Associate Account Planning Director

The Associate Director of Account Planning will serve as a key strategist and leader on accounts and new business, ensuring that creative output is aligned with the insights of the target audience. The Associate Director of Account Planning will provide analytical and insightful direction to the creative team to ensure that campaigns are relevant to the consumer and effectively meet the client’s business objectives. In this role, the Associate Director will advocate for the consumer through thought leadership and by championing training initiatives that enhance the team’s understanding of the agency’s mission as “the voice of the consumer.” The Associate Director will mentor Account Planners, ensuring the quality of creative briefs, analysis of data, research methodologies, and competitive analysis is insightful and effective.

Principal Responsibilities & Duties:

• Work collaboratively with peers in related strategy disciplines (research & business analytics) to deliver meaningful and insightful support for assigned projects.
• Engage with agency brand leadership and clients to understand business objectives, competitive challenges, and lead brand strategy development for the team.
• Develop a business plan for consumer insights and account planning, helping formalize the role of account planning within the agency, and strengthening the vision for LNC’s strategic intelligence and consumer insights.
• Identify and create professional training opportunities for the account planning team, including periodic reading assignments and data-sharing sessions.
• Oversee operations of assigned accounts, focusing on the mentorship and skill growth of teammates, and manage projects during and after assignments.
• Design and serve as one of the principal investigators for consumer insight-building primary research, including ethnographic studies and consumer panels.
• Collaborate with marketing/advertising professionals and academic consultants to develop market segmentation models for multicultural and total market communities.
• Participate in new business pitches by preparing industry-related consumer insights for prospective clients.
• Contribute to the preparation of presentations on market and consumer data for existing clients, new pitches, and other public engagements such as conferences.

Background/Experience/Education/Skills:

• Looking for a passionate student of human nature, an investigator at heart, and a keen observer with the ability to assess situations in an unbiased manner
• Marketing, Advertising, or advanced social science degree, preferably with a specialization in the Hispanic consumer market.
• 6-8 years of research, planning, and managerial experience.
• Experience working as an account planner in an agency environment, with strong knowledge of agency processes.
• Previous involvement in new business pitches; dynamic presenter with the ability to engage clients.
• Preferably fluent in English and Spanish (both verbal and written).
• Excellent communication, presentation, and persuasion skills.
• Experience with the U.S. Hispanic market preferred (including familiarity with primary and secondary data sources).
• Strong understanding of human behavior and consumer psychology.
• Superior observation skills and the ability to separate personal biases from observed consumer behaviors and attitudes.
• Affinity for fieldwork and the capacity to immerse in the community to extract actionable insights.
• Ability to distill data and observations into actionable insights and prioritize these insights for communication development.
• Interest in social development, behavioral trends, and market dynamics.
• Proficiency in MS Office, particularly PowerPoint and Excel.
• Organized, analytical, and a strong consensus-builder.
• Familiarity with secondary databases (MRI Simmons, Mintel, Nielsen, Yankelovich, and others).