Media Strategy Director

Who We Are

At Lindt, we are a global fast-growing consumer goods company, enchanting the world with premium chocolate. We are driven by our passion for excellence and go the extra mile ensuring that every Lindt experience is nothing short of exceptional. Our collective efforts are geared towards making a positive impact, not only in the world of premium chocolate but also in the lives of our employees, customers, and communities. Our company embraces a culture defined by the core values of Excellence, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Responsibility, and Collaboration, fostering a dynamic and collaborative environment where these principles drive our success.

Position Purpose :

The Director of Media will leverage world-class media expertise to translate strategic brand priorities into best-in-class media strategy & media plans that drive measurable awareness and demand across Lindt USA. This role will apply a strategic media mindset with a high level of attention to detail to partner with the media agency to develop highly effective & efficient media plans and supervise optimization of all media campaigns. This role will utilize her / his analytical mindset to drive and manage the media strategies through utilization of data, performance analysis, and exploration and testing of new media channels and growth tactics. While continuously leveraging proven, traditional media channels, this role will utilize a strong test & learn mindset to develop a multi-year learning agenda to continuously improve the Lindt media plans and capitalize on key consumer & media trend evolutions. This role will actively contribute to the global Lindt learning agenda, collaborating with colleagues at international headquarters and across countries & spearheading global media tests as appropriate. The Director of Media will be responsible for teaching and training the internal brand team on key media strategies, principles, and learnings, and partnering with the team to gather key media inputs for the annual planning process.

Essential Job Functions & Responsibilities :

Media Leadership :

Serve as the primary link between the brand team, international marketing, insights manager, and the media agency for strategic planning, briefing, tactical execution & optimizations of media plans

Oversee the execution of all paid media by the media agency(s) : linear / non-linear TV, OTT, OLV, paid social, and potential future digital channels across all advertised brands.

Lead the annual strategic media planning process (internal Lindt annual marketing planning process and the upfronts) including key briefs, analyses, and presentations, to achieve buy in from senior leadership.

Source and own the rolling master media plans, updating throughout the year as necessary

Lead all aspects of media financial investment and oversight : budget planning and invoice reconciliation

Lead media audit processes - contractual & annual media performance, with support from International and 3rd party auditor

Lead any contract negotiations and pitches with support from International, Legal, and 3rd party consultants

Serve as primary collaborator with the Communication / PR teams for any paid social campaigns / tests & influencer marketing

Provide guidance to the brand teams on creative and media asset needs, based on the media plans

While this role does not include direct responsibility for Retail / E-Commerce teams for SEM / SEO efforts or Wholesale / E-Commerce teams for media support, the Director of Media should build strong partnerships with these groups and be able to make actionable recommendations for potential synergies.

Proactively stay current with industry news, consumer trends, and media platforms that can drive media evolution & business performance

Build understanding of the Lindt brand equity and sub-brand equities. Ensure all media channels are aligned to Lindt equity and reflect the brands position in the marketplace

Demonstrate media expertise and navigate complex issues with a strong understanding of the brand strategy and best in class media practices

Improvement & Innovation :

Continuously identify opportunities to improve effectiveness and efficiency of media strategy and plans

Define and establish multi-year Lindt USA media learning agenda

Actively contribute to, learn from, and spearhead tests within the global digital and media learning agenda

Actively contribute to evolving the global media principles, as appropriate, that best reflect the changing media landscape

Lead mid-year and annual reviews with the media agency to build competitive landscape knowledge and identify areas for improvements as necessary

Measurement & Reporting

Lead review of all agency developed campaign performance analyses ensuring insightful, data-driven analysis that demonstrate the effectiveness of plans, cost analysis and optimization recommendations

Provide consistent media campaign / channel performance readouts and recommendations to business stakeholders

Develop KPI dashboard for annual plans and campaigns to track performance over time and over years

Establish and share media best practices and benchmarks; highlighting opportunities to test, learn and optimize / evolve based on knowledge of consumer insights, competitive media initiatives, new channels and / or offerings by channel

Qualifications & Requirements :

Experience :

Required

Minimum of 10+ years US integrated media (traditional linear TV + digital) planning experience or an equivalent amount of experience in a Brand Marketing role with significant (7+ years) of media oversight.

Experience working with FMCG brands; Experience with international organizations is a plus