Programmatic Display Junior Associate

Merkle is a leading data-driven, technology-enabled, global performance marketing agency that specialises in the delivery of unique, personalised customer experiences across platforms and devices. We call it ‘people-based’ marketing, and with over 25 years’ experience, we are proud to be recognised as a global leader.

Merkle’s heritage in data, technology and analytics is the foundation for our understanding of consumer insights that drives our people-based marketing strategies. Combined with our expertise in performance creative and media, we can then offer our clients content-driven, contextual and compelling customer experiences that drive business growth.

In 2016, the agency joined the Dentsu, one of the world’s biggest media companies to form the Customer Experience Management (CXM) Line of Business.

Job Description

We are looking for talented, analytical individuals to join our Programmatic Display campaign team. Programmatic advertising is a rapidly evolving sector and our team is proud to be one of the most highly respected teams in Europe. Merkle’s Programmatic team won the Best Biddable Media Agency award in recognition of the team’s innovative approach and hard work.

We are looking for people to join in Summer 2021.

No previous experience is required, just research! We welcome new joiners from all backgrounds; you can be freshly graduated, someone with an apprenticeship or a person looking for a change of career. We're open to anyone whose passionate about Programmatic Display and can display that passion and research throughout the interview process.

Programmatic Display – never heard of it? Well, it’s the fastest-growing branch of digital marketing! It specialises in using intellectual technology platforms to efficiently place adverts online through a programmatic buying or real-time-bidding process. This engages hundreds of ad exchanges and publishers and enables advertisers to show their Display ads to the right users at the right time. So, in simple terms, when you log on to the guardian, scroll through a news article or read a blog and you wonder how the adverts shown on the side or how the ads are so relevant to you – that’s thanks to the display network. We serve display adverts that are helpful to you personally. Our role is to be clever and only show our client’s adverts to people who would be interested in buying the product or using the service. This allows for the consumer to have a personalised online experience and our clients can market directly to a customer more likely to purchase – it’s win win!

Life as a Programmatic Display Junior Associate at Merkle

Training. From your first day you will embark on our extensive training programme. You will quickly be introduced to Programmatic Display through in-person/ virtual classroom sessions, online training and various workshops. You will be assigned a coach who is dedicated to your learning and will assist you with any questions you may have. Everyone learns at their own pace and your coach is there to support you throughout your training! We’re lucky enough to have a super close relationship with Google and all other leading platforms in the programmatic space, so do expect to have regular visits from their representative, and possibly visit their equally beautiful offices to help assist you with your training.

Design Implement and Build. You will be responsible for designing and implementing campaigns, analysing performance data and identifying ways to optimise performance. This requires you to work with tools and platforms including, but not exclusive to, the Google Marketing Platform quickly get to grips with different technology.

Relationship Building. You will liaise directly with clients, providing them with regular reports, analysis, insights and big-picture strategy. You will need to enjoy communicating with people via email, phone, in-office meetings and be able to understand client’s frustrations and work with them to solve problems and improve campaigns.

Analysis. Our campaigns performance is measured by different goals and KPI’s. It could be to see how many people viewed an ad or purchased the product. Either way all this information is returned to you in the form of data. So a lot of your role will involve working with numbers and excel. You will need to be comfortable analysing numbers, looking for trends and translating graphs to your clients.

Happiness. It’s hard to overstate the importance we place on employee happiness. We want all our employees to enjoy coming to work in our offices (which we’re rather proud of!) and working in a super-friendly and supportive team. At Merkle, everyone has a voice and a part to play in driving the organisation forward.

Qualifications:

What do we look for in you?

• Research into Programmatic Display Marketing is a must! 
• Enthusiasm, initiative and drive
• Curiosity about the digital industry and the world of business
• A co-operative and supportive personality; a true team player
• The ability to work autonomously and to efficiently manage multiple projects
• Highly articulate in verbal and written communications
• A keen eye for detail
• Evidence of an excellent academic record
• A strong sense of professionalism and a deep respect for others
• Well-developed logic and reasoning skills, including an aptitude for data analysis

Finally, we expect that you’ll have really done your research into Programmatic Display Marketing. You don’t need to be a pro (we don’t require you to have any previous experience!), but we absolutely need to see that you’ve read up on recent trends, are familiar with the industry and have nailed understanding the basic concepts. There’s so much to read online; hopefully once you start, you just want to keep reading!

Additional Information:

The Interview Process

Firstly, we suggest you apply at your earliest convenience (make sure you’ve done your research!) as our roles are always very popular and do fill quickly. We hire on a first-come basis.

In this position, you will be focusing primarily on Programmatic Display so we will want to see a passion and enthusiasm for this particular area, specifically the more technical elements of Paid Social. This interest can be showcased in your research and ability to go above and beyond when looking into this area.

· Application – When you apply you will be asked a couple of questions to showcase your interest in Programmatic.

· Video Interview – If your application is successful you will be asked to complete a video interview (they sound scarier than they are, we promise!). The video interview is a chance for us to get to know more about you and your knowledge and recent research.

· In Office / Online Interview - If successful after a video interview then you would progress to the in-office/ online interview. This is a chance for you to, meet us in person (virtually), learn more about the company and showcase your skills, passion and research in person.

· Final Interview – If you reach the final interview, you will be asked to put together a presentation on a client campaign, based off a pretend client brief.

Throughout the entire process we will be wanting to learn more about you as an individual (you’re interests, skills and understanding of the role), your passion for this area and the research you’ve done. Don’t focus on the nerves, make sure you come prepared and ensure you interview us as well! At the end of the day you’ll be with us 5 days a week, so you want to make sure its somewhere you want to work to.

Diversity & Inclusion

At Merkle, we believe that a diverse and inclusive environment improves us as a community and as a business. We want to foster an environment of growth, where ideas and contributions are actively encouraged. We need this culture of courage to continue to thrive in our fast-paced industry.

We have created six Diversity and Inclusion Pillars. Each pillar is made up of a community of members who serve as role models and spread a message of inclusion throughout our global workplace. Pillar members are responsible for planning initiatives, events and training, along with championing change within our business. These pillars are Gender, Ethnicity, Mental Health, Religion, Disability, LGBT+.

Merkle is a place that embraces differences of opinion. To be an advocate for real change we really encourage applications from women, candidates with disabilities and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as we recognise that these groups are currently underrepresented in our marketing/technology industry.

Merkle does not discriminate against job applicants on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Experience stipulated in this job description serves as a guide only and all applications will be considered on their merits, irrespective of experience.

As part of our Diversity and Inclusion agenda, and as an Equal Opportunities employer, if you require reasonable adjustments during the selection process please engage directly with your Recruiter.

A few of the benefits

Whether it’s the joy of working with people at the top of their game or the Merkle social calendar, people love working here – and we hope you will too

·       Career development through Merkle University and other tools; with access to courses, textbooks and mentorship

·       Private Medical Insurance, Company Pension, life insurance and other corporate benefits

·       A selection of other benefits including ability to buy additional holiday, season ticket loan and 2 volunteer days