Overview
To lead the development of robust, client-ready media strategies for the Absa Personal & Private Banking portfolio, with a strong weighting toward digital media, omnichannel planning, audience insight, channel roles, measurement frameworks and strategic media recommendations.
The role exists to ensure that every brief is translated into a clear strategic response: what we are trying to solve, who we need to reach, what action we need from them, which channels should play which role, how budgets should be weighted, how success will be measured, and how the work should be optimised once live.
Responsibilities
Brief interrogation and strategic problem definition
Receive, unpack and interrogate client briefs to identify the true business, brand, product, audience and media challenge.
Construct smart, necessary questions for the client that clarify objectives, success metrics, audience priorities, product focus, constraints, timings, budgets, mandatories and approvals.
Distinguish between what the client has asked for and what the business actually needs from media.
Convert unclear or broad requests into a clear strategic problem statement, working hypothesis and recommended direction.
Identify gaps in brief quality and escalate missing information early, while maintaining a professional and solutions-led client tone.
Define & Validate Growth Opportunities
Translate client briefs into clear, measurable growth objectives
Assess whether client growth targets are achievable and recommend adjustments where required
Identify growth levers across: Existing customers (Grow), Competitor customers (Switch), New category entrants (Recruit)
Determine the required media contribution and investment levels to deliver against growth targets
Use available data, proxies, and modelling to build a realistic growth forecast
Audience, category and insight development
Use relevant research tools and data sources such as BrandMapp, GWI, Telmar, internal reporting, competitive intelligence, social/platform data and media partner inputs to build a defensible audience viewpoint.
Develop audience profiles that go beyond demographics and include behaviours, motivations, barriers, media consumption, digital behaviours, financial needs, category attitudes and job-to-be-done.
Identify audience size, addressability, attention behaviour and reach potential to inform channel selection and budget weighting.
Connect South African consumer, financial services and media behaviour to practical implications for Absa Personal & Private Banking briefs.
Turn data into a simple strategic story that helps clients understand why the recommendation is right.
Media strategy and channel architecture
Demonstrate how media drives business outcomes, not just channel performance
Lead discussions on: Growth feasibility, Marketing contribution vs broader business levers, Trade-offs across investment scenarios
Build channel strategies that are grounded in media principles, not channel preference or supplier pressure.
Define the role of each channel across the funnel and journey: awareness, salience, education, consideration, lead generation, conversion, retargeting, retention or reassurance.
Create clear media ecosystems showing how channels work together rather than as disconnected line items.
Develop channel role frameworks, phasing plans, audience journeys, content/format logic and execution principles for ATL and digital channels.
Ensure strategies account for reach build, frequency, sequencing, duplication, creative context, audience intent and platform behaviour.
Build Data-Led Growth Narratives
Digital-first and omnichannel planning direction
Lead digital-heavy strategic thinking across paid social, search, programmatic, online video, YouTube, display, CTV/OTT where relevant, digital audio, content partnerships, publisher ecosystems and performance channels.
Integrate ATL channels such as TV, radio, print, OOH/DOOH and sponsorship environments where they help solve reach, fame, credibility, contextual relevance or business impact objectives.
Guide how digital and ATL activity should work in unison, including the role of broadcast reach, digital amplification, retargeting, search capture, social engagement, content depth and conversion pathways.
Understand how to manipulate media execution across targeting, formats, frequency, phasing, flighting, geography, creative sequencing, platform mechanics and audience exclusions.
Work with planners, buyers and platform specialists to ensure the executional plan remains faithful to the strategic idea.
Budget weighting, phasing and investment logic
Develop budget weighting recommendations based on objective, audience size, funnel stage, channel role, expected reach, cost efficiency, market priority, job-to-be-done and success metrics.
Provide strategic rationale for investment splits across channels, markets, products, campaign phases and audience segments.
Use planning runs, audience sizing, reach/frequency thinking, historic performance and benchmark inputs to pressure-test whether budgets are sufficient for the task.
Identify when a budget is too thinly spread, when a channel mix is overcomplicated, or when investment should be focused for greater impact.
Guide campaign phasing across launch, sustain, conversion, burst, always-on and optimisation periods.
Measurement frameworks and learning agendas
Build measurement frameworks that connect business objective, media objective, channel role, KPI, reporting view and optimisation action.
Define what success looks like across awareness, engagement, traffic, lead generation, conversion, quality of lead, cost efficiency, incremental reach and learning objectives.
Work with AdOps, reporting and performance teams to ensure campaigns have the right tracking, taxonomy, UTM logic, dashboards, tagging requirements and reporting expectations.
Develop test-and-learn agendas that help the client improve future performance, not simply report historic delivery.
Ensure measurement recommendations are realistic, aligned to available data and clear enough for the team to execute.
Strategic tools, research and evidence base
Demonstrate strong working knowledge of strategic and media planning tools including Scenario Planner, Digital Optimizor, Outcome modeller
Use tools to develop audience sizing, market context, category behaviour, media consumption, channel reach, competitive activity and strategic implications.
Know when tool outputs are useful, when they need interpretation, and when they should be challenged because they do not fully explain the client problem.
Maintain a structured evidence base for key strategic recommendations, including source, implication and recommended action.
Coach junior strategists and planners on how to turn research outputs into usable strategy rather than data dumps.
Client-facing strategic leadership
Act as a professional, credible and confident strategic partner to client stakeholders, with strong meeting etiquette, preparation and decorum.
Lead or support strategic conversations, brief interrogation sessions, recommendation presentations and strategic responses to business queries.
Present with clarity, confidence and commercial awareness, adapting the level of detail to the audience in the room.
Protect strategic quality while staying collaborative and responsive to client realities.
Provide strategic recommendations on best practice when clients ask about channel choices, budget sufficiency, media partner opportunities, measurement approaches or execution trade-offs.
Strategic deck writing and presentation craft
Compile visually attractive, logically structured and persuasive PowerPoint presentations that are easy for clients and internal teams to follow.
Build decks that move from context to challenge, audience insight, strategic implication, channel role, recommendation, measurement and next steps.
Use concise writing, strong slide headlines, clear charts, frameworks and visual hierarchy to make strategic thinking accessible.
Quality-check slides for narrative flow, grammar, design consistency, client relevance and commercial usefulness before sharing.
Present strategy decks in a way that lands the message, not just the slides.
Media landscape, partner ecosystem and innovation
Maintain strong awareness of the South African media landscape, including media owners, platforms, publisher ecosystems, digital partners, broadcast partners, retail/media networks, sponsorship properties and emerging opportunities.
Understand which media partners can add strategic value against specific briefs and which opportunities are not suitable for the task.
Evaluate partner proposals through the lens of audience fit, channel role, context, measurement, value, credibility and client objective.
Stay close to industry happenings, platform changes, privacy shifts, measurement evolution, content trends and consumer behaviour changes.Bring proactive recommendations to the team and client where market developments create relevant opportunities.
Internal collaboration and strategic handover
Work closely with the BUD, SAD, planners, buyers, AdOps, reporting, finance, project management and partner agencies to ensure strategic recommendations can be implemented cleanly.
Provide clear strategic handover notes that include objective, audience, channel role, budget logic, measurement framework, mandatories and watch-outs.
Review media plans and schedules to ensure they align with the approved strategy before they move forward.
Support planners and specialists by clarifying priorities, resolving strategic ambiguity and ensuring the execution does not drift away from the strategic intent.
Contribute to close-out learnings by identifying strategic implications and recommendations for future briefs
Qualifications
Marketing, media, communications, business, brand strategy or related degree/diploma preferred.
Relevant digital media, analytics, media planning, research tool, Google, Meta, programmatic or industry certifications would be advantageous.
Portfolio of strategic decks, media strategies, channel frameworks or strategic recommendations would be advantageous.
Minimum 8 years of experience in media strategy, communications planning, integrated media planning or a senior media agency strategy role.
Strong digital media and omnichannel planning experience, ideally across large, complex clients or financial services portfolios.
Proven ability to receive client briefs, interrogate requirements and develop clear strategic recommendations.
Experience building channel strategies, media ecosystems, audience strategies, measurement frameworks and budget allocation logic.
Experience presenting to clients and senior internal stakeholders with professionalism, clarity and confidence.
Strong working understanding of ATL and digital media channels, including how they work together to build reach, frequency, intent, consideration and conversion.
Experience using or interpreting strategic tools such as BrandMapp, GWI, Telmar runs, competitor tools, platform insights and internal performance data.
Experience working with planners, buyers, digital specialists, AdOps, reporting teams, creative agencies and media partners.