Planning Account Manager

the7stars is unlike any other agency. The distinction started the day we launched in 2005 when we named ourselves after a pub, but more importantly when we made a promise that we were going to do things differently. 

And this commitment has stuck with us. It guides how we work, how we think and how we treat one another and can be expressed in a single word. 

Freedom. 

Our Freedom philosophy lives across our entire business from people, product and planning. It means we plan & buy media how we want, develop careers how we want, take holiday when we need it, invent tools when we need them, give people a platform to speak up, question and express themselves freely - but more importantly it has allowed us to create an amazing place to work. 

We have a unique working environment and open structure which encourages personal development through client contact, team work, training, exposure to all media and internal teams – and a “sky’s the limit” approach to your growth within the agency. 

In 2024 we have achieved our 12th year in a row as a Sunday Times Top 100 company to work for and in 2023 were awarded Campaign’s number one media agency to work for accolade for the second year running. 

the7stars is c300 passionate media people that are able to focus purely on creating great work for our clients.  

If thinking freely and with integrity is your bag, then the7stars is an agency you should meet. 

Team 

the7stars has a bespoke and inspiring working culture. We operate a flat structure without job titles and encourage an entrepreneurial attitude where you get out what you put in.  

We are looking for people who: 

• Get excited by the solution, have ideas and are passionate about the ability of communications to make a real difference to businesses 

• Believe in their ideas and have the business acumen to stand by them and back them up 

• See media as just a part of the overall solution 

• Are committed to delivering excellent service to clients 

• Are committed to negotiating the very best deals for our clients 

• Look forward to growing with an agency and taking on board the responsibility that comes with that growth 

• Are entrepreneurial at heart, and are looking to do the best work of their careers 

• Are tired of the cumbersome and rigidly structured nature of the big media agencies 

Role Outline 

A successful candidate would become an integral member of the the7stars planning team, working within one of six planning teams alongside 17 brilliantly talented people. The team are amazing at supporting one another, sharing great work across the different clients and inspiring each other to do exceptional work. 

We have a really exciting opportunity across People’s Postcode Lottery alongside smaller challenger brands like Hubbub, and breast-cancer charity Coppafeel. 

People’s Postcode Lottery is an award-winning client and one of the7stars biggest spending accounts, investing heavily across key channels and have huge ambitions to continue to grow their brand and customer base. They are part of the second largest charitable giving organisations in the world, and we are proud to be helping them on this mission.  

People’s Postcode Lottery are a performance driven client with a core focus on delivering ticket sales – this means we operate at speed and with agility to enable us to response swiftly to performance results. 

Responsibilities 

Your responsibilities will broadly consist of media planning, client management, OOH management with Talon, and working closely with the Activation teams on media plan execution, measurement & reporting. 

• Media Plans: Working closely with the team to deliver media plans, ensuring accurate and strategically sound. 

• Channel Responses: Support across channel responses, ensuring they are accurate and strategically sound. 

• OOH: Support on PPL’s OOH planning and delivery with Talon. 

• PCAs: Lead on delivery of PCA, ensuring they include the right level of detail, are accurate and tell a cohesive story.  

• Channel Management / Plan Change Management: Work with the team to facilitate changes, ensuring they are accurately reflected in the plan, change log and are approved by client before implementation. 

• MOPs / trafficking: Working closely with the digital planners and MOPS to ensure that campaigns are accurately set up, trafficked and booked on Prisma. 

• Monthly Reconciliation: Responsible for the production and accuracy of the monthly reconciled plan with the specialist teams. 

• Finance: Responsible for aiding Finance team to resolve finance queries quickly and accurately and supporting the team with managing POs. 

• Tactical Campaigns: Responsible for managing Tactical campaigns from start to finish. 

• Pacing Doc: Staying close to client performance and delivering a weekly pacing doc.  

• Competitor Reporting / Audience Requests: Support junior members of the team on any Competitor Reporting / Audience requests. 

Key skills 

An overview of key skills required: 

• Passion & Understanding: A passion for media planning with a solid understanding of the media landscape, all channels (online & offline) and how they work together. 

• Planning Rigor: Well versed in end-to-end plan delivery, from briefing to PCA.  

• OOH: Understanding of OOH market, processes, ways of working and a passion for the channel. 

• ATL: Strong understanding of key ATL media owners and understanding of timelines and processes. 

• Digital: Broad digital understanding (not necessarily technical) including understanding what key partners do and the strengths and weaknesses of digital channels. 

• Strong client management skills: Being a key day to day contact for clients – helping to maintain a strong working relationship and ensuring they are kept up to date with all activity on the account. 

• Leading meetings: Confidence in coordinating and leading regular client calls and internal meetings. 

• Responsive: Quick to respond to emails and requests. 

• Pressure: Ability to handle pressure, quick turnarounds and rapid changes in direction. 

• Attention to detail: Brilliant attention to detail is expected. 

• Tools: Knowledge and experience are required for the following tools: Telmar, Brand Index, TGi, Nielsen and SimilarWeb.

the7stars offer a brilliant range of benefits, including: 

• Competitive salary
• Uncounted holiday
• Discretionary Performance related Summer profit share & Christmas bonus
• Flexible & hybrid working
• Personalised training plan & access to coaching
• Wellbeing days
• Flexible pension plan through Royal London (8% employer contribution under £35k)
• Optional private medical insurance (Vitality) & cash back plan (Medicash)
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Work from anywhere up to 2 weeks each year
• Paid for gym membership with a choice of 5 gyms
• Enhanced family friendly policies
• Personal finance advice & support
• Life Assurance & Critical Illness cover
• Income protection 
• Profit share scheme (after 3 years’ service)
• Electric Vehicle scheme
• Nursery Partnership
• Tech & Cycle to Work scheme
• Season ticket loans & expensed Railcard
• Company bar
• New Business Bonus eligible in your first year as a the7stars employee 

the7stars is committed to creating a diverse environment, where employees feel empowered to share different ideas, perspectives and experiences in a collaborative and creative work environment. Equality and inclusion are at the heart of our culture. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race (which includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.