Brand Manager: OTC- Cough and Cold - Gauteng at Aspen Pharma Group

OBJECTIVE: Drive sustainable, profitable growth of the product portfolios/ therapeutic categories with appropriate strategic direction, brand stewardship and commercial acumen.

MAIN DUTIES:

• Develop across various portfolios/brands strategies for sustainable business growth and profitability, consisting of mainly OTC cough and cold products.
• Anticipate future trends in disease management and the market environment
• Develop promotional and advertising strategies that grow brand market shares against competitors in all channels (pharmacy, retail, wholesale and informal trade)
• Analysis of the market, channel and patient and development of insights that are applied to develop robust brand plans
• Provide creative direction for brand/ portfolios strategies and manage Agency outcomes
• Implementation, monitoring and measurement of the success of the developed strategies and to ensure that they are flexible to adapt to a dynamic environment
• Successful implementation and monitoring of the roll out of the above with the required measurements in place for successful outcomes
• Enthusiastically communicate plans and results with the business leadership and relevant teams within the business at all times
• Drive, lead and take accountability for the budgeting process, control of A&P expenditure and achievement of financial targets
• Develop and implement pricing strategies that ensure healthy profit margins and competitive advantage for the Portfolio
• Continuously communicate with and support the sales teams with high levels of integrity and urgency to help them achieve sales targets
• Ability to manage the cross functional networks and channel resources for the portfolio to drive profitable growth with the required and shared accountability to achieve business targets
• Understand, challenge and implement the regulatory requirements to develop and implement strategies and tactics that drive brand growth
• Forecasting accuracy and stock management which entails minimizing stock write-off costs and returns
• Support Key Accounts in managing wholesalers’ stock holding and backorders, where required
• Using insights acquired both internally and externally to accurately assess market potential for new product introductions and/or renovations of existing products
• Managing and taking the lead/accountability in driving the New Product Launch process together with the relevant stakeholders like NPL, Demand Planning, Regulatory Affairs, Medical and others
• Lead and utilise both internal and external conferences, congresses to position the brands as foremost in the target audience’s minds
• Sense of urgency in resolution of customer queries

Requirements

SKILLS & COMPETENCIES:

ENTHUSIASM, PASSION AND HIGH ENERGY ARE KEY REQUISITES

• Commercial acumen
• Analytical skills
• Project management
• Networking ability
• Interpersonal skills
• Ability to perform under pressure
• Self-starter and self -motivated
• Sense of urgency
• Prioritizing and planning
• Verbal and written communication skills
• Aptitude for continuous learning
• Influential and impactful presentation skills
• Adaptability and flexibility in a changing environment

QUALIFICATION & EXPERIENCE:

• Matric
• Relevant Post matric Marketing/Health Science qualification
• 2-3 years Brand Management experience; Cough and Cold portfolio (advantage)
• 2-3 years OTC Marketing experience
• 2 years Pharmacy sales experience.
• Applicable industry knowledge.
• Financial literacy
• Proficiency in Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Word
• Ability to work on Qlikview models is advantageous