About Us

The home of full colour media, UM is a global media agency committed to empowering brands to their full potential of growth by leveraging the power of brand patterns. As the leading global media network in IPG Mediabrands, UM operates in over 100 countries, with more than 3,000 people serving a roster of global clients including American Express, General Mills, Emirates, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss & co, Dyson, Enterprise Holdings, Upfield, Just Eat Takeaway.Com and Mattel. For more information, please visit https://www.Umww.Com/

Role Description

This role sits within our Insight team, which is a part of a wider cross-specialism Analytics craft organization. Our team exists to help our clients understand their marketplaces better, and to enable them to unlock competitive advantage through knowledge.

We sit at the heart of our agency and our department is ahead of the curve, spotting trends before others. We provide provoking thinking, bringing a fresh perspective to our clients questions, we bring a growth mindset and are solutions-focused, ultimately creating Insights that spur action.

When tackling clients’ business challenges, we are methodology-agnostic and utilize a variety of solutions, ensuring our approaches are optimally positioned to answer our clients’ questions.

Away from paid client projects, our thought leadership series, “UK by UM”, shines a light on stereotypes that exist in society today, highlighting the role of advertising in driving systemic change and challenging ourselves and our industry to be better in how we address and represent different identity groups in society.

A core part of our paid research offering is quantitative research (e.g. campaign evaluation studies, brand & communications trackers and segmentations), as well as large-scale strategic studies such as category usage and attitude studies. Experience and proficiency In quantitative research is a must.

Further to quant, we also frequently undertake qualitative studies. We are fierce believers in the importance of framing statistical analysis in an emotional and attitudinal context, which qual provides so well. So, if you have knowledge in this space, that’s great; and if you don’t, you can certainly gain some in our team.

You'll be a passionate researcher who is curious and has an instinct to uncover new insights to help our clients grow. You'll apply a consultancy mindset to your everyday ways of working. You’ll then design and deliver research to help answer our clients’ objectives, providing insights that drive their business forward. Experience of managing client relationships, and of direct communication with clients is essential.

You'll be fully proficient in the end-to-end quantitative research process, and will be able to design research proposals, manage fieldwork, all the way through to creating a debrief and presenting this to clients.

We're seeking someone who can distill insights yet not loose the impact. Storytelling flair is essential; we don't want to create debriefs or presentations that just sit on clients’ lost folders desks. Our work should help to optimise campaigns and/or unlock fresh thinking to drive our clients’ businesses forward.

You will be an ambitious thinker and will harness your querying instincts to question why research findings are as they are. We aren’t in the business of reporting straightforward metric shifts: we are always hunting for the story, and the ‘why’.

You will have a point of view, and will not be afraid to express it – even if it’s contentious. You will know which brands you love, and which ones you don’t, and you’ll make ‘mental notes’ of ad campaigns that have intrigued or inspired you.

You will be hungry to make a mark in the industry, and on our business, and will be open to building your reputation as a thought leader through new research.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Managing ad-hoc and long-term brand tracking research studies (from initial proposal design, to managing fieldwork, analyzing the data, writing the report - all the way through to presenting findings to our clients)
• Lead direct communication with clients, and own and develop those relationships
• Able to take a brief from internal or external clients and to design a research proposal in line with a brief, and to present to clients with support from the Insight Director where needed
• Commercial instinct is important: able to ensure projects are delivered in a way that is financially sound. Keep our colleagues in Finance updated on key details
• Lead multiple projects at any one time
• Write questionnaires, discussion guides, manage fieldwork etc.
• Ideally, you will also be proficient in how to run campaign evaluation studies, as well as in continuous brand and communications tracking.
• Identify and develop thought-leadership research initiatives to drive fame for UM
• Promote the role of research and data as part of the agency media planning process and demonstrate a thorough understanding of UM’s suite of tools
• Support agency new business pitches
• Run internal focus groups and workshops to enrich agency output
• Ensure that all projects are delivered to to agreed budgets and timesheets are inputted regularly
• Identify new methodologies that can be delivered to UM clients
• Deputies for the Insight Director when required

Desired Skills & Experience

• Solid experience in quantitative research, preferable from a Media Agency, Market Research Agency or client-side research role

Client management experience; commercial experience working to targets. Ability to write proposals, questionnaires and debriefs

• You will be an independent worker, confident enough to make your own decisions
• You will be ready to manage positive client relationships autonomously
• You will have strong analytical and creative problem solving skills
• You'll be able to create a succient and impactful debrief by being able to find a story within the data - you'll be able to manipulate the data through a data software package like Q, SPSS etc.
• You will have good accuracy in your analysis – and take pride in doing so
• You will be keen to be an active member of our agency’s culture and community, and will be energetic in being a visible ambassador for our team within the agency
• You will understand the power of data – in all its forms and origins – and will value key datasets as additional lenses onto human behaviour
• You will be passionate about interesting ways of visualizing data when reporting (one of our team’s philosophies is – ‘beyond the bar chart’)

Nice-to have

• Experience in qualitative research
• Experience in social media research

Please note that this position involves occasional travel running qualitative fieldwork around the UK, you will need to attend client meetings and conferences away from the London hub.

Employee Transparency

At IPG Mediabrands, we celebrate differences and believe this makes us stronger. IPG Mediabrands are equal-opportunity employers committed to championing an inclusive culture that provides a sense of belonging for all our employees. We do not discriminate against any applicant based on age, disability, race, colour, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, belief, marital status or any other characteristic protected by law.

Please reach out to our Talent Inclusion Specialist Jess at Jess.Richardson@mbww.com if you would like to have a confidential conversation regarding any adjustments that would ensure our recruitment process is accessible for you. Please note requesting a reasonable adjustment will not affect your application.

The Perks

We aim to provide all our people with a supportive and fun work environment where you can develop your full potential and benefit from the broad range of opportunities within the agency. When you join us, we want to make sure you feel valued – and that you are rewarded for your fantastic work. So, we also offer a range of benefits:

• Flexi–leave, with 25 days annual leave to be taken as minimum. In addition to your holiday entitlement, the office usually closes between Christmas & New Year
• Free breakfast and free lunch
• Early finish Fridays
• Core Hours (Mon-Thurs, flexible start/finish times)
• Retail discounts
• Electric vehicle salary sacrifices car scheme
• Wellbeing programme, including Headspace & flu jabs
• Interest free season ticket loan
• Paid time off for Volunteering
• Group Income Protection
• Life Assurance
• Private Medical Insurance or Health Cash Plan (dependent on level)
• Group Personal Pension Plan with matched contributions from 3-6%
• Generous Parental Leave & Pay
• Independent mortgage advice
• Financial education
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Free eye tests
• Flexible benefits including Dental, Travel insurance, Cycle to Work, Gym Discounts and many more!