Social Business Director

Social Business Director
Global & European FMCG Drinks Portfolio

Department: PR & Influence / Social & Content
Location: London
Contract type: Fixed-Term (12 months)
Full Time/Part time: Full Time
Reporting into: Managing Partner / Client Partner

About Ogilvy:

Ogilvy UK has been creating iconic ideas that deliver impact at scale for clients ever since David Ogilvy founded the company in 1948. Ogilvy UK specialises in bringing together brand advertising, customer experience marketing, PR, influence and consulting, all fuelled by Behavioural Science. Our world-class award-winning creative campaigns deliver solutions for clients including Sainsbury’s, Argos, Mondelēz International, Unilever, TK Maxx and Pernod Ricard.

In 2023, Ogilvy UK celebrated their 75th anniversary and was the most awarded agency in Europe. Ogilvy is home to the largest influencer marketing practice globally, and hosts the world’s biggest festival of behavioural science and creativity, Nudgestock – now in its 12th year.

The Role:

As a Social Business Director on the European and Global drinks portfolio business within Social, you will lead client partnership, strategic counsel and integrated delivery across the portfolio, designed to provide the client with fully focused, senior leadership on some of the world’s most iconic FMCG brands.

The role sits at the intersection of Social-first thinking, culture-led marketing, and integrated agency delivery, ensuring that PR, social, influence and advertising work together to create impact at scale across diverse markets

This pivotal role places you at the heart of our operations for large drinks portfolio, one of the world's most iconic and dynamic brands. As a key leader within WPP Open X, our bespoke, fully integrated agency solution dedicated exclusively to this FMCG Brand.

Your remit will span from the initial spark of ideation – identifying trends and innovative opportunities that drive cultural relevance – through the meticulous development of cutting-edge strategies tailored to diverse market nuances and brand objectives. You will lead the charge on defining compelling creative narratives and content frameworks, ensuring brand consistency and breakthrough engagement. Subsequently, you will oversee flawless execution, transforming strategy into impactful activations across various platforms and geographies.

This role demands a holistic leader capable of driving innovation, navigating complex client relationships, and delivering measurable results within a dynamic, multi-market agency environment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Social & Campaign Leadership: Lead large, complex social-first projects and manage key campaigns for an exciting tech client portfolio, from ideation through to execution.
• Strategic Counsel: Provide senior-level strategic guidance to clients, confidently holding your own in strategic conversations and ensuring all work aligns with strategic objectives.
• Integrated Team Management: Lead and motivate an integrated team, including an Account Manager, Community Manager, and Creatives, to deliver best-in-class social content and campaigns.
• Content & Performance Oversight: Oversee the delivery of social content and ensure it is performing effectively on an ongoing basis by leveraging insights from the research and data team.
• Client & Stakeholder Management: Build trusted partner relationships with senior-level clients, manage multi-level stakeholders in complex organisations, and act as a key point of escalation.
• Commercial Acumen: Take responsibility for the commercials of all projects, managing profitability, resource requirements, and growth opportunities. Ensure proposals are delivered within budget and manage client expectations on costs.
• Process & Delivery: Steer processes and ways of working internally and with partners, ensuring social campaigns are delivered on budget and on time in a Social-First environment.
• Creative Excellence: Collaborate with creative teams to inspire, spot, and push for creative genius, ensuring the best social creative solution is delivered for the client's business problem.

Key Leadership Competencies:

• Social & Digital Expertise: Possess strong skills in paid and organic social, with experience across a wide variety of clients and projects from small, response-driven workstreams to larger, complex social experiences across multiple platforms.
• Strategic & Non-Linear Thinker: Understand the strategic and business context the client is operating in and use this knowledge to develop effective solutions. Demonstrate creative problem-solving and consider different angles on a brief.
• Relationship Builder: A strong relationship builder who can make friends, influence people, and maintain strong partnerships with internal and external stakeholders to protect the work and activate new opportunities.
• Leadership & Accountability: An organised and autonomous leader who takes responsibility for large projects, motivating the team while holding them and yourself accountable for the work and the process.
• Excellent Communicator: Provide clear, succinct guidance to internal teams and confidently present work to clients, acting as a champion for the social craft.
• Financially Savvy: Possess good commercial acumen, with a strong understanding of how to manage resource requirements, ensure profitability, and drive growth.
  
  

Skills for Your Growth to Client Partner:
To support your progression, you will be expected to develop capabilities in the following areas:

• C-Suite Partnership & Business Acumen: Transition from a practice leader to a C-suite strategic advisor. Develop a deep, holistic understanding of the client's entire business model, competitive landscape, and financial drivers to become an indispensable partner to their most senior leaders.
• Integrated Solution Leadership: Evolve from leading a single capability to orchestrating the agency's full suite of services. Master the art of integrating diverse crafts—from brand advertising and PR to consulting and data—to solve the client's most complex business problems.
• Enterprise Commercial Strategy: Shift focus from departmental P&L management to owning the entire client commercial relationship. Drive enterprise-level growth by identifying strategic opportunities across the client's organization and negotiating large-scale, multi-year partnerships.
• Relationship as the Core Product: Move from a role where the craft is the primary product to one where the strategic client relationship itself is the core deliverable. Your success will be measured by your ability to build unwavering trust and long-term loyalty at the highest levels.
  
  

Personal Qualities:

• Someone that loves to get stuck into a task, and collaborate with the client and agency teams to make stuff happen!
• You know how to execute with digital, social, platform-first thinking and how the brand needs to behave within these environments to drive engagement.
• Demonstrated track record of P&L ownership and delivering significant, year-on-year business growth.
• Proven success in leading and winning multi-million-pound new business pitches.
• Understand the importance of brand metrics and how to orientate the operation in service of driving them and delivering business success.
• Know how to have fun and how to build a culture that is happy to work hard in an enjoyable environment.
• Exceptional leadership skills with experience in shaping departmental culture and developing senior talent.
• Strategic visionary with the ability to anticipate market trends and define a clear, forward-looking path for the business.

How we help you Thrive:

• 25 days annual leave + 1 Volunteer Day
• Bupa Healthcare
• Enhanced Maternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Leave
• We have a Flexible Working Model with core working hours: 10am – 4pm
• A 1.5:1 Matching Pension Structure
• Wellbeing and Health: Up to £25.00 per month towards physical or online exercise class membership, Unmind membership, LifeWorks tool and annual eye tests and development budgets and Wellbeing incentives and activities throughout the year
• Season Ticket Loan and Cycle to Work Scheme
• Life Assurance