The role

The TNE Cluster Client Lead role owns the senior relationships with the Toyota and Lexus clients in the Nordic & Baltics regions (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) with a focus on the Toyota Northern Europe President and CMO (both based in Norway). Toyota Northern Europe is moving through a period of change with a continuing shift to electrification and the need to improve marketing effectiveness in an ever more competitive market.

The TNE Cluster Client Lead needs to be a trusted partner of these key clients, understanding their business and category in detail, driving their marketing performance and evolving the approach over time.

T&P are building a new Nordics & Baltics Cluster, centralising activity into a Hub in Sweden that will set the direction for local Nordic teams. The Nordic Client Lead will lead this Cluster and the T&P Account Leads from Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland & Baltics will report directly to them. The TNE Cluster Client Lead will be part of a Cluster Leadership team working closely with a Cluster Steerco at the T&P European Hub in London. A key part of this role will be connectivity with the Hub, sharing all activity with the Hub and scaling best practice.

The successful candidate will have extensive experience in not only full-funnel creative and media content distribution but will also have worked with Customer comms. too. A primary emphasis on performance media strategy and execution will be crucial for success in this role. The team is multi-discipline and multi-market and this role will play a key role in guiding the client through what will be a transformative period in the automotive sector.

Building and maintaining a high-performing and positive culture is also key. The successful candidate will be a proven leader, respected by peers, senior leadership, direct reports and team members equally; knowing how to drive standards in a fast-paced environment whilst also taking people with them on a journey of transformation.

A critical part of this role is to support a mindset shift across the T&P teams in the Nordics instilling client service best practice, a culture of proactivity vs. reactivity and a focus on speed of response, quality delivery and cost effectiveness. The role will also be responsible for ensuring that all T&P teams across the Nordics & Baltics are maximising the usage of and benefit from ‘WPP Open’ (WPP’s proprietary AI stack) as the agency network continues its rapid adoption of this new technology.

Key requirements

Strategic thinker

• Business-focused, brand thinker that owns and develops insightful strategies, with a keen understanding of how to drive measurable results through performance media

• Advise and guide senior clients

• Partner with senior creative, media and customer teams to develop and evolve the strategy, creative and delivery

Creative passion

• Drive strategically sound creative solutions

• Be a sound judge of creative work and have a desire to raise the bar

• Provide leadership in the production process which balances best in class delivery with cost efficiency

Client relationships

• Develop a thorough understanding of the client's business and the major factors and trends shaping their sector

• Build an excellent rapport with all clients based upon trust/mutual understanding

• Be the client’s first port of call for all issues and opportunities

• Foresee any client issues/questions or internal resourcing issues before they arise

• Deliver a client services best practice programme and clear objectives for all team members focussed on client service best practice, a culture of proactivity vs. reactivity and a focus on speed of response, quality delivery and cost effectiveness.

Operational skills

• Strong financial skills with focus on efficient project delivery

• Ability to lead and liaise with other departments to set the Agency up for success on all projects

• Own, manage and iterate the bespoke integrated process for the Agency including the roll out of Agile and WPP Open tools

• Strong focus on best in class delivery

Team leadership

• Manage a wide variety of disciplines and markets across multiple projects to ensure delivery on time, on budget and to the highest standard

• Grow and nurture direct reports providing coaching, guidance and inspiration

• Instilling client service best practice, a culture of proactivity vs. reactivity and a focus on speed of response, quality delivery and cost effectiveness.

Managing Performance

• Setting performance targets, objectives and KPIs

• Addressing under-performance effectively

• Providing structured performance objective setting sessions across your team with regular reviews on a weekly/monthly/annual basis

Governance

• Own and drive connectivity with the Hub and alignment with central strategy

• Share all Cluster work with the Hub in a timely manner and ensure all direct reports have the same objectives and KPIs relating to Governance

• Cultivate a team culture of sharing best practice with other markets

Skills and Experience required

• Extensive experience in marketing (Agency or Client or beyond)

• Fully integrated marketing experience across creative production, media and customer (preferably with automotive experience or at least a strong passion) with a particular focus on multi-touchpoint campaigns and a proven track record in driving performance media outcomes.

• Multi-market experience is preferable

• Persuasive and highly articulate when it comes to directing or presenting, inspiring confidence and trust in colleagues and clients alike

• Proven confidence to negotiate with and influence peers and senior clients

Success Criteria

• Client satisfaction measured through Vantage (WPP Client Sat Survey)

• Success management of the team commercials delivering a positive contribution margin to the business

• Successful integration and usage of WPP Open across Cluster ways of working and delivery

• Connectivity with the hub, all Cluster work shared in a timely manner with the Hub