Brand Manager - Courvoisier at Beam Suntory

Role Responsibilities

Reporting to the Head of Marketing for Beam Suntory South Africa this individual will be responsible for but not limited to:

Development of a strong Brand Plans that use insights and a better understanding of market dynamics to formulate local Marketing plans supported by the Global Brand Strategy.

• Market Review and insight generation & application
• Brand market positioning
• Setting consumer & activity goals (consideration & conversion) and customer goals.
• Working with principles to develop activity plans based on a clear understanding of the estimated impact of both new & existing activities.
• Develop the annual digital marketing strategy
• Clearly identify local market challenges and issues  
• Agency Management and coordination: Media, PR, Creative, Social/Digital and Activation/BTL agencies.
• Translating the brand strategy into activity planning.
• Development and management of brand budgets for each activity/sales driver.
• Brief and plan Communication Strategies for the year.
• Provide agencies with the necessary frame of reference to enable them to advance the brand in a manner that adds value to the brand positioning.
• Manage the marketing budget, supplier cost, invoicing, and general brand admin.
• Measurement & evaluation the A&P effectiveness to maximise activity and consumer engagement.
• Effective use and management of Consumer insight research and other research tools to strengthen Brand performance and develop brand plans that are effective.
• Monthly submission of brand scorecards/reports (rationale & commentary of brand volume, brand performance) & A&P variance commentary.  Development of brand updates for Exec on request.
• Long term brand strategy, architecture, and positioning development in alignment with portfolio strategy through insight generation.  
• Ensure all activities developed within the legislated marketing guides and meets the AWARE principles.
• Manage Brand CI and creative standards on key brand touchpoints such as website, social media, paid media, ATL and marketing collateral.   
• Work closely with the Brand Ambassador to develop an annual activity plan that fully supports the overall brand strategy.
• Work cross-functionally with the Trade Marketing Manager to ensure that channel activations and POS are deployed and delivered at expected standards and on time.
• Establish a close working relationship the commercial teams and jointly develop Brand and Commercial Plans for the most efficient and effective use of the brand investment in order to achieve targets.
• Build strong relationship with the global brand teams and agencies alike.
• Build and source 3P supplier that will steps change the way we go to market and build a sense of partnership with these.

Qualifications & Experience

KEY SKILLS & COMPETENCIES:

• Strategic Penetration (Uses analytical skills to generate consumer driven strategies that deliver focused, growth driving business outcomes)
• Consumer Insight (Identifies key consumer issues and ensures penetrative consumer understanding and insights are applied to drive brand growth)
• Motivating & inspiring agencies & cross functional teams (Understands what drives & motivates internal & 3rd party teams & constantly strives to build great productive relationships by breaking down barriers to performance)
• Marketing Judgement (Understands the true consumer impact of our brand building ‘output’ by using clearly defined logical criteria balanced with practical instinct to judge the work)
• Commerciality (Uses performance measurement & sound financial management – balancing short & long term – to build the brands. Balances commercial, customer & consumer motivations to deliver outstanding results)
• Excellence in execution (Delivers high quality results seen through to world class completion. Maintains high standards by driving quality, speed & cost management appropriately.)
• Project Management (Develops fully integrated project plans and aimed at delivering required outputs within time and budget constraints.)

EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS:

• Appropriate tertiary qualification (Marketing Degree)
• Post Graduate Degree would be advantageous
• +5 yrs Brand Marketing experience in FMCG industry
• Understanding the South African Market and intimate knowledge of Main Market will be advantageous
• Research & Data interpretation, tools, and usage
• Strong consumer insight and understanding
• Understanding of Influencer Marketing
• Strong Digital Marketing skills
• Influencing skills, with a level of comfort in working across levels and functions within the organization.