Advertising & Media Planning Manager

Position Summary

33 USA Inc. is a full-service marketing agency specializing in the entertainment industry, with a strong focus on anime, manga, and Japanese IPs expanding into North America and global markets.

The Advertising & Media Planning Manager is the first dedicated advertising role at 33 USA Inc. (Los Angeles office) and is responsible for building the Company's North American advertising business. Standing between Japanese clients and rights holders on one side and our media partners on the other, the Manager owns advertising strategy, integrated media planning, buying coordination, and campaign delivery for Japanese entertainment IPs (anime, games, film, manga, sports) in North America and other overseas markets.

Media buying, trafficking, and installation are executed through the Company's strategic media partners, including an alliance partner for transit, street furniture, and experiential OOH. This role is the strategic and client-facing counterpart to those partners: it defines what to buy and why, approves the plan and the costs, and makes sure each campaign is delivered and reported to Japanese clients in Japanese.

Japanese is used daily with clients, rights holders, and the Japan headquarters; English is used daily with media partners, vendors, and U.S. teams. Business-level proficiency in both languages is essential.

This role is expected to operate with flexibility in a growing organization, with responsibilities evolving over time in alignment with business needs, organizational structure, and the individual's strengths.

Requirements

• Advertising Strategy & Integrated Media Planning
  
  

・Translate client objectives (series premieres, theatrical releases, game launches, conventions, etc.) into advertising strategy, including target definition, market selection, KPIs, and budget allocation.

・Build integrated North American media plans across OOH/transit, experiential activations, digital and social paid media, CTV/TV, cinema, and print, selecting the right mix for each IP and budget.

・Select and approve partner inventory (routes, placements, flight dates), and evaluate media beyond the alliance partner where needed (e.g., billboards, Times Square, client-specified media, markets outside North America).

・Prepare Japanese-language proposals, media plans, and estimates, and present them to clients together with the Business Development teams.

• Media Partner Management & Buying Coordination
  
  

・Serve as the day-to-day counterpart to the Company's strategic media partners: brief requirements, request availability and pricing, negotiate, place holds and orders, and manage trafficking schedules.

・Review partner quotes against the agreed partnership terms (separation of media and production costs, commission and pass-through structures, price parity) and protect the Company's margin.

・Manage holds, material deadlines, and rescheduling around the approval timelines of Japanese rights holders.

・Collect proof of posting, impression data, and completion reports from partners, and deliver campaign reports to clients in Japanese.

・Share the quarterly pipeline with partners and contribute to the annual review of partnership terms.

• Client & Rights-Holder Coordination
  
  

・Act as the advertising lead toward Japanese clients, distributors, and licensors on assigned campaigns, from proposal through final reporting.

・Coordinate approvals of advertising materials with Japanese rights holders, consolidating feedback and managing the approval schedule.

・Support the Business Development teams in the U.S. and Japan on pitches and new-business opportunities that involve advertising.

• Creative & Production Coordination
  
  

・Work with the Creative Director on concepts, key visuals, and design approval for advertising and activations.

・Decide case by case, together with partners and the Event Division, whether production (wraps, 3D builds, premiere activations, pop-ups) is handled by the partner or by 33, and manage production schedules and quality.

・Prevent duplicated markups between partner and 33 production, and scope 33's creative direction and project management fees separately.

• Advertising Revenue, Gross Profit & Business Building
  
  

・Own the revenue and gross-profit targets of the advertising business booked through 33 USA Inc. for each period (half-year and annual), and report status, forecast, and risks on a weekly cadence.

・Manage campaign budgets, media costs, and production costs, and ensure accurate estimates, purchase orders, invoicing, and collection in coordination with Accounting.

・Build the operating foundation of the advertising function: workflows, estimate templates, media lists by market, case studies, and Japanese-localized sales materials.

・Expand the Company's media and vendor network in North America and other overseas markets beyond the alliance partner.

• Japan HQ & Cross-Functional Collaboration
  
  

・Collaborate with the Japan headquarters' Business Development and Cross Media Marketing Divisions on shared clients, handoffs, and campaigns that run in both Japan and overseas markets.

・Coordinate with the Brand Production, Event, Social Media Marketing, PR, and Creative Divisions so that advertising works as part of integrated campaigns.

• Management Duties (evaluated semi-annually via the Company's Manager Skill Sheet)
  
  

The following management responsibilities apply to all 33 managers.

• Hiring & Labor Management
  
  

・Define hiring needs (role requirements and business rationale), obtain supervisor approval, and coordinate with HR; participate in interviews and provide clear, documented candidate feedback.

・Monitor team members' working hours, leave usage, and overtime on an ongoing basis; adjust workloads and take corrective action to ensure compliance with applicable labor laws (including California law); handle attendance issues (unreported tardiness, excessive hours, leaves of absence) in coordination with the supervisor and HR.

・Guide members accurately through internal procedures (onboarding, offboarding, leave, change requests); review and approve timesheets by the deadline; comply with company basic rules personally and correct violations by direct reports on the spot.

• Finance & Administration
  
  

・Review and approve members' expense reimbursements and purchase requests (corporate card, vendor invoices) by the deadline; ensure per-project billable expense statements are compiled accurately and submitted to Accounting without delay; ensure client invoices for own/team deals are issued accurately and on time.

• People Development
  
  

・Hold weekly one-on-one/team meetings to track each member's progress against evaluation items; review deliverables (proposals, reports) against evaluation standards and coach on gaps; build and execute development plans based on each member's skill sheet.

・Maintain up-to-date workflows and operation manuals; standardize templates and formats for the division; accumulate key business knowledge to raise the division's service delivery capability.

• Information Flow & Communication
  
  

・Accurately understand and relay executive direction and management intent to the team; hold weekly division meetings and maintain accurate minutes; execute items decided in division meetings.

・Identify HR-related issues in a timely manner and resolve them with the supervisor and HR; respond to project troubles per the trouble-response manual, coordinating with executives as needed.

・Create and regularly update representative case studies usable in sales materials; communicate and embed cross-departmental collaboration rules across all relevant members.

• Budget Achievement
  
  

・Regularly monitor progress against budget (revenue, cost of sales, SG&A); detect budget-shortfall risks early from the numbers; plan and execute countermeasures in coordination with management; break division targets down into concrete actions for each team member and drive execution.

• Problem Solving
  
  

・Rapidly identify problems within the division; establish facts and root causes; set and execute time-bound solutions with follow-through; design recurrence-prevention measures and embed them in operating processes; respond promptly to service-improvement needs identified through sales activities.

• Operations
  
  

・Temporarily absorb and stabilize a team member's duties during absence, leave, or resignation; allocate deals and accounts appropriately across the team based on gross-profit attainment, workload, and schedules.

(At the time of hire, these duties apply to the contractors and vendors assigned to advertising campaigns and to future members of the advertising team.)

• Reporting & Improvement Proposals to the Supervisor (Executive in Charge), based on the Company's results-based management approach ("Shikigaku")
  
  

・Report results to the supervising executive on a facts-and-numbers basis at the weekly check-in and by the set deadlines, based on the Manager's and the advertising business's targets and evaluation items. Reports start from the outcome (achieved/missed, with figures).

・Where a target is missed or a shortfall arises, acknowledge the shortfall as fact, identify the root cause, and report it together with a time-bound improvement plan.

・Complete matters within the scope of delegated authority through the Manager's own decision-making; obtain the supervisor's prior approval before acting on matters that exceed that authority, require exceptional handling, or change rules.

・Treat the supervisor's evaluations and feedback as the evaluation standard, and reflect them as behavioral corrections by the next results checkpoint. Where evaluation criteria are unclear, proactively confirm and resolve them at the start of the period or at project kickoff.

Skills and Experience Requirements:

・Business-level or higher proficiency in both Japanese and English (required). Japanese is used daily with clients and rights holders

・5+ years of media planning and/or buying experience at an advertising agency, media agency, or media company

・Hands-on experience building integrated media plans for the North American market, including OOH/transit and digital media

・Experience presenting proposals and media plans directly to clients and owning campaigns from proposal through reporting

・Experience negotiating with media owners and vendors, and reviewing estimates, rates, and commission structures

・Experience managing campaign budgets and gross profit

・Strong project management skills, with the ability to run multiple campaigns and approval schedules at once

・Ability to self-drive with minimal supervision in a numbers-first, results-oriented culture

・Bachelor's degree in marketing, advertising, business, or a related field

Desired Skills and Abilities:

• Experience working with Japanese companies or the U.S. subsidiaries of Japanese companies
• Experience in entertainment advertising (theatrical releases, premieres, game launches, anime, conventions)
• Experience planning experiential or immersive OOH activations (vehicle wraps, 3D builds, pop-ups, sampling)
• Knowledge of programmatic, social paid, and CTV buying and measurement
• Experience planning media in Europe or other markets outside North America
• Experience launching an advertising or media function inside an agency
• Network of media owners and production vendors in North America
• High AI-tool literacy and the ability to shorten proposal lead time
• Genuine enthusiasm for anime, manga, games, film, and Japanese entertainment IP
• Global mindset and cross-cultural communication skills
• High ethical standards and compliance awareness
  
  

Benefits

A number of programs cover all employees in the manner prescribed by law. Additionally, 33 USA Inc. provides several Company-designated benefit programs.

• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
• Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
• Hybrid Work Model
• While we currently offer this hybrid arrangement, please note that our work model may evolve to meet changing business needs. The company reserves the right to modify work arrangements at its sole discretion. We appreciate your understanding and flexibility as we continually assess and optimize our work environment