Account Director, Media Relations (Freelance)

Weber Shandwick’s St. Louis office is seeking an Account Director with agriculture industry experience to help drive media relations activities for key accounts, especially in the agriculture sector. This role requires ongoing contact with the media, contact with clients contact, and some junior team management. The candidate should have deep media relations experience, especially in the agricultural media sector; have deep agriculture industry knowledge and experience. They also should be an efficient and detail-oriented project manager with experience managing budgets and teams of varying sizes.

Responsibilities

Drive day-to-day media relations and serve as a primary client counselor
Advise on storytelling and media outreach strategies across the consumer, business, and broadcast media landscapes
Develop proactive ideas for media outreach and pitch efforts
Message and media materials development
Cross-company integration on campaigns and news announcements
Provide insight on emerging trends and online media developments as they affect public relations and marketing
Project management including, but not limited to, campaign execution, budgeting and team bandwidth
Manage/mentor/oversee the work of junior team members and coordinate with global teams
Become an expert on our clients’ brands and goals, and develop creative solutions that boost the brands’ reputations
Take broad concepts and strategy and translate them into meaningful, actionable operating plans for account teams

Basic Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s Degree (preferably in communications, marketing, journalism, international relations, or a related field)
A minimum of 7+ years of communications experience (previous PR/marketing agency experience preferred)
Agricultural Industry Knowledge Required.
Corporate account experience
Excellent communication/presentation skills; verbal and written
Strong writing, project management and organizational skills; and ability to multi-task to meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment without sacrificing quality
Experience working on fully integrated campaigns that incorporate social and digital media, content, and influencer partnerships
Ability to collaborate and coordinate work across strategy, creative and production teams