Head of Strategy_Media Arts Lab Tokyo

Media Arts Lab is the bespoke global agency for Apple and only Apple.

We think different to create impact for the world’s most iconic brand.

The Head of Strategy’s role is to own and drive the strategic agenda for MAL and Apple in Japan, in collaboration with all disciplines across the agency but in particular Creative, Account and Media.

The Context

The agency’s Tokyo office is a foundational piece of our global network and provides a dedicated service to the Japanese market.

Originally established as a high-end adaption hub, taking global creative from our Los Angeles head office and localising it flawlessly, the market has evolved rapidly and the additional challenge is now to produce bespoke, locally relevant work that breaks through in Japanese culture.

Partnering with executive leadership in creative, business management and media, this position plays a central role driving this ambition, setting the strategic agenda, and delivering creative opportunities across a broad, culturally-nuanced and important market to Apple.

Strategy at MAL operates as an interconnected network, viewing one brand through the similarities and distinctions of different markets across the world. Strategy is a challenging but ultimately rewarding role for someone who’s motivated by the opportunity to unlock what Apple means from both a business and creative perspective.

The role currently reports into our Managing Director at Media Arts Lab Tokyo, Taro Sato.

Your Remit & Responsibilities — What You Do…

•Thought Leadership — define the strategic agenda for Apple in Japan, bringing new perspectives, evolving established perspectives, and setting a roadmap that drives everything from knowledge of the business and the brand, development of creative campaigns to digital transformation and innovation for the brand.

• Growth — identify opportunities for growth, both creatively and commercially, for MAL and for Apple. Shape the work strategically and creatively to solve business challenges, even if that pushes beyond the comfort zone of the familiar.

•Market Context — truly understand the market’s nuances and complexities. Go deep and beyond the obvious in order to set the correct cultural context in which the work needs to live. Share this level of understanding with the agency and the client so everyone is operating from the same baseline.

• Creative Briefs — turn insights into compelling and actionable briefs that inspire your creatives to solve the business challenges the strategy team has identified. The briefs bring the insight to life and create a framework for creatives to start from, a framework that includes media approach and campaign structure.

• Collaboration - actively engage creative leadership for input and feedback on the brief throughout the development of the brief, ensuring buy in and blessing of the direction prior to briefing the creative department.

•Creative Briefings — set the tone for the creative development process by taking as much care in the initial briefing as went into the brief itself. Find fresh and innovative ways to engage creatives, even if the problems or platforms are familiar, providing the sharpest strategic springboard for the development process. 

• Brand Guardian — be guided by what is right for Apple, have a point of view, and then be able to clearly articulate and defend why something is right for the brand. Constructively debate the work as it’s developed, always ensure that the creative work is delivering against the problems that it was designed to solve.

•Be A Voice In The Room — have a voice with global MAL leadership and with the client, both locally and WW. You and the executive leadership should partner to fight for work that you believe is right for the market and the client.

Your Remit & Responsibilities — How You Do It…

•The Outside On The Inside — know and respect the brand inside out, but make sure you always represent MAL and what the agency can bring to Apple from our unique POV. Ensure that you tread a fine line between agency and client.

•Live and Breathe ‘Media Arts’ — intuitively explore established and new shapes of work (in digital platforms, channels and formats) and drive how the agency can leverage them to bring big ideas to life.

•Spearhead the Media Integration — build the strongest possible partnership with the media team so that the client sees a united front from their agency partners. Use this dynamic to ensure media and comms planning is embedded into your thinking from the start within the brief, help the creatives throughout the creative process and bring this integrated thinking to life.

•Methodology — demonstrate a rigorous approach by marshalling the tools, data, research opportunities, and the team at your disposal to turn information into valuable insights. Analyse learnings from previous campaigns and use them to inform the next.

•Partnership Locally — work hand-in-glove with your business and creative partners to ensure there is always internal alignment and the agency presents a united front. Constructively debate and challenge each other, but leave room for alternative perspectives. At the end of the day, have each other’s back and respect the part that everyone plays.

•Stakeholders Globally — respect the structure and hierarchy of the agency, and use it to the advantage of JP. Leverage the global Executive Team, as well as the support and business insight that the LA account and strategy teams can share.

•The Client — own the strategy relationships with the client. Have the gravitas and strategic credentials to present work in a compelling and creatively engaging way directly to Geo and WW.

The Remit & Responsibilities — Leadership…

•Agency Leadership — be a prominent and visible member of MAL Tokyo leadership. Work to create an environment where our people want to be, where they can develop, where they can succeed, and where they are happy.

•Team Leadership — set the standard for the team to follow. Develop them and the overall strategic offering that the team contribute. Instil a sense of curiosity and push them to connect with cultural, category and the JP market landscape to enrich their thinking.

•People Leadership — be an invested manager who works with the agency’s leadership on staffing, talent development, performance evaluation, internal culture and team building.

•A Source Of Inspiration — be a source of continual inspiration to the agency at large. Stay on top of trends in consumer behaviour, tech, creativity, music, art, and wider culture, and bring all of this into the agency.

•Mentoring And Your Development — engage with the host of senior strategic talent that the agency has globally. Exchange ideas, learn from their experience, and refine your approach to how you lead the strategy function.

A Little More On Who We’re Looking For

• A strategic leader of the highest calibre, with the industry reputation to match. A leader who inspires the agency internally, but who strategists in the market want to come and work for.

• Substantial experience of breakthrough strategic direction and creative output for culture-defining brands.

• A track record of award wins at shows that matter to our client, and knowledge of how to take MAL Tokyo to that level.

• A visionary with an easy style, who inspires executive level creatives and executive level clients.

• A next-level critical thinker, capable of making the complicated feel simple. 

• An experienced student of strategy, with a fluency in social and cultural trends, technology, and marketing theory.

• An integrated operator, who has experience in, and can sync up, brand strategy, interactive, content, data, insights, and comms planning.

• Extremely well versed in today’s media and technology environment, and who has experience of transforming the digital capabilities of an agency and/or client.

• A record of intentional innovation — not jumping on bandwagons or trends, but always looking for opportunities to adapt and evolve.

• A generous leader, with a positive and resilient outlook, that sets the tone and creates a rising tide.

• Established track record of leading large and varied teams, and making the people in those team as great as they can be. 

What We Believe

We believe that what MAL creates belongs to everyone; and everyone belongs at MAL.

We think creativity lives in open, safe and brave spaces, where diverse perspectives can come together, free of prejudice and discrimination.

We strive to be a partnership of equals. Everyone has a role to play here, and we invite you to bring your fully authentic and crazy selves to this space. Together, we’ll do the best work we’ve ever done.

https://www.mediaartslab.com/