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September 15, 2015

PR Account Director

By Press Gazette

JJ is a 55-strong award-winning marketing communications agency, providing creative, digital, PR and media services to a blue chip client base from our offices in the beautiful South Oxfordshire countryside. Our team has increased significantly in the last two years, a reflection of a growing client base and reputation as a great place to work. Our people include creatives, designers, event managers, PR professionals and marketing experts. We are fiercely proud of our reputation among clients: they like the people who work for us, but more importantly the consistency of work we provide for them.

The person

We are seeking a senior PR resource to lead, nurture and grow the account with one of our largest and highest profile clients. In addition to PR, the client benefits from our integrated offering and uses the agency for all services including marketing, event support and digital expertise. The successful candidate will report to the agency’s Group Account Director and focus on delivery of our PR resource against the contract. In accordance with the wishes of our client, this must be fully aligned with other B2B Marketing services provided by the agency.

The following are skills we are seeking from a successful candidate:

· Automotive experience preferred, either through PR (client side or agency) or through journalism

· B2B PR experience helpful, but not mandatory

· Good writing skills are a must: writing clear copy is an expectation of the agency and the client

· Ability to work to tight deadlines is essential: turnaround times are short

· Digitally savvy, with a broad understanding of digital marketing delivery

· Personable and a team player: neither we nor our client do ‘prima donnas’

· A thick skin and willingness to challenge the client as and when appropriate

· Ability to build quickly strong relationships with the client, across all areas of their business, and at CEO level

· Strategic and pro-active thinker with the drive to deliver more than the services outlined below, for example copy writing when required

· Someone who can build the long term future of this account and seek out / support opportunities to secure further automotive clients

· Commercially-savvy, an appreciation of the retainer structure and challenges presented by it would be an advantage

The client

The successful candidate will work alongside one of the most forward-thinking digital auto businesses in the UK. Based in central London, the company has undergone a significant transformation in the last two years, becoming a leading player in the world of digital products and services delivered to consumer and trade audiences. We have been a constant through the change period and the client relies on us to be an extension to their own marketing and PR operation, as well as a safe pair of hands.

What we do for the client

The agency provides the client with a press and public relations resource to assist with all B2B marketing communications activity, but also with increasingly significant input into consumer PR. The key client reporting line is the head of communications, an experienced communicator and PR professional.

This is an overview of activities we perform for the company:

· Support the promotion of all activity to customers

· Provide strategic input on overall PR activity to support the business

· Identify, manage and deliver strategic PR opportunities – corporate awareness and thought leadership

· Identify, manage and deliver tactical PR opportunities – including new product launches, case studies, management changes

· Creation of all press materials, maintenance of press lists and proactive/reactive media liaison

· Manage all trade media enquiries and recommend levels of engagement based on previous experience

· Respond within 24 hours to any commentary requests from any core trade titles and / or direct media requests from other journalists outside the core trade titles

· Provide a buzz monitoring service for primary online social networks

· Deal with all emails in a prompt and efficient manner

· Attend regular PR review meetings to review previous month’s activity and coverage, and to discuss issues requiring comment, feature opportunities, explore newsworthy press impulses and review event/conference opportunities

· Undertake comprehensive and regular competitor analysis / comparison reporting and tracking of pre-agreed competitors

· Measure PR effectiveness to ensure value against spend with the agency

· Distribute media coverage in electronic and printed form where relevant

· Circulate key media coverage via email as it appears

· Source and manage suppliers (i.e. photographers), where required

More specific deliverables:

· A daily News Brief monitoring service before 11 am

· Draft and distribution (subject to sign off) of at least one press release per week

· Coverage monitoring throughout days following distribution

· Draft, distribution and proof of all advertorials (paid-for content) for trade press, as budgets define but currently up to a maximum of four columns per month

· Respond to media comment to support features: draft answers and liaise with relevant staff for approval

· Draft blogs for key personnel as required

· Deliver PR activity for events

· Organise and deliver media for trade press briefings with key personnel, for example the CEO

· Produce a monthly summary report for inclusion in board briefings on the final working day of the month

· Produce a monthly dashboard of client and competitor activity, based on coverage in the preceding month

· On a two-monthly basis, collate, print and distribute a trade press coverage book for key personnel and delivery to the client’s offices

· Attend meetings, manage status updates and support the Head of Communications as requested

· Write two ‘insight’ posts for inclusion in the client’s LinkedIn partner page

Salary

· £competitive dependent upon qualifications and/or experience

· Annual holiday entitlement of 22 days, increasing to 25 days, with the option to buy/sell 3 days

· Normal working hours from 9.00am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday, though a degree of flexibility will be required

· Excellent benefits package

To apply, please send your CV to rachel.smith@jjmarketing.co.uk

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