Role Objective

We are looking for an enthusiastic, creative, curious Account Executive to join our Volvo and Haribo teams.

Volvo over the past ten years has rebranded itself into a premium brand, which places innovation, technology and luxury and its heart. This is an exciting time in the Automotive industry as brands seek to navigate the movement into electric vehicles and the challenges this brings. Your role will be supporting the planning team in their work on shaping and creating successful campaigns. Specifically, you will be working to understand audience behaviours, exploring emerging automotive trends and the competitive landscape, these are essential in this competitive category. We work closely with our Strategy and Live Planning teams to develop media strategies that reaches our audiences in new and innovative ways. As a global account, you will also work closely with the Central teams, helping to ensure their strategies are delivered through a nuanced UK approach. Underpinning these campaigns, Volvo are entering an exciting new phase of business transformation, as they flip their business model to a direct-to-consumer proposition, meaning we have a lot of opportunity to shape the way Volvo talks to consumers moving forwards.

HARIBO is Europe’s largest and most successful manufacturer of sugar confectionery, founded in 1920 by Hans Riegel Senior,. Today, HARIBO is still a family business run by the Riegel family. From 16 manufacturing sites throughout the world, HARIBO exports its range of gums & jellies, soft & chewy, liquorice and marshmallow products to over 90 different countries, employing approximately 7000 people.

HARIBO as a manufacturer owns 2 brands – HARIBO & MAOAM. In the UK, the HARIBO brand is particularly famous for its Kids Voices TV campaign – showing how HARIBO sweets bring Childlike Happiness – as well as its top selling share bags Starmix, Tangfastics, Supermix and Giant Strawbs. While the MAOAM brand is known for its chewy sweets that are full of flavour and with a long-lasting taste experience, with their most popular products being Stripes & Pinballs. Over the last few years, HARIBO has consistently seen strong sales performances. 2022 has been a particularly stellar year, with HARIBO sales at 18% YTD (ahead of the total sugar confectionery market at 8.2%), cementing HARIBO’s position even further as the UK’s leading sugar confectionery manufacturer.

In recent years, HARIBO has been transitioning from a relatively straightforward TV communications led approach to a broader multi-channel approach that is more fit for purpose in the modern world. You would be working with the HARIBO client and team at Mindshare, along with other agencies in HARIBO’s wider marketing remit, to evolve their communications planning, with a focus on how Mindshare can create a step change in HARIBO’s paid media strategy.

About the role

The Connections Planning team plays a crucial role in designing the audiences, connections, content and measurement that deliver the most innovative and effective solutions to clients. To do this requires a team of people with a high degree of knowledge of the UK media market and a deep understanding of the role of technology in driving opportunities to target audiences, its impact on the connections and content that will engage people, and how media can be measured and optimised.

Members of the team understand consumer trends and are able to translate insights and strategic direction into actionable media solutions. They interact with a wide range of other teams including Intelligence and Strategic Planning, the specialist channel teams that execute the media, and the Live Planning team that optimises across all media channels.

Working closely with and supporting Connections Planners along with Strategic planning and Client Leadership makes up a large proportion of an Account Executives’ time and means you will have the opportunity to learn how Mindshare approaches the definition and design of the audiences, connections, content, and measurement that comprise our media solutions. The bulk of your time will be spent supporting the team in planning exciting, award-winning campaigns as well as working with channel specialists to make those plans a reality.

Prior media/marketing experience is not a pre-requisite. A combination of “hands-on” experience and a structured training programme means Account Executives gain a comprehensive knowledge of how a media agency business operates and an understanding that is the cornerstone of a successful career in the media industry.

Required key skills & behaviours:

• Enthusiastic and positive with a genuine interest in a career in marketing and advertising
• Enthusiastic, reliable and excellent team player
• Inquisitive and curious with a drive to really get under the skin of our client’s marketing
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong organisation skills incl. time and project management
• High level of comfort using data – both small and large datasets
• The ability to analyse data to discover insights
• Comfortable working in teams and will be able to proactively engage and collaborate with peers
• Proficiency in Excel, PowerPoint and Word

• A strong salary commensurate and in-line with relevant experience
• 25 days annual leave and your birthday day off
• Ongoing internal and external training opportunities
• Flexible working
• The opportunity to attend industry conferences and awards nights
• Career and personal progression
• Private Healthcare
• Excellent pension matching structure