Associate, Direct Activation

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth. 

WPP Media is WPP's AI-driven media operating unit, bringing together media, data, and partnerships to deliver creative personalisation at scale. Connected through WPP Open and powered by Open Intelligence, clients see exactly where, how, and why their media investment is working.

For more information, visit wppmedia.com.

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients and communities. For more information, visit wpp.com.

WPP Media i WPP’s global media collective. In a world where media is everywhere and in everything, we bring the best platform, people, and partners together to create limitless opportunities for growth. For more information, visit wppmedia.com.

At WPP Media, we believe in the power of our culture and our people. It’s what elevates us to deliver exceptional experiences for both our clients and each other. In this role it will be critical to embrace WPP & WPP Media’s shared core values:

• Be Extraordinary by Leading Collectively to Inspire transformational Creativity.
• Create an Open environment by Balancing People and Client Experiences by Cultivating Trust.
• Lead Optimistically by Championing Growth and Development to Mobilize the Enterprise.

WPP Media is looking for a curious, detail-oriented and collaborative media professional to join our Direct Activation team.

As a Buyer, Activation, you will play an important role in bringing our clients’ media strategies to life and you will gain hands-on experience across the full media investment lifecycle — from marketplace intelligence and negotiations through campaign activation, optimization, measurement and financial reconciliation.

This is a cross-functional media investment role, providing exposure across both offline and online channels, including broadcast, digital video, CTV/OLV and other emerging media platforms. You will work directly with some of the world's largest media companies and technology platforms while developing the skills, knowledge and relationships needed to build a successful career in media investment.

We are looking for someone who is comfortable working with numbers, naturally curious about how media works, highly organized and eager to take ownership. You don't need to know everything — but you should be someone who wants to learn quickly, asks thoughtful questions and takes pride in getting the details right.

• Provide/oversee go to market insight, select vendors/sites and provide rationales on these sites; acting as a connection point for vendors/partners
• Be a point of contact for clients, and lead client status calls; presenting insights, post wraps, optimizations and other findings to clients
• Partner with the Manager in development of communications with planning team including buy authorizations, tracking reports, buy changes, creative specifications, etc
• Take an active role in coordinating all reporting with planning and analytics
• Liaise with the planning team to deliver the digital portion of the overall strategy - Provide Digital market research/insight and POVs
• Ongoing management and stewardship of campaigns (pacing, updates in Prisma, etc.)
• Provide and obtain information and intelligence from Mindshare and GroupM Trading leadership to be presented to planning team and clients when appropriate
• Accurate and timely vendor invoice approval and budget reconciliation 

• Maintain media investments, including buy entry, insertion orders and trafficking coordination.
• Work closely with Planning and Ad Operations teams to ensure campaigns launch accurately and on time.
• Monitor campaign delivery and proactively identify opportunities, discrepancies or issues that may impact performance by maintaining accurate documentation of buy changes
• Support ongoing campaign optimization to ensure investments are aligned with client objectives.

• Conduct pre-campaign checks and validations to ensure media is set up correctly and can be measured accurately.
• Contribute to post-campaign analysis and identify insights that can improve future investments.
• Maintain accurate client budgets and investment trackers

• 1–2 years of experience in media, advertising, marketing or a related field is preferred.
• College or University education will be asset
• An understanding of media buying, planning or investment principles.
• A keen interest in developing expertise across both off-line and digital direct media
• Comfortable working with budgets, numbers and data, with strong mathematical and analytical skills
• Proficiency with media tools (i.e. Prisma, Mediaocean) and 3rd party syndicated research resources (ComScore, Nielsen, Vividata)
• Exceptional organizational skills and strong attention to detail.

• Excellent time-management skills with the ability to prioritize multiple projects and deadlines.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment where priorities can change.
• Collaborative, inclusive and respectful of different perspectives.
• Confident communicating with both internal stakeholders and external media partners.

In this role, success means becoming someone the team can rely on to:

• Provide/oversee go to market insight, select vendors/sites and provide rationales on these sites; acting as a connection point for vendors/partners
• Be a point of contact for clients, and lead client status calls; presenting insights, post wraps, optimizations and other findings to clients
• Partner with the Manager in development of communications with planning team including buy authorizations, tracking reports, buy changes, creative specifications, etc
• Take an active role in coordinating all reporting with planning and analytics
• Liaise with the planning team to deliver the digital portion of the overall strategy - Provide Digital market research/insight and POVs
• Ongoing management and stewardship of campaigns (pacing, updates in Prisma, etc.)
• Provide and obtain information and intelligence from Mindshare and GroupM Trading leadership to be presented to planning team and clients when appropriate
• Accurate and timely vendor invoice approval and budget reconciliation
• Motivated by continuous learning, professional development and growth.