Account Director - MKE

Manifesto is seeking a driven, passionate self-starter who thrives on understanding and navigating complex client matrixes and building intentional relationships that help drive the growth of the agency from our MKE office. The candidate will be a natural problem solver and will have excellent written and verbal presentation/communication skills.

The Account Manager/Account Director will oversee multiple existing client accounts and is responsible for the growth, management and leadership of the client relationship within the portfolio of business. This role will serve as the sherpa and guide to our clients as well as the conduit of communication between the agency and the account. They will be responsible for driving and generating account growth, development of client strategy and managing the budgets and strategic planning for each assigned account.

The AM/AD will be tasked with delivering year over year account growth, relationship growth (personal + professional network) and responsible for work that meets and exceeds client expectations and delivers profitable margins for the Agency. They will focus on existing client accounts as well as net new, encompassing regional, national and international brands.

ATTRIBUTES FOR SUCCESS:

• Passionate - A leader who is focused on delivering outstanding work and staying ahead of cultural and social trends that could impact the business or grow opportunities 
• Resourceful - Actively manage the work across multiple agency teams, geos and offices - a willingness to roll up the sleeves and do whatever it takes 
• Positive - Motivates and excites team around new opportunities and growth of accounts 
• Strategic - Excellent presentation skills; capable of distilling complex challenges into actionable information
• Focused - Displays brevity and ensures that the team stays on-point and focused during meetings
• Entrepreneurial - Skates to the puck and sees opportunity where others do not; constantly looking for opportunities to grow account and maximize team utilization 
• Proactive - Needs to see around the corner; constantly seeking new opportunities and bringing ideas and insights to the team that will help spur agency and client growth

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Client Services: 

• Manages overall client growth strategy and daily/weekly communication 
• Manages projects including assisting Creative/Production team with estimating, developing and writing scopes of work, and writing agency proposals Proactively works to develop strategic recommendations to propel the growth of the agency and the management of the client opportunity 
• Keeps agency leadership informed on key account growth, challenges, roadblocks, etc. including plans for increasing client scope of work 
• Actively manages new business within key accounts (year over year growth) Manages critical dates and gates and client communication with projects 
• Actively works with Creative and Strategy to develop work that meets client objectives, achieves intended results, and meets agency’s standards of creative excellence 
• Effectively balances client and agency demands to deliver high quality work 
• Responsible for developing annual client strategy and campaign plans 
• Develops organic but intentional relationships proactively within targeted accounts 

Research & Planning:

• Demonstrates a strong knowledge of the client’s products, competitors, and industry – applying this knowledge to counsel clients in strategic/creative planning Provides leadership in strategic development of communication and marketing plans to grow the client’s business and generate incremental scope of work, billings and income 
• Drives development of agency’s recommendations for strategies and creative to be recommended and implemented (processes, tools, etc.) 

Development, Training, and Mentoring of others:

• Creates actionable development plans for direct reports (SMART goals) 
• Conducts biannual reviews for direct reports (if applicable) 
• Provides honest feedback on a regular basis to direct reports 

RFP Management/Proposals:

• Responsible for leading, organizing, and managing RFP responses for select accounts 
• Ability to write effective new business or new opportunity briefs and distill core business challenges, objectives, and/or insights that may assist the strategy and creative services team 
• Responsible for leading budget and work plan development for RFP responses 
• Leads development of SOWs and proposals for existing accounts 

Administrative:

• Responsible for the utilization of team resources on specific accounts and new business 
• Works closely with the strategy and creative teams to manage budgets to ensure profitability 
• Manages weekly/monthly billing reconciliation 
• Provides weekly forecasting 
• Weekly reporting within CRM tools to manage projects and qualified opportunities 
• Establishes, coordinates and leads client-centric conference calls

• Deep understanding of emerging trends and technologies 
• Ability to adapt quickly and integrate tool usage across platforms 
• Keen understanding of integrated marketing including digital, experiential, campaigns, branded content, and employee engagement 
• 3-5+ years of account management with national or regional accounts focused on campaigns, experiential, digital, employee engagement or similar 
• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Marketing, Advertising, Communications or similar field 
• Proven track record of successful account growth and leadership

• Base salary + plus bonus/growth incentives
• Health Insurance
• 401K 
• PTO 
• Summer Hours - 1/2 day Fridays off June-August
• Paid Holidays + week off between Christmas and New Years