Senior Real-Time Culture & Insights Strategist Freelance
About the Opportunity
Monks is looking for a **Senior Real-Time Culture & Insights Strategist** to execute and optimize the detection and activation of cultural trends that inform strategies and campaigns in real time. Working closely with the Director, this role ensures insights are integrated swiftly into creative and media processes.
Our ideal candidate is a proactive, agile strategist with a deep understanding of cultural dynamics, consumer behaviors, brand building, and digital platforms, capable of turning raw data into compelling creative direction and actionable strategic frameworks.
In this role, you will:
Territories, Cultures & Trend Detection: Continuously monitor platforms and media to identify emerging trends, subcultures, and real-time conversation opportunities.
Social Strategy & Brand Building: Develop comprehensive social strategies and brand-building frameworks that align with long-term positioning and real-time cultural moments.
Strategic Planning & Playbooks: Lead strategic planning processes and create actionable playbooks and guidelines that feed directly into creative ideation and campaign execution.
Workshops & Facilitation: Plan and facilitate collaborative workshops with internal teams and clients to extract key insights, align goals, and foster creative alignment.
Creative Approach & Ideation: Bring a strong creative strategy approach to bridge data, insights, and storytelling into high-impact visual and narrative concepts.
Paid Media & Campaign Optimization: Collaborate on paid media strategy, analyzing cultural performance within active campaigns to recommend real-time optimizations for maximum engagement and ROI.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with creative, data, media, and account teams to ensure contextual and strategic relevance across all touchpoints.
Nice to Have Skills:
Workshop Facilitation & Training: Proven experience in designing and leading strategic co-creation workshops and client sessions.
Advanced Playbook Architecture: Track record of building structured brand playbooks, social toolkits, and go-to-market strategies.
Paid & Organic Media Integration: Deep understanding of how organic social tactics integrate with performance and paid media amplification.
Required Experience & Qualifications:
5–7 years of experience in trend analysis, research, social strategy, or brand strategy within agency, media, or tech environments.
Strong knowledge of cultural monitoring methodologies, brand building principles, and trend forecasting frameworks.
Demonstrated expertise in strategic planning, playbook creation, and social strategy.
Ability to merge qualitative and quantitative data from multiple sources into clear, compelling strategic narratives.
Intermediate to advanced English proficiency (written and spoken).
Exceptional communication, presentation, and storytelling skills.
Technical Skills & Toolset:
1. Social Strategy & Cultural Monitoring
Social Listening Platforms: Brandwatch, Talkwalker, Sprinklr, or NetBase Quid
Territories, Cultures & Trend Detection: Google Trends, TikTok Creative Center, Native Platform Analytics (Meta, X, Reddit, YouTube)
Social Strategy & Community Analytics Tools
2. Brand Building, Planning & Research
Consumer Research: GWI (GlobalWebIndex), MRI Simmons, Search Insights
Brand Strategy & Playbook Development Frameworks
Paid Media Alignment & Audience Targeting Insights
3. Facilitation, Collaboration & Workflow
Workshop & Brainstorming Tools: Miro, Figma, FigJam, Notion
Presentation & Document Creation: Google Workspace, Microsoft PowerPoint
Agile Project Management: Jira, Asana