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

As an Associate, 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.

• Support the development and execution of media investment recommendations by gathering marketplace intelligence, requesting proposals and evaluating opportunities.
• Work with media partners to understand their offerings, audiences, pricing, capabilities and value propositions.
• Participate in vendor meetings and industry discussions to build your understanding of the evolving media landscape.
• Translate approved media strategies into accurate and effective media buys.

• 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

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

• Manage campaigns accurately, efficiently and on time.
• Take ownership of assigned investments and follow through from activation to reconciliation.
• Build strong relationships with vendors and internal partners.
• Continuously expand your knowledge across traditional, digital and emerging media.
• Motivated by continuous learning, professional development and growth.

• 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
• College or University education will be asset
• Exceptional organizational skills and strong attention to detail.

• Excellent time-management skills with the ability to prioritize multiple projects and deadlines.
• Naturally curious with a desire to understand how things work and why decisions are made.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment where priorities can change.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and willing to jump in wherever the team needs support.
• Collaborative, inclusive and respectful of different perspectives.
• Confident communicating with both internal stakeholders and external media partners.