This role is open to be based from: Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; Los Angeles, CA; Chicago, IL.

We are seeking a Senior Brand Strategist for the global Microsoft account.

Assembly Media Inc. is a subsidiary of Daniel J. Edelman Holdings, Inc. Built to thrive amid the full complexity of today's modern marketing, Edelman is the world's largest independent communications agency. We help some of the world's most famous companies evolve, promote, and protect their brands.

At Assembly, we help Microsoft bring to life its mission: to help every person on the planet achieve more. We are experts in the products and offerings and tasked with helping them think beyond the product roadmap to find the best way to bring their unique stories to broad audiences. Our work is designed to capture the attention of the American media landscape, and the ability to uncover a cultural tension is at the heart of our briefs.

The Senior Brand Strategist needs to be a self-starter, a creative problem solver for our clients that can craft a strategy and make it sing, from initial brief to execution. We move fast, so we need someone who can work quickly and collaboratively, at times taking minimal information and filling in the gaps with insight and structure. From initial insight to final decks, we need someone who can craft a strategy into a persuasive story that inspires creative teams and excites clients. We like to nerd out and get our hands dirty and expect you to bring your full strategic arsenal to do the same.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic guidance to clients across product, masterbrand and purpose initiatives.

• Help clients see human problems behind their business challenges and set the path for how communications can solve the challenge(s) and drive brand growth.

• Create a strategy and creative brief that not only solves the business challenge but leads to ideas that capture media and consumers attention. In the process you are in charge of guiding research teams and junior support and turning observations and data into actionable strategy.

• Consult and keep the work on brief and up to standards, as the creative and other teams build out the creative work, ensuring things like measurement and channel plans ladder back to the strategy.

• Understand and decipher campaign results and find ways to optimize and continue to build campaigns and equity even after launch.

• Guide client in yearly planning and goal setting, working with a team to deliver a strategic framework, narrative, and beyond to set the year up for success.

• Collaborate with agency team members from creative, account, production, PR, strategy, planning and analytics to produce smart, powerful work.

• Manage multiple projects simultaneously.

• At the end of the day, you are a problem solver, that can make meaning from mess and guide internal teams and clients to effective solutions. Sometimes this means being creative and innovative in how you problem solve (i.e. bringing forward a new research technique or a bespoke process.)

Basic Qualifications:

• 4+ years of experience working as a highly creative (and effective) strategist

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree from an accredited university or college

• Experience working at a top tier PR, marketing, digital or advertising agency

• A diverse array of experience across multiple brand categories

• A deep understanding of how brands work, and what it takes to drive people to action, and ultimately generate cultural attention and change

• A portfolio of brilliant insights leading to effective consumer-facing campaigns

• Enthusiasm for driving creative ideas that push boundaries and shape culture

• Client-side experience and/or experience working with clients in an interagency dynamic

• A finger on the pulse of media, news, and trending topics

• Passionate about gaming, gamers and entertainment

• Experience with DE&I and multicultural initiatives

Ideal Personality Traits:

• Curious: About what makes people "tick"; has a keen interest in discovering insights into human behavior and going beyond what people say they think/do.

• Leader: Can command attention and respect of direct reports, peers and clients.

• Passionate: For breakthrough, media-agnostic ideas and effective brand-building.

• Interested: In pop culture and media and how the two are interconnected.

• Inventive: Wants to think, try and do new things

• Collaborative: Works just as well with others as on their own.

• Organized: Can multi-task, provide clear direction and keep everything on track.

• Adventurous: Willing to get out there and talk to real people; not content to observe from behind a desk

#LI-KW1

Assembly is an integrated agency providing purpose-built communications to Microsoft - bringing strategy, creative, research, social and digital, and influencer marketing together to drive tangible business results and advance Microsoft's mission to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more.

We advocate for ideas based on real audience insights and sound strategic opportunities and bring them to life with creative executions that earn attention. We are the team behind some of Microsoft's most exciting work across Surface, Xbox, M365, and Windows to name a few. We are the lead agency for the Microsoft brand across social; the global PR agency of record for Xbox; and the influencer agency of record for Xbox, Surface, M365 and Windows. Assembly is also a strategic partner for executive communications across Microsoft Store and several executives across the company.

Our results are a direct reflection of our culture and people - we believe that bringing together diverse perspectives enhance creativity and innovation, and we embrace and celebrate differences both in our organization and through our work. We've partnered with Microsoft for 27 years, across 17 countries around the world. Come be a part of our collective story as we partner with Microsoft to enable each other to achieve more.

Assembly Media was founded in 2014 under DJE Holdings to exclusively service Microsoft. In 2019 our parent agency, Edelman, was recognized by AdAge as one of the top 10 creative companies in the U.S. and recognized as a 2019 Best Place to Work.

Employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (i.e., at least 2 weeks after last dose) and, if hired, present proof of vaccination before start date. Candidates may request an accommodation due to disability, sincerely held religious belief or exception required under applicable law.

Assembly is an equal opportunity employer of all protected classes, including veterans and individuals with disabilities.

For more information please visit: www.edelman.com