The posting
About Ogilvy
Ogilvy, part of WPP, was founded in 1948 by David Ogilvy. David created a culture that deeply respects and cares about its people and clients. Our mission is to inspire people and brands to make an impact and we are committed to attracting, growing, and retaining the best talent in the industry.
Ogilvy Health UK is made up of healthcare communication specialists across the disciplines of medical education and communications; brain sciences; brand promotion; digital and social; strategic planning; public relations; and creative/design. We believe we are like no other: we blaze new trails; we encourage a culture of creativity and innovation; we challenge, and we change; and we recognise and reward our team.
About 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. For more information, visit WPP.com.
The Role
As a Planner in Brand & Communications Strategy within Ogilvy Health, you will play a central role in shaping the strategic vision for leading global client accounts across Consumer Health / OTC and Prescription / Pharma
You will partner with multidisciplinary teams, client leads, and world-class creatives to transform complex clinical data, scientific insights, and market trends into clear, inspiring brand strategies and creative briefs.
Key Responsibilities
- Brand & Comms Strategy: Develop global brand frameworks, messaging architectures, and channel strategies targeted at Healthcare Professionals (pharmacists, dentists, oncologists, specialists) and consumers.
- Translating Science into Creative Narratives: Mine clinical trials, mode-of-action data, and medical literature to uncover compelling strategic "nuggets" that fuel creative work.
- Competitive & White Space Mapping: Analyze market dynamics and competitive landscapes to uncover strategic white space—especially in mature categories where product claims are highly competitive.
- Creative Briefing & Partnership: Write sharp, inspiring briefs and spar constructively with Creative Directors and teams to ensure strategy leads to work that changes behavior.
- Humanizing Health: Connect rigorous science with human empathy, creating communications that resonate with real-world decision-making for doctors, pharmacists, and patients.
What We’re Looking For
Experience & Background
- Experience in brand, communications, or creative strategy within an agency environment (Consumer Health, OTC, Pharma, MedComms, B2B, or general Advertising).
- Exposure to global brand-building frameworks or medical strategy/comms planning.
- Experience or strong interest in either:
- Consumer Health / OTC: Driving expert/pharmacist recommendation strategies and global brand architecture.
- Prescription / Rx: Crafting messaging strategies around specialized data, clinical trials, and unique modes of action.
Skills & Mindset
- Scientific Curiosity: A genuine interest in health and science, with the drive to immerse yourself in medical literature and complex subject matter.
- Critical Thinking: Strong reasoning and synthesis skills. While we embrace modern AI tools for research efficiency, we rely on your critical thinking to drive strategic clarity and original insights.
- Lateral Thinking: Proactive and inquisitive—able to anticipate challenges and see "around the corner" for our clients.
- Creative Judgment & Briefing: Appreciation for creative strategy (knowledge of APG frameworks is a plus) and the confidence to collaborate closely with creative teams.
- Strong Communication: Persuasive, articulate, and skilled at workshop facilitation and client presentation.
How We’ll Support You
Ogilvy celebrates its people. Fully. Enthusiastically. Unhesitatingly. We’ll empower you with the tools you’ll need to succeed. We’ll give you the autonomy to seek out new paths and better ways of doing things. We’ll support you with colleagues who are experts in their disciplines, drawn from across the Ogilvy network. And we’ll provide opportunities for you to do work of which you’ll be proud, with people you’ll be proud to call your teammates.
Our ambition is to attract the very best diverse talent to Ogilvy, and to be the employer of choice in the UK. We want everyone to feel welcome when they join us, and once they’re here, for them to want to stay with us, grow their career, and to feel they belong with us.
We are an equal opportunity employer and we’re committed to creating an inclusive, welcoming environment for everyone who wants to work at Ogilvy. For us, diversity, equity and inclusion is integrated into everything that we do. We believe that for creativity to flourish, everything about how we work must have diversity at its core. Your race, colour, ethnic, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, have no bearing on our hiring decisions, but we encourage everyone to feel free to express their true selves in an environment we are consistently striving to make as inclusive as possible.
We aim to facilitate an accessible and positive application experience for all candidates. If you require any adjustments from us to support you through the process or expect to require any adjustments to working conditions to be able to best perform in the role, please let us know. We are happy to consider all reasonable adjustments.
If you live with a disability and you would like to take advantage of our offer of a guaranteed interview under the Disability Confident Scheme, please ensure you fill out our voluntary Equal Opportunities Questionnaire when applying.
