Director Brand and Sponsorship SSA at Visa

Job Description

This role will be responsible for bringing the Visa brand positioning to life with key audiences and cultural verticals, driving brand design, creative and positioning, as well as leading the sponsorship strategy for SSA. The role shapes and leads the brand identity system for Visa SSA, ensuring consistency and excellence across all touchpoints. This role is also responsible for how our brand comes to life at the point of payment and customer usage. Finally, as a thought leader and subject matter expert, you will engage with key Visa customers and external partners to support the growth and success of the Visa brand.

This is a key role on the SSA Marketing Leadership team reporting to the Senior Director, Marketing based in Johannesburg 

Essential Functions:

• Conceptualize and execute the Visa brand positioning and creative strategy: work with Hub (CEMEA) and local marketing teams to bring Visa’s brand positioning to life, leading on creative strategy, owning the regional creative brief and acting as the guardian of Visa brand guidelines across SSA.
• Develop Key Audience, Culture and Social Strategy: Build strategy to bring Visa into key cultural verticals and work with the SSA Digital and Media lead on the social and content strategy for the brand across SSA. Collaborate with the regional marketing team to conceptualize innovative approaches to connecting with key audiences and segments in key markets.
• Deliver on our global brand distinction and brand prominence: Evolve and expand visual identity systems to address existing gaps and expand it to other forms of expression (motion, audio, etc.) and bring it to life in SSA.
• Develop and execute the SSA brand design strategy: Working with CEMEA Brand team and in alignment with the global brand design strategy, ensuring alignment with Visa's overall brand objectives and business goals.
• Develop and execute SSA Sponsorship strategy: Working with the Hub Sponsorship team to leverage world class sponsorships such as FIFA and Olympics as well as regional sponsorships like AFCON while also identifying local sponsorships and partnerships opportunities to bring to life the Visa brand story in a relevant manner.
• Drive localization of environmental design: Drive the localization of the Global creative direction and create visually engaging and immersive brand experiences in physical spaces such as office space, events, and partner locations. Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to design and implement innovative environmental branding solutions that amplify the Visa brand.
• Partner with creative agencies: Own the relationship with creative, design and social agencies and studios to develop and execute brand initiatives. Provide clear creative direction, monitor project timelines, and ensure the delivery of high-quality and impactful creative assets.
• Leverage data-led approach and mindset: Leverage data, insights, and research to drive decision-making and optimize brand design efforts. Regularly analyze results, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven recommendations to enhance brand impact.
• Expand our brand's visibility at the point of payment and customer usage, including at point of sale, digital transactions, and physical & digital cards through:
• Improving the client and partner experience to seamlessly integrate our brand across payment form factors
• Designing, operationalizing, and optimizing branding requirements and supporting toolkits & processes for clients and partners
• Driving brand training in SSA sharing proof points, processes, and other collateral to support sales teams in representing our brand to clients and partners
• Developing and overseeing SSA implementation of branding, including consistent strategy, design, and measurement
• Reinvent how our brand shows up across ways to pay and be paid by driving innovations and integrations with partners and clients
• Create brand standards, guidelines and tools to scale innovations across Visa's clients and partners
• Working with our Marketing Services teams, engage with clients and partners to identify and pilot innovation opportunities
• Champion a customer experience-approach with SSA Product teams to enable mutual brand & business wins with clients & partners, leading to greater visibility and integration of our brand

Qualifications

 Preferred Qualifications

•  10 or more years of experience with a Bachelor’s Degree
•  Proven track record of successfully developing and implementing brand design strategies that drive measurable results.
•  Deep knowledge of agency partner management and collaboration and how to inspire the best work from creative partners
•  Demonstrable experience with development of digital/social-first creative programs across multiple industries
•  Experience of working at, or in collaboration with, leading digital platforms
•  Knowledge of consumer segmentation, analytics and insight development; strong capability in activation
•  Track record of successful brand repositioning work across multiple industries
•  Extensive experience in environmental design, creating immersive brand experiences in physical spaces.
•  Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with creative agencies, and third-party vendors.
•  Data-driven mindset, with the ability to leverage analytics and insights to inform design decisions and measure impact.
•  Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate complex design concepts and strategies to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
•  Strong leadership skills, with the ability to inspire and motivate a team of designers and creatives.
•  Solid financial and analytical acumen with strong ROI orientation
•  A great team member who adds energy, ideas and fun to our team and
•  A thought-leader, change agent, and champion of developing new ways of working.