Goes beyond demographics and top-level findings to deliver insightful illustration on consumer habits, preferences, and channel behaviors that are rooted in culture.
• Supports development of and identifies key roles for diverse consumers, diverse-reaching and diverse-owned media partners, and targeting tactics. Helps to define how media should deliver on a holistic strategy while accounting for diverse audience nuances and barriers.
• Has a stakeholder role in product and process innovation, including briefs, workshops, channel planning work sessions, and other team collaborations to enhance how we use communications to help our clients' business when it comes to diverse consumers and the diverse-reaching & diverse-owned media ecosystem.
• Partners with Investment and Data/Analytics teams, ensuring that the diverse consumer strategies are actioned in the marketplace and accounted for appropriately within measurement frameworks and learning agendas. Works closely with broader team to ensure that strategy is followed through to execution.
• Develops client-facing holistic presentations & recommendations. Takes ownership of bespoke culturally-led POVs, recommendations, and requests, with the support of the broader team.
• Establishes and develops client relationships by understanding client business needs and applying expertise to create tangible solutions, with a drive for curiosity and passion for innovation in creating culturally-centric activations that deliver on client business goals.
• Collaborates with partner agencies to integrate messaging and creative campaigns into overall media/communications plans from a diverse consumer standpoint.
• Acts as a resource to the broader team and clients, expected to share insights and learning, serving as an SME within the team for all things culture. Develops strategic intelligence by keeping abreast of diverse audiences, industry developments, macro and consumer trends, technology, and cultural movements.
• Maintains an in-depth knowledge of the client business, operations, challenges, competitive landscape, and diverse consumer marketplace.
• Ensures that teams adopt best-in-class tools, techniques, and systems to deliver plan recommendations aligned to client's objectives.
• Provides direction, mentorship, training, and management to support direct and indirect reports.

Qualifications include:

• Above all else, this candidate must embody the values of the Cultural Convergence practice. Candidates must showcase passion, expertise, and commitment to pushing a client's work towards greater sophistication in connecting with diverse consumers and establishing cultural relevance. We are all about culture in this practice and value your unique perspective to drive positive results and impact with communities.
• This candidate is not easily discouraged, nor are they risk-adverse. They will bravely see each team or client interaction as an opportunity to identity a problem and bring forth a culture-first solution. They love creating the 'never been done' and strive to stay ahead of the cultural curve, identifying opportunities for the client's brand to build first-to-market, groundbreaking, and award-winning work.
• They are a self-starter and not easily intimidated. We are highly collaborative at Zenith so don't hold it back if you disagree or have an idea to deliver success for our clients.
• They will be a 'culture-first' resource to others in the resolution of complex problems/issues and know how to unpack a client question to understand what they are really trying to solve for.
• This candidate will have direct, ongoing support from both the account leads on the business, as well as the EVP, Cultural Convergence across Zenith, to help set them up for success.

Minimum qualifications include:

• B.A. or B.S. in Advertising, Marketing, humanities, liberal arts, or related fields.
• 8+ years of media planning experience with concentration in culture-first Strategy & Planning across Hispanic/Latino, African American/Black, Asian-American/Pacific-Islander, LGBTQ+
• Agency experience highly preferred
• 5+ years of experience in a management capacity
• Adept at injecting ideas, innovation, and leading industry developments into planning assignments.
• Thinks clearly and diplomatically when participating in a discussion to field complex or sensitive questions from clients/internal groups.
• Demonstrates an ability to be curious and passionate about our client's business.
• Strong media partner relationships and marketplace understanding across diverse-owned and diverse-targeted partners.
• Proven experience and success in presenting plans to senior-level clients and influencing top level client decisions related to media strategy and implementation.
• Excellent written/verbal communication, presentation, organizational, interpersonal and analytical skills.
• Accountability and flexibility with the ability to work in a fast-paced environment.
• Able to guide others in defining high level strategy for business unit.
• Able to manage a budget, control costs, plan and schedule around cost concerns for business unit.
• Excellent organizational, interpersonal and quantitative/analytical skills.
• Positive, team-player attitude with a desire to facilitate collaboration and collective growth among the team.
• Must be a self-starter, detail-oriented and proven ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment.
• Participation in special projects involving cross department team development.

Computer Skills/Software Knowledge: Microsoft Suite, Nielsen Suite, Kantar, IMS, Flowchart Software, R/F and Optimization Software, Social Tracking tools, comScore, Prisma, MBOX, MRI/GfK, GWI. Must understand its capabilities and applications to translate data into actionable culture-first insights.