Sponsorship Sales Lead - Experiential Marketing Agency

As Sponsorship Sales Lead you will play an important role in implementing our clients' objectives, addressing the clients' business challenges, working in collaboration with colleagues in the Strategy & Planning, Creative, Digital disciplines, and the Integrated Production team to deliver the project on time, on budget and on brief.

GPJ will look to the Sponsorship Sales Lead to work either independently on a project or be a key player on larger projects, under the guidance of the Executive Producer.
You will champion your area of Integrated Production expertise within the business, providing excellent service to our clients, commercial success for GPJ and the continued growth and development of your competency across the agency's Integrated Production team.

A key project for this role is Cisco Live, a large-scale annual conference and exhibition, where IT professionals can learn about the latest technologies, review best practices, and discuss industry trends.
Cisco Live provides attendees the chance to network with industry professionals, enhance their skills, and take part in a variety of learning opportunities such as keynote speeches, technical sessions, hands-on labs, and workshops.

The World of Solutions is the third party sponsor exhibition within Cisco Live.
This exhibition takes up the largest hall at Cisco Live, and is a critical revenue driver for the project.
With approximately 80 external sponsors each year, GPJ is responsible end to end for this area of the project.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Delivery - General

• Taking on overall accountability for all aspects of project delivery, including those directly managed by others
• Responsible for the creation and ongoing management of project timelines and plans to ensure programmes are on track and in line with the overarching project plan
• Responsible for proactively advising the client on all and any delivery and operational considerations
• Developing and/or approving budgets, timelines and supplier contributions, in response to specific client and business needs
• Accountable for the quality of delivery within yours and your direct team's remit, including the provision of proactive operational expertise to the client / project lead as required.
  

Operational Delivery - Sponsorship Sales

• Partner with Cisco Live client leads to produce an overarching sponsorship sales strategy, and to set sponsorship sales targets, with clear deliverables/metrics as to what these targets have been based on
• Create sponsorship sales reporting process, format and template, to be agreed with the client and used throughout sponsorship process
• Manage sponsorship sales team of 2, ensuring they are clear on their R&Rs
• Hold sales calls with individual sponsors, and manage all leads through the sales process to contracting
• Hand over all confirmed sales to sponsorship fulfilment team, so that they have a clear outline of package inclusions per sponsor
• Input into all internal processes for wider World of Solutions management as needed - for example, floor planning, expo hall operational hours
• Operate as a point of escalation for sponsors on site during live event and manage on site re-sale process and meetings

Creative

• Ensure the project creative process is understood and successfully adhered to by all project team members
• Work in close partnership with the Creative Directors and Strategists to ensure all work produced meets clients' strategic objectives
• Work with the Creative team to produce new ideas for sponsorship, based on current event customer journey and overall event objectives
• Lead key client and internal meetings to provide input / expertise related to production elements within yours and your team's remit
• Maintain ongoing cross-and inter-agency collaboration to ensure an aligned approach for meeting client objectives

Talent Management

• Understand and be able to communicate knowledge of the skill sets and abilities across the Integrated Production department
• Support the Integrated Production Leadership Team with successfully casting the appropriate resource to the accounts and projects
• Demonstrate leadership attributes, managing substantial teams across the business, supporting change, managing yours and your team's workload, instilling best practice
• Ability to clearly communicate performance expectations to your direct reports and line manager
• Ability to nurture, grow and develop your direct reports and project team
• Drive, support and champion Talent initiatives where agreed and necessary

Client Relationships

• Work in close partnership with the Executive Producers to ensure successful management and retention of key clients and projects
• Partner with clients to provide strategic oversight and counsel on deliverables, managing client expectations accordingly
• Collaborate with the Executive Producers on understanding and informing clients' objectives, ensuring project outputs meet these objectives and deliver great results and unlock future opportunities
• Articulate, write and present a clear vision of project success, in order to gain the confidence of a client audience, providing guidance and counsel where relevant

New Business Development

• Lead Integrated Production elements of the pitch process when required
• Create GPJ PM and third party budgets as needed for client pitch submissions
• Attend and present pitch presentations when required
• Actively promote GPJ through best practice
• Understand the vision and strategy of GPJ and spot opportunities to support commercial growth

Finance

• Produce sponsorship packages per level, with a clearly defined revenue margin agreed per package
• Work with GPJ finance teams to ensure sponsorship revenue is processed correctly internally and reported to clients
• Work in close collaboration with the Executive Producer on the ongoing management of project forecasting
• Work with the Executive Producer to identify commercial opportunities within your area of the business

About you

• You demonstrate a calm and positive attitude
• You are curious to constantly question, innovate, be open to and identify new ways of working
• You inspire your team to learn, grow and be curious
• You provide healthy challenge to clients and colleagues in order to get to a more successful result/outcome
• You are adaptable and open to unexpected requests and ways of working
• You are always willing to help other people within the project, across departments
• You're curious and eager to learn about the industry, clients' business and tech solutions
• You are solutions focused and a creative problem solver
• You're a challenger who is always looking to improve work rather than, 'we've always done it like this'!
• You are persistence to follow up with stakeholders and clients but demonstrate empathy in understanding the agency and Executive Producers workload
• You are truly passionate about planning .