Studio Manager - Fixed Term Contract

Job Introduction

** Hybrid Role - On average 1 day a week in the Crawley office**

Our people are everything to us. The way they deliver exceptional experiences every day for our customers, for their colleagues. The way they own what they do. Their 'Why's it like that?' curiosity. How they always think of others and work together to get things done. For us, for you, make do will never do. Good enough? Not even close. Come and do the best work of your life alongside lovely colleagues. Come to Saga. 

This role will work across Saga Travel Group brands, currently Titan Travel and Saga Holidays, to deliver marketing activity plans, positioning touring effectively within the two brands’ propositions. The role is delivery-focussed with responsibilities for planning, scheduling, campaign execution and delivery, including print purchase and image licencing. The role requires a drive to make innovative marketing comms projects a reality, whether that be extraordinary formats, digital innovation or customer experience.

The role is directly responsible for studio output. Whilst maintaining a hands-on approach to the day-to-day production of marketing activity, manage job scheduling, print purchasing and image licencing across all design deliverables. Work with key suppliers and internal stakeholders to ensure the studio is effectively planned to deliver both Saga Holidays and Titan Travel marketing plans. Ensure processes are in place to drive efficiency, accuracy and meet demands of a busy team. 

Evaluate briefs, assign resource as well as produce artwork across all channels – ATL, BTL, digital, trade communications and social. You’ll be creating communications to finished artwork and responsible for the end-to-end process. Your role is key in planning and providing visibility (status and risk) as well as prioritisation of work. An adaptable approach is key as the market, and our plans flex.

In this role you’ll be effectively positioning the brands in market, aligning to our strategic goals to grow new to brand customers, as well as maintaining repeat customers – using high levels of personalisation and segmentation where appropriate. You’ll be managing and creating artwork for all customer touchpoints throughout the customer journey and will champion the brand and great content across the business – celebrating our expertise, our customers and positioning us as best for touring. The winning choice. Saga Travel Group are the largest escorting tour operator in the UK and Titan Travel the most awarded.

Managing a team of three, you will plan and deliver marketing campaigns to increase brand consideration and conversion and amplify the brands to achieve brand fame (Titan) and support Saga’s position as a superbrand. This role will work closely across our marketing teams to drive expertise and excitement through our comms.  

This role will report to the Head of Creative Marketing & Brand Reputation.

Role Responsibility

Culture and strategy:

• Brand story-telling: champion both brands proposition and goal for fame/superbrand status.
• Align outputs to key pillars under Experience is Everything banner and design outputs amplify brand proposition.
• Line management responsibilities: lead the day-to-day activities of studio team, including feedback, development, coaching and mentoring for direct reports.
• Adopt a flexible, enthusiastic and driven approach to achieving business goals. 

Manager and leader capability:

• Supporting a team of three on their development path, and guiding them to achieve design excellence.
• Ensure we grow and nurture talent so we can build a winning culture where colleagues love to work 
• Develop close relationships with other marketing team colleagues, and key stakeholders across Product and Operational teams to ensure that our design effectively delivers against our key messaging.
• Lead production flow, setting milestones and agreeing priorities across core functions.

Delivery:

• Planning: support marketing plan creation and own the delivery of the plan.
• Brand positioning: be single minded in our communications and ladder up to our core brand proposition.
• Scheduling: effectively resource plan to meet plan deliverables, adapt and flex, prioritise work within the team.
• Expertise: demonstrate expert knowledge about our product, effectively communicate amplifying core pillars of expertise and winning choice.
• Maintain our campaign planning tool accurately and timely to ensure visibility and risk.
• Reporting: provide on-going work analysis to help inform planning, making recommendations to ensure continuous improvement.
• Process and workflow: follow process for campaign creation and production delivery.
• Purchasing: maintain print and image purchasing, ensure timely, processed and support tendering, build good supplier relationships.
• Joint marketing: ad hoc to create and deliver joint marketing activity with strategic partners (tourist boards, airlines, cruise lines and ground suppliers), ensuring each brand’s values and position is maintained.

The Ideal Candidate

• Excellent interpersonal, management and communication skills to articulate brief, communicate plans and risks.
• Influencing skills within schedule conflict and ability to prioritise, making quick informed decisions.
• Highly organised.
• Adaptable, able to pivot at pace.
• A strong listener, able to remain calm and focussed under pressure.
• Commercially aware of product priorities and highly knowledgeable about product offering.
• Excellent understanding of touring and attraction drivers.

Our values are:

• Precision Pace - Always owning and making things happen.

• Empathy – Always aware of others.

• Curiosity – Always asking why.

• Collaboration – Always one team, the Saga team!

Package Description

The standard benefits when you join Saga include: 

• Remote working available where possible

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays with the choice to buy a further 5 days annual leave per year 

• Free private medical insurance after 1 years' service 

• Workplace Pension 

• AXA Be Supported 

• A range of reductions and offers from leading retailers, travel groups and entertainment companies

About the Company

Having spent our first 30 years focused on travel, Saga launched Saga Magazine and developed home and motor insurance and financial services in the 1980s. Private medical and pet insurance followed in the 1990s, along with the launch of our own cruise ship operation. The strength of the Saga brand provides the Group with the ability to develop in-house or partner with suppliers to offer our customers and members highly differentiated, competitively priced products which meet their evolving needs.

Saga exists to help our customers and members lead the life they want to lead. To succeed in this, we know that the most important thing to do is to listen to our customers and members. At the heart of our business model is our drive to know more about our customers’ wants and needs so we are best placed to serve them.

Applying this approach over the past 70 years has enabled us to become the UK's specialist provider of products and services to people aged over 50 in the UK. The Saga brand has become one of the most recognised and trusted brands amongst UK consumers in this demographic and is recognised for its high quality products and exceptional standards of service. These include cruises and holidays, insurance, personal finance and the Saga Magazine.

When you join Saga you will see that we are committed to treating all employees fairly and to offering equal opportunities in all aspects of employment and advancement.

We value diversity not just because it is the right thing to do, but because diverse teams perform better. Creating a culture in which everyone feels welcome and offering equal opportunities in all aspects of employment and advancement is incredibly important to us. Fair consideration is given to applications from all applicants, including those with disabilities and those over who are over 50 as we are champions of age inclusivity.

We are an official Disability Confident Committed employer and ensure that our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible and we will make reasonable adjustments as required.

We are a member of the 30% Club and partner with Women Ahead which offers us a fantastic opportunity to take part in a leading, global, cross-company, leadership mentoring scheme to champion female talent.

We are a signatory of the Armed Services Covenant and have received a Silver Award from the Employer Recognition Scheme. 

To all recruitment agencies: Saga does not accept agency CVs unless specifically engaged on the role by the HR Recruitment Team. Please do not forward CVs to our recruiters, employees or any other company location. Saga is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited CVs.

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Saga Group