VML & Ogilvy | Client Lead / Project Director (WPP Content Studio), Japan

WPP

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands.  We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth.    We work with the world's most valuable brands and have global reach across 100+ markets, with deep local expertise.   Our people are the key to our success. We're committed to fostering a culture of creativity, belonging and continuous learning, attracting and developing the brightest talent, and providing exciting career opportunities that help our people grow.    For more information, visit WPP.com.   JOB OVERVIEW: As a Creative Director at VOJ, you are a pivotal leader responsible for inspiring, overseeing, and ultimately delivering brilliant creative products for our major brand clients. You are the driving force behind campaigns that not only meet business objectives but also make our clients and their brands famous, all while upholding the high creative standards of VOJ. You are the manager, the inspirer, the overseer, and the accountable party for the creative output, ensuring every piece of work is as brilliant as possible and contributes to client success and our agency's legacy. Key RESPONSIBILITIES: * Strategic Client Understanding: Deeply immerse yourself in understanding clients' business challenges and opportunities to ensure creative solutions are strategically aligned and impactful. * Brief Development & Scrutiny: Critically question and refine creative briefs, ensuring they are unique, strategically sound, and directly linked to business objectives. If discrepancies arise, you will lead the process to correct them, then effectively communicate and inspire your teams with a clear, compelling vision. * Creative Innovation & Expansion: Challenge and inspire your creative teams to develop brilliant, innovative responses to briefs. Furthermore, encourage and foster thinking beyond the immediate brief, proactively proposing smart initiatives that can significantly advance clients' brands. * Project Leadership & Oversight: Maintain a consistent oversight of each project's progress, actively stepping in to provide motivation, strategic input, and creative solutions to ensure teams deliver the highest quality work, on time and within budget. * Seamless Communication: Facilitate clear, frequent, and proactive communication across all project stakeholders to prevent misunderstandings and ensure smooth execution from conception to delivery. * Executive Alignment: Regularly update and collaborate with the Senior Creative Director and above to garner their insights and keep them fully informed of project progress and key developments. * Account & Client Partnership: Collaborate closely with account management to ensure they possess a thorough understanding of the creative work, enabling them to effectively present and "sell" ideas to clients. Be readily available to engage with clients directly to articulate the value and impact of the creative solutions, whenever necessary. SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS: * At least 5 years of demonstrated experience in managing and leading creative teams within an agency or in-house setting. * A minimum of 10 years of experience in producing impactful advertising, digital, social media, and content campaigns, with a proven track record of successfully collaborating with clients to achieve their marketing goals. * Exceptional ability to articulate complex marketing strategies and agency ideas clearly, persuasively, and with confidence. * Proven experience in conceptualizing and executing integrated creative work across a diverse range of channels, with particular expertise in digital campaigns, alongside strong experience in video production, brand activations, and promotional initiatives. * Adept at managing, mentoring, and inspiring creative teams, with the ability to impartially judge work, identify the strongest ideas, and collaboratively develop them to their full potential. * Native Japanese language proficiency is required. Conversational English or higher is a significant advantage. * Proficiency in leveraging WPP Open platforms and a commitment to guiding junior and mid-level team members on WPP's AI policy, ensuring clear understanding and compliant application across all projects in collaboration with WPP AI and legal teams.   #LI-DNP  We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process. WPP is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers. PLEASE READ OUR PRIVACY NOTICE (HTTPS://WWW.WPP.COM/EN/CAREERS/WPP-PRIVACY-POLICY-FOR-RECRUITMENT) FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW WE PROCESS THE INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE.

WPP

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands.  We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth.    We work with the world's most valuable brands and have global reach across 100+ markets, with deep local expertise.   Our people are the key to our success. We're committed to fostering a culture of creativity, belonging and continuous learning, attracting and developing the brightest talent, and providing exciting career opportunities that help our people grow.    For more information, visit WPP.com.   We are looking for a Creative Director to lead creative strategy and execution for key clients across Beauty, Feminine Care, and Tech. This role requires strong conceptual leadership and excellent craft standards, with the ability to drive performance in social media and content ecosystems, alongside data- and AI-enabled marketing approaches. You will shape integrated campaigns from idea to delivery, guide multidisciplinary teams, and build trusted client relationships through clear storytelling and confident presentations in both Japanese and English. You will also bring a sharp understanding of consumer insight, particularly in categories where empathy and nuance materially improve creative relevance and effectiveness. WHAT YOU'LL DO * Lead the development and execution of creative strategies and concepts for clients across Beauty, Feminine Care, and Tech * Take ownership of creative leadership for a major Feminine Care business, leveraging strong TVC production experience and production control capability * Drive innovative ideation across PR, activation, digital, and commerce * Lead creative work across social media and content production, driving strong performance and creative effectiveness * Partner with strategy, data, media, and marketing platform teams to translate insights (including data/AI learnings) into effective creative solutions * Lead and develop the creative team in line with WPP’s vision for diverse leadership, coaching talent and raising creative standards * Own client presentations and workshops in Japanese and English, building strong, long-term relationships and confidence in creative leadership * Direct high-quality visual outputs, especially in Beauty, including key visuals and product cut work, ensuring craft excellence across deliverables WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE * Campaigns and content that are insight-led, culturally sharp, and commercially effective * Strong leadership across integrated workstreams (TVC, PR, activation, digital, commerce) * A creative team that feels energized, clear on direction, and consistently producing higher-quality work * Client trust built through clear rationale, strong presentation, and reliable delivery WHAT YOU'LL NEED * Experience in an agency or in-house creative organization at Lead / ACD / CD level * Strong creative leadership in Beauty and/or Feminine Care categories; Tech experience is a plus * Proven experience leading TVC production and managing production control (quality, timelines, stakeholders) * Ideation and execution experience across PR, activation, digital, and commerce * Deep understanding of social media and content production (not only campaign decks) * Strong interest in leveraging data and AI-enabled marketing platforms to build better creative solutions * Confident presentation capability in both languages * Business-level English (presentation capability required) * Native-level Japanese (presentation capability required) * Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite and Keynote/PowerPoint * Experience using generative AI for ideation and/or using AI agents in creative workflows is strongly preferred * Creative background may be copy-based or art-based; what matters most is the ability to deliver the outcomes described above WHO YOU ARE * You turn consumer insight into creative that feels true, modern, and effective, especially in categories where nuance matters * You embrace change and actively explore new creative approaches and technologies * You bring strong leadership energy: you motivate teams, raise the bar, and grow people * You collaborate smoothly across diverse teams and stakeholders in a global environment * You balance logical thinking with strong creative ideation: clear rationale and strong ideas ABOUT US VML & OGILVY JAPAN GK WAS ESTABLISHED IN APRIL 2019 AS A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN GEOMETRY GLOBAL AND THE OGILVY GROUP TO ENHANCE OUR OFFERING TO BRANDS IN JAPAN IN SUPPORT OF THEIR BUSINESS AMBITIONS AND MARKETING OBJECTIVES. WE BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF CREATIVITY TO DRIVE MEANINGFUL CHANGE THAT DELIVERS POSITIVE BUSINESS OUTCOMES. NOW MORE THAN EVER THE ABILITY FOR AN AGENCY TO FLEX AND ADAPT TO CLIENTS CHANGING NEEDS IS VITAL IN THE APPLICATION OF COMMUNICATIONS, BRAND EXPERIENCE, COMMERCE AND TECHNOLOGY. OUR BLEND OF GLOBAL AND LOCAL EXPERTISE AND MARKETING CAPABILITY IS DESIGNED TO MEET THE CHALLENGES OF TODAY WHILE SETTING OUR CLIENTS UP FOR SUCCESS FROM TOMORROW AND BEYOND. VML & OGILVY JAPAN GK IS A WPP COMPANY (NASDAQ: WWPGY)   #LI-DNP  We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process. WPP is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers. PLEASE READ OUR PRIVACY NOTICE (HTTPS://WWW.WPP.COM/EN/CAREERS/WPP-PRIVACY-POLICY-FOR-RECRUITMENT) FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW WE PROCESS THE INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE.

WPP

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands.  We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth.    We work with the world's most valuable brands and have global reach across 100+ markets, with deep local expertise.   Our people are the key to our success. We're committed to fostering a culture of creativity, belonging and continuous learning, attracting and developing the brightest talent, and providing exciting career opportunities that help our people grow.    For more information, visit WPP.com.   WPP CONTENT STUDIO ROLE: SOCIAL CONTENT PLANNER LOCATION: TOKYO, JAPAN ROLE You are the heartbeat of the WPP Content Studio’s daily operation - the vital link between the high-level vision of our Strategists and the visual magic of our Content Creators. While the Strategist defines where we need to play and why, and the Content Creator builds what people see, you determine how we show up in the feed every single day. You take top-line social strategy and translate it into a tangible, exciting go-to-market plan. You are a culture hunter and a social native who understands that a strategy is only as good as its execution. You live in the comments section, you know what’s trending on TikTok before it hits Instagram, and you understand exactly what Japanese audiences are watching, sharing, and saving right now. Your job is to fuel the creative team. You don’t just hand them a deadline; you hand them the spark - the best references, the perfect audio trending sound, the creator inspiration, and the cultural context that allows them to visualize and execute breakthrough ideas. You don’t just plan social content. You design how social connects to the broader consumer journey. You understand that audiences don’t live on one platform. They move between Instagram, TikTok, LINE, YouTube, events, and retail, and your role is to ensure our content works across this ecosystem. You are a social native with an omni-channel mindset. You think in feeds, but also beyond them.   KEY RESPONSIBILITIES STRATEGIC PLANNING & EDITORIAL MANAGEMENT * Translate Strategy to Action: Take the master strategy and social playbooks from the Social Strategist and convert them into actionable, monthly, and weekly editorial calendars. * Go-to-Market Planning: Develop concrete content plans that blend brand storytelling with ‘right now’ cultural relevance. * Platform Specificity: Tailor content plans for specific behaviors across Meta (IG/FB), YouTube (Shorts & Long-form), TikTok, X, and LINE. You know that a video on TikTok requires a different hook than one on Reels. OMNI-CHANNEL & ECOSYSTEM THINKING * Ecosystem Mapping: Understand how audiences move across touchpoints : social, CRM, events, retail, and digital platforms. * Connection Planning: Identify how social content connects to other channels (e.g., LINE, website, influencer, offline experiences). * Journey Thinking: Ensure content drives movement, not just engagement. * Proactive Recommendations: Initiate discussions with teams and clients on how campaigns should extend beyond social. CULTURE, TRENDS & INSIGHTS * Trend Spotting: Monitor Japanese culture, trends, and platform behaviors in real time. * Audience Understanding: Know what your audience consumes, follows, and engages with daily. * Creator Integration: Identify and recommend creators and influencers that fit the content narrative. CREATIVE ENABLEMENT (THE BRIDGE) * Inspire Creators: Provide strong references, trends, audio, and cultural context to fuel execution. * Format Optimization: Guide teams on what format works best and why. COLLABORATION & PROACTIVENESS * Independent Thinking: Don’t wait for direction. Bring ideas, improvements, and opportunities. * Internal Collaboration: Work closely with Strategy, Creative, Production, and Accounts. * Client Engagement: Be confident contributing to discussions with clients on content direction and planning. * Challenge Thinking: Question plans when needed to improve output quality and effectiveness. AI & WORKFLOW * AI-Powered Planning: Use AI tools (including WPP Open) to analyze trends, generate rapid content angles, summarize audience sentiments, and streamline the calendaring process. * Performance Feedback: Work with the Data/Strategy team to review content performance and immediately apply those learnings to next week’s content plan. SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED * 4+ years in social content planning or editorial roles * Strong understanding of Japanese social ecosystem (Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, LINE, etc.) * Ability to translate strategy into executable content systems * Understanding of omni-channel marketing and how platforms connect * Strong cultural awareness and trend sensitivity * Ability to manage structured plans while adapting quickly * Comfortable using AI tools for planning and research PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES * Pop-Culture Junkie: You are relentlessly curious about people, technology, and what makes the internet laugh, cry, or click. * System Thinker: You can connect across platforms and touchpoints, with core strength on Social * Collaborative Connector: You thrive sitting between teams. You speak Strategy and you speak Creative, and you know how to make them understand each other. * Proactive Self-Starter: You don’t wait for a trend to be assigned to you; you find it and pitch it. * Open-Minded & Transparent: A team player who shares knowledge, shares credit, and is always willing to learn.   LANGUAGE SKILLS * Japanese: Native or Fluent (Essential for understanding local cultural nuance and trends). * English: Conversational (Required for internal/client collaboration).   # LI-DNP We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process. WPP is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers. PLEASE READ OUR PRIVACY NOTICE (HTTPS://WWW.WPP.COM/EN/CAREERS/WPP-PRIVACY-POLICY-FOR-RECRUITMENT) FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW WE PROCESS THE INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE.