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About the company

At Saatchi & Saatchi we have a simple ambition to make the most influential creative ideas from Modern Britain.

Ideas that are influential in driving business growth, building meaning in consumers’ lives, in our client’s organisations creating energy and in culture shaping change

Our founding spirit of Nothing is Impossible is more important now than ever before. We see it as a simple mindset that allows us to do unbelievable things, driven by the power of creativity.

Our culture is one of chutzpah and openness; of audacity, optimism and inclusivity. Because if you are going to attempt impossible things you have to have the talent, energy and belief to achieve them.

Job Description

The Strategist is an integral member of any client team; a considered, curious, thought-provoking voice in the running, output and success of the account.

The Strategist plays a vital supporting role in defining, delivering and steering strong, distinctive and effective strategy for the agency’s client partners.

The Squad Model

We have moved to a squad system at Saatchi & Saatchi to give our best talent the opportunity to run a company-within-a-company in order to grow as future leaders of the company.

Each squad has its own leadership team, comprised of a Managing Partner, Creative Leader, Production Partner and Strategy Partner. Squad leaders are accountable for the culture, the creative, the clients, and the cash in their squad. But they cannot do it alone.

This Strategist role will join the growing Squad B strategy team; driving strategic excellence within the squad, developing great creative work and growing client business (current and new).

Squad B

Over the past 12 months we, Squad B, have been creating the conditions for great work on each of our four clients. From accelerating the switch to electric with two of the most iconic car brands in the world, to giving the UK’s biggest QSR chain the swagger it deserves. Most recently, we won the hearts and minds of one of the UK’s bravest and most brilliant supermarkets – and are at the start of a truly transformative journey with them.

What you’ll do 

Primarily, this role is to support the development of brand, creative and comms strategy on our brand new and brilliant grocery account. This will involve:

• Living and breathing the category
• Constantly searching for ways to bring the voice of the consumer into the room
• Working with the growing Data arts team to manage and synthesise a range of data & insight resources
• Developing thinking to inform full-funnel campaigns
• Helping to drive integration between different channels (from agency partners, to teams within the client’s business)
• Developing strong client relationships with the day-to-day team – to enable us to stay one step ahead of how they’re thinking and feeling, and growing your influence as a go-to strategic mind in the team
• Developing trust with the creative department, by reliably providing them with insight, inspiration and guidance
• Supporting the development of effectiveness case studies for the work of the Squad and Squad entries into Strategy and Effectiveness awards

Who you’ll do it with 

These roles and responsibilities are delivered in concert with the Strategy Directors and Strategy Lead in the squad, and in partnership with Brand, Creative and Production.

Skills Required

What it takes 

• The ability to become a subject matter expert quickly, and share information and intelligence in a coherent, structured and simple way
• Experience in influencing the strategic and creative output of an agency, in concert with more senior talent
• Experience in applying the fundamentals of strategy to solving client’s problems (ie. audience profiling, insight definition, proposition writing, cultural commentary, competitive landscape mapping, etc)
• Resourcefulness and comfort in the face of limited time, budget and information
• Ability to evangelise how distinctive strategic thinking can add to the success of the brands they work on and the agencies they work for
• Hunger to learn, craft and hone strategic ideas, creative ideas and creative rationales into convincing, persuasive narratives
• A curiosity for the intersection of our client’s businesses and Modern Britain

What success looks like 

• Quality of the Squad B’s strategy offering for clients as represented by client TRR scores (our ongoing relationship monitor)
• Elevation of the quality of Squad B’s creative work as judged by the Leadership team and external creative awards.
• Becoming a person everyone wants on their account or pitch
• Getting stuck in to good Squad B vibes