Marketing Manager Savanna at The Heineken Company

Purpose of the role

• Lead the profitable and sustainable growth of Savanna by setting a clear brand vision, translating strategy into integrated commercial action and mobilising teams, agencies and cross-functional partners behind shared outcomes.
• The Marketing Manager is accountable for strengthening Savanna's leadership in South Africa, building the brand for long-term global relevance and leading the innovation and renovation agenda across product, pack, experience and new growth spaces.

What success looks like

• A clearly aligned brand ambition, growth strategy and annual operating plan.
• A high-performing team with clear accountability, strong capability and an inclusive, winning culture.
• An integrated agency ecosystem producing distinctive, effective and commercially relevant work.
• Cross-functional teams aligned to priorities, decisions, timing and execution standards.
• Sustained brand, volume, value, penetration and profitability growth.
• A consumer-led innovation pipeline that delivers incremental growth and strengthens brand relevance.

Key accountabilities

Brand growth leadership

• Own the Savanna brand vision, positioning, purpose, distinctive assets and multi-year growth strategy, ensuring consistency while evolving the brand for future growth.
• Translate consumer, category, culture, customer and competitor insight into clear strategic choices, growth priorities and measurable brand plans.
• Drive brand health, penetration, market share, volume, value and profitability through focused portfolio, communication, channel and commercial choices.
• Monitor performance and external shifts, identify opportunities or risks early, and lead decisive course correction where required.
• Act as the senior brand authority for Savanna, creating clarity on what the brand will do, what it will not do and where resources will be concentrated.

People and team leadership

• Lead, coach and develop the Savanna brand team, with clear goals, decision rights and performance expectations.
• Build a high-trust, high-accountability culture that encourages courageous thinking, constructive challenge, pace, ownership and consumer obsession.
• Create an effective team operating rhythm covering strategy, priorities, project governance, performance reviews, learning and development.
• Build succession depth and capability across brand strategy, commercial acumen, innovation, communications, digital, consumer insight and execution.
• Role-model inclusive leadership, honest conversations, active feedback, recognition and continuous learning.

Matrix leadership across departments

• Lead through influence across Sales, Trade Marketing, Group Key Accounts, Finance, Revenue Management, Insights, Innovation, Supply Chain, Operations, Procurement, Legal, Corporate Affairs and global or regional teams.
• Create one aligned Savanna agenda across functions, converting the brand strategy into shared priorities, workstreams, milestones and commercial outcomes.
• Clarify ownership and decision rights, resolve trade-offs, remove barriers and escalate material risks to protect delivery.
• Build strong relationships across the matrix and use evidence, commercial logic and brand conviction to secure alignment and resources.
• Ensure decisions are made at the right level and that cross-functional teams remain focused on the few initiatives that will have the greatest growth impact.

Agency ecosystem leadership

• Lead the integrated agency village across creative, media, digital, social, PR, influencer, design, research, sponsorship, experiential and below-the-line partners.
• Set a single, inspiring strategic brief and create clear standards for quality, distinctiveness, effectiveness, integration, timing and budget stewardship.
• Establish strong governance across briefing, scope, roles, deliverables, approvals, performance reviews and learning.
• Challenge agencies to deliver culturally relevant, locally resonant and globally scalable ideas that strengthen Savanna's distinctive voice.
• Build productive senior agency relationships while holding partners accountable for strategic and commercial impact.

Consumer and cultural leadership

• Keep the consumer at the centre of decision-making, using segmentation, demand spaces, brand health tracking and bespoke qualitative and quantitative research.
• Combine formal data with insight from consumers, customers, trade partners, the salesforce and cultural observation.
• Identify emerging cultural tensions, occasions and behaviours that Savanna can credibly lead or shape.
• Map the consumer journey and remove friction across awareness, consideration, purchase, experience, advocacy and repeat.

Breakthrough communications and experiences

• Lead the development of integrated through-the-line communication across television, radio, out-of-home, digital, social, PR, creators, sponsorships, events, experiences and commerce.
• Protect and evolve Savanna's distinctive tone, humour, visual identity and creative platform across every consumer and customer touchpoint.
• Ensure creative work is strategically sharp, locally relevant, responsible, channel-fit and designed to deliver measurable brand and business outcomes.
• Lead sponsorship, ambassador, influencer and content partnerships, including strategic fit, negotiation, governance and performance evaluation.
• Use zero-based budgeting principles and performance learning to improve the quality and return of communication investment.

Integrated commercial planning and execution

• Partner with Sales, Trade Marketing, Group Key Accounts and channel teams to translate brand strategy into integrated commercial plans by channel, customer and occasion.
• Align consumer activity, trade programmes, promotional choices, availability, visibility, assortment and execution standards.
• Develop a clear store-back and outlet execution playbook across on-trade, off-trade, fragmented trade and e-commerce.
• Track regional, channel, customer and store-level performance and lead action to close execution or performance gaps.
• Ensure the brand agenda supports customer growth through high-velocity packs, relevant occasions and compelling value creation.

Brand profitability and resource stewardship

• Own the brand income statement and make choices that maximise sustainable revenue, margin and return on investment without compromising long-term brand equity.
• Manage A&P, operating expenditure and capital requirements with disciplined prioritisation, forecasting and control.
• Identify margin-enhancing opportunities across cost of goods, mix, pack-price architecture, revenue management, promotional effectiveness and portfolio choices.
• Evaluate the incremental impact and return of major initiatives, stop or reshape low-value activity and reallocate resources to the strongest growth opportunities.
• Partner with Finance and Revenue Management to maintain a commercially robust growth plan and transparent performance outlook.

Innovation and renovation leadership

• Own the Savanna innovation ambition and pipeline, balancing core brand renovation, adjacent growth and breakthrough opportunities.
• Use consumer insight, category foresight, occasions, unmet needs and competitive analysis to define opportunity spaces within and beyond the bottle.
• Lead cross-functional innovation squads across Insights, Product Development, Packaging, Supply, Operations, Procurement, Finance, Legal, Revenue Management, Sales and Trade Marketing.
• Guide projects from opportunity definition and concept development through validation, business case, stage-gate decisions, launch and post-launch learning.
• Ensure innovation is distinctive to Savanna, incrementally grows the portfolio, is operationally feasible and has a clear route to scale.
• Lead renovations, pack upgrades and phase-in/phase-out planning with disciplined implementation and minimal write-offs.
• Maintain a balanced pipeline across near-term delivery, medium-term platforms and longer-term growth bets.

Governance, reputation and responsible marketing

• Ensure all brand activity meets legal, regulatory, responsible marketing, procurement and corporate governance requirements.
• Protect Savanna's reputation through strong issue anticipation, stakeholder alignment, approval discipline and appropriate response planning.
• Maintain clear project governance, decision records, risk visibility and leadership communication across major initiatives.