Manager Sports Marketing - EM South at adidas Group

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organisation: 

• Development and strategic oversight of Emerging Markets South (EMS) local Specialist Sports (SPSP). This entails leveraging key athletes and brand partners to deliver strong local adidas brand visibility and activation presence.  

Key Responsibilities:   

• Work closely with the Senior Sports Manager to develop and deliver a strategic plan for the Specialist Sports category within EM South 
• Work closely with the Senior Sports Manager in identifying and signing the best current and next generation athletes within the specialist sports category in EM South. 
• To service athletes, partners and federations including negotiating and maintenance of contracts. 
• Act as liaison between specialist sports athletes, brand partners and adidas internal departments, including brand activation, omni-channel PR/newsroom and sales.   
• To develop and manage specialist sports contracted players and athletes seeding program (including stock management and future orders) 
• Track contractual appearances and encourage optimal social media presence of adidas amongst brand partners. 
• Share knowledge and insights of the industry landscape to improve cross functional teams’ understanding of the broader specialist sports landscape in the EM South. 
• Recommend and participate in the planning for future adidas projects and partnerships within the specialist sports category. 
• Evaluate cross functional-related synergies between contracted partners and adidas.  
• Work closely with the Senior Sports Manager and Brand Activation managers to develop and leverage athlete and player opportunities across their ‘owned’ social media platforms and key adidas brand channels. 
• Facilitate promotional appearances of adidas contracted specialist sports players/athletes and meet and brief adidas contracted assets for promotional appearances. 
• Comply with Contract Agreement Form (CAF) procedures and P&L construction for new partners or renewals according to sport marketing strategy. 
• Responsible for management of Specialist Sports Brand Partner budget and monitoring Sports Marketing financials relative to category (costs, return of investment, planning). 

KPI’s: 

• adidas share (FTW) of successful athletes in key sports. 
• Partner social media content positively featuring adidas 
• EM South Brand Health KPIS (SoS) 
• Growth of Specialist Sports Category Market Share within the EMS. 
• EM South Net Sales, Category growth, full-price sell-through and DTC/E-com traffic. 
• Marketing Working Budget compliance. 

Key Relationships:  

• EM South Sports and Culture Marketing, Brand Activation, Emerging Markets + Global Sports Marketing, PR, Legal, Agencies, Partners, Athletes and Agents. 

Knowledge, Experience and Capabilities 

• Extensive knowledge and passion for sport- particularly specialist sports in EM South. 
• Strategic influence, ability to identify and convince potential brand partners within the category. 
• Ability to build and maintain key industry and high-profile relationships. 
• Strong EQ, empathy to best service needs of top athletes in a supportive, respectful, and compassionate manner. 
• Integrity to best honour the interests of adidas and brand partners. 
• Ability to exercise independent judgement and decision making. 
• Ability to network, influence and leverage internal and external partners. 
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook). 
• Strong organization bias – attention to detail in tracking key KPIs, commitments 
• Impressive oral, written, and presentation communication skills. 

Required Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:  

• University degree in business, ideally with marketing and sales focus. 
• 5 + years of Brand and Sports Marketing Experience with an agency or client-side consumer goods company. 
• Fluent written and spoken English language skills.