Brand Manager Health at Danone

About The Job

• Contribute to the Everyday Nutrition (eating yoghurt segment – Activia and New Brand to be launched) and Plant-based portfolio (Alpro) by developing key global brands in South Africa (value and volume growth) whilst launching margin rich innovations rooted in consumer insight and need.

Brand and Portfolio Ownership

• Own and monitor Health portfolio (Activia, Alpro and New Brand) sales performance (volume, value, profitability) in line with targets set
• Understand all levers on P&L to drive profitability of the brands and portfolio
• Understand all data sets (sales in; sales out; consumer know-how; trends and growth platforms) to derive clear insights and “so what” action-oriented recommendations
• Use consumer understanding and brand knowledge to uncover a powerful tension which the brand can take a stand on and therefore answer a consumer need for
• Be able to understand and process new information
• Provide solutions that have been critically thought-through
• Own and drive annual Brand Plan development and excellent execution, thereof
• Be an advocate of the brand and own key brand activities and initiatives with Trade Marketing

Innovation, Renovation and Product Launches

• Within identified growth spaces, ensure brand and portfolio answers specific consumer needs, insights, tensions, pain points, using digital and traditional insight tools
• Creates new products, packaging and experiences leveraging the power of semiotics that strengthen and grow brand equity and experience
• Lead innovation project with cross-functional teams (R&I; Trade Marketing and Finance) to develop clear, sizeable and consumer-oriented business cases
• Be able to craft research (Qual. And Quant.) briefs that articulate the problem to solve and the required outcome, with clear understanding of both research processes
• Manage Innovation P&L with Finance to shape the most desirable and business accretive P&L
• Understand the Industrial processes and production process related to the innovation to understand opportunities / constraints on product development
• Be an advocate of the innovation and own the trade story with Trade Marketing in the successful implementation of innovation launches and Marketing support

Unlocks Creative and Media opportunities

• Create the right conditions for partners collaboration and uses great storytelling techniques to transform a factual brief into an inspiring story
• Able to provide clear and inspiring briefs to both Creative and Media agency partners to unlock great creative and media solutions to amplify
• Able to provide clear direction and feedback to Creative agencies on reverts, that builds encouragement and allows for forward movement
• Able to critically assess if creative executions are right for Brand and portfolio, and whether the creative will effectively contribute to the critical KPIs needed for growth
• Have Media know-how and able to co-create strong Media plans with S&I and Media Agency
• Be able to critically evaluate overall Media Plans and KPIs presented by Media Agency

Digital Know-How

• Understands the digital journey a consumer could follow and builds a strong digital media plan across priorities channels
• Be able to critically evaluate Digital Plans presented by Media Agency

Consumer, Shopper & Trade insight

• Take responsibility to personally listen and connect with consumers
• Know the difference between the consumer and shopper of the brand and portfolio
• Convert data from different sources to unlock insights for growth
• Takes the critical insights for growth and articulate the key tasks the brand must do to unlock them
• Be familiar with different trade channels and actively take part in trade visits
• Be on the pulse of competitor activity

Key Stakeholder Management

• Be and active member of the internal cross-functional team, with frequent engagement to ensure OTIF delivery of projects and deliverables
• Foster great working relationships with Creative and Media agencies through active leadership to achieve brand deliverables and KPIs
• Open and trusting relationship with MM with weekly updates on projects and deliverables

Marketing Key Behaviours and Competencies

Marketing Budget

• Manage weekly and monthly marketing-related expenses
• Manage budget – both actuals and YTG phasing of the brands
• Attend the monthly meeting to give feedback on the budget tracker

Nielsen Data

• Understand monthly market trends by total SA; customer and region
• Understand pricing interactions between brands and categories
• Be able to understand raw data and derive insights from the data

Key behaviours

• Focused on both what and how
• Collaborative
• Respectful
• Proactive
• Hungry for growth and learning
• Able to adapt and pivot when direction changes
• Able to summarise and succinctly articulate both on presentation and presenting

About You

ACADEMIC AND TRADE QUALIFICATIONS

• 3-year Marketing or Business-related degree

Work Experience And Skills

• 3-4 years of marketing experience, preferably in FMCG
• Exposure to, and understanding of P&L and ROI is critical
• Proven presentation skills
• Proven TTL execution success
• Proven launch success
• Proven ability to develop strong working relationships
• Proficient in MS Office Excel, Word, PowerPoint

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND BEHAVIOURAL TRAITS

• Excellent written and oral communication ability
• Analytical
• Financial acumen
• Able to take initiative
• Action-oriented
• Goal-oriented
• Attention to detail
• Team player
• Self-motivated
• Self-confident
• Resilient
• Creative
• Ability to think strategically
• Problem solving ability
• Flexible with ideas within a changing work environment
• Interpersonal skills
• Passionate about the product / product portfolio
• Ability to work autonomously