Account Manager

This is an exciting opportunity to coordinate and facilitate the production and delivery of Point of Sale (POS) & VM for Windows and Events for the M&S Food account. The Account Manager works directly with the M&S Marketing in store team, liaising with key stakeholders and is responsible for the keeping of all campaigns within budget and on time.

The role exists in support of the Senior Account Manager and is integral to the effective running of the marketing function within M&S Food, coordinating the delivery of all administrative elements of marketing campaigns and activity for Windows and Events. Working closely with various M&S teams, the role will involve leading the ITG team to hit key critical path deadlines so that artworks, production briefs and costs are approved by key stakeholders when required, in turn allowing for a seamless campaign delivery to stores.

• Receiving briefs from the team leads, or directly from the client (M&S Marketing) and clearly communicating timelines, creative templates that will be followed and costings.
• Linking all briefs back to the M&S planning managers and managing the relationships between M&S Marketing and Planning teams to ensure campaigns run smoothly and artwork can be approved in good time.
• Lead pre-production meetings for your business unit per campaign in support of your Senior Account Manager (prior to briefing artwork) to ensure M&S marketing have given a clear finalized artwork brief
• Maintain a great relationship with ITG Artwork Production Team (this team are based in Birmingham at ITG Head Office) and flag urgent or large campaigns in advance, giving them realistic deadlines
• Brief final artwork to ITG Artwork Production team using pre-approved templates, with enough time for them to complete the job well, especially during busy periods. Avoid bottle neck artwork periods by pre-planning and having open discussions with the wider team on when artwork is expected to be briefed.
• You will accurately manage information from the M&S business units, formulating full production and artwork briefs, producing detailed print specifications and maintaining print allocations for POS material via our tech system, Media Centre. Working in support of the Print Contract Manager when/if required.
• Ensure that printers have been engaged each campaign on deadlines, workload and realistic timings on when they will receive Purchase Order and final artwork
• Ensure all M&S cost trackers for POS are kept up to date, and costs are communicated regularly with ITG Senior Account Manager, ITG Senior Account Director and M&S marketing.
• Ensure Purchase Orders are raised in good time in advance of the file to print date and all issues are flagged in advance with the M&S team.

• First and foremost, you should be a people person. You should be able to demonstrate exceptional people skills and be a customer-focused fanatic.
• Previous experience of working in an agency environment with Advertising experience.
• Have a good knowledge of creative processes and a thorough understanding of POS and VM.
• Basic print production knowledge, with the ability to understand cutter requirements.
• Comfortable being hands on and proactive, this isn’t a desk only role. Some days you’ll be between stores, taking measurements, making things happen. Someone to take ownership and bring new ideas forward.
• You won’t be micromanaged here, the ability to manage your own time and deliver quality with speed is essential.
• You hold strong experience with project management and trafficking multiple projects in tandem, which may be at different points in the creative process.
• A background in retail would be an advantage but is not necessary.
• Attention to detail is an absolute key skill to uphold and…