Media Buying Senior Strategist

Description

TRG is looking for an Investment Senior Strategist - Partners (Integrated Media Buyer) who can negotiate media partnerships to bring evidence-based marketing from theory to real world investments.


Join our Strategy Collective, a cross-disciplinary team of strategists specializing in brand, communications, media investments, and analytics. We're looking for a Senior Strategist with a passion for evidence-based marketing and a strong understanding of the buying channel supply and partner ecosystems. Someone who can help us deliver penetration, reach, and spread that deliver on the econometric drivers of advertising profitability.


The Investment Strategy discipline is responsible for securing and activating high-reach media environments delivering broad category attention, and ensuring investments support long-term brand growth as well as short-term business needs.


This role focuses on achieving broad reach, excess share of voice, and brand consistency across the buying channels like Convergent Video and Audio (Linear TV, CTV, OLV, Terrestrial Radio, Streaming Audio and Podcasts), Programmatic Partnerships, High-Impact Digital Display, Out of Home, and Print, focusing on negotiating strong commercial terms, delivering broad category reach, and ensuring investments support long-term brand growth as well as short-term business needs.


What You'll Be Doing

• Day-to-day implementation of agency investment principles for assigned channels or markets within a media buy. You'll direct investment dollars to build mental availability across entire categories, with channels optimized for attention and not just clicking.
• Balance daily tasks between ongoing training as a cross-channel media buyer and execution of support duties including ordering, vendor contact and documentation, and buy stewardship and reconciliation.
• Place media investment dollars within each channel, executing within approved guidelines to achieve media goals set to increase reach and grow brands beyond just immediate performance metrics.
• Optimize, maintain, and reconcile buys within assigned channels to improve reach or efficiency.
• Hold partners accountable to maintain full delivery standards based on reporting delivery and contract commitments.
• Train in the evidence-based marketing fundamental principles taught by Ehrenberg Bass Institute, and others in the field of marketing science such as Byron Sharp, Karen Nelson-Field, James Hurman, Fergus O'Carroll, and others.

What You're Good At

• Negotiating and executing cross-channel media investments to ensure plans deliver efficient coverage of category buyers while meeting individual client marketing goals to achieve true brand growth.
• Mentoring and training strategists and interns by creating a culture of effectiveness and inclusivity - teaching and supporting each individual with practical tips and processes developed for daily tasks.
• Fostering collaboration within the investment teams while executing across partnership media channels for assigned clients.
• Developing and maintaining strong relationships with media sales communities, as well as identifying emerging opportunities across the partnership marketplace.

What You Have in Your Background

• 3+ years in media investment, media buying, or related client, operations, or analytics experience
• Desire to mentor entry-level investment strategists focused on implementing our "memories moves markets" vision, blending excellence in execution with teaching and caring leadership values to support both team and individual career growth.
• Negotiation skills and an understanding of the partnership media ecosystem, plus soft skills to represent the agency in the vendor community with accuracy in placement, stewardship, and reconciliation across media buys.
• The ability to maintain schedules or placements from RFP stage through final reporting, selecting and holding partners accountable in fair and efficient practice to ensure every dollar is executed to drive true client growth.
• A starting knowledge of marketing effectiveness frameworks including How Brands Grow (Sharp), Building Distinctive Brand Assets (Romaniuk), The Long and the Short of It (Binet/Field), and The Case for Creativity (Hurman). These books matter because they show how creativity and evidence work together to make brands easier to buy by making them harder to forget. Learning the shared language of these principles will be key to growth in this role.
• Interest in continued learning through certifications, training, or industry participation related to marketing effectiveness.