Head - Marketing - FMCG/Packaged Food

Head of Marketing / Marketing Head ( FMCG - Packaged Food)

Purpose of Job

- Help provide the strategic direction for a portfolio of brands.

- Drive volumes, market share, relative price index and net contribution for the portfolio of brands.

Principle Duties:

- Development of the Category Strategy, for a portfolio of brands, and Annual Brand Plans, encompassing the whole mix and ensure that this is fully implemented to time and budget.

- Development of the 'strategic vision' for each brand, the Brand Architecture, the Brand Lighthouse (incl. it's positioning) and its place in the company's portfolio.

- To lead development of the Category Strategy including the Marketing Strategy.

- To develop and Implement Brand Plans (including the Investment Mix).

- Develop deep, actionable consumer understanding & insights on category, brand(s), competition, usage and attitudes and purchase behaviour.

- Lead development of 'the big idea', 'advertising', 'activation plans' and PR as applicable for the portfolio of the brands.

Implementation:

- Media Planning & Implementation (as applicable).

- Consumer activations - Planning & Implementation.

- PR Plan.

- Manage the development of design and pack changes.

- NPD - Glide Path planning and development of new products in time through the 'Stage-Gate' methodology.

- The management of A&P (Advertising & Promotion) spends.

- Regular evaluation of A&P activity.

- Commissioning, execution and presentation of findings of market research.

- Management of a team of Marketing Managers/ Category Managers/ Brand Managers.

- Selection, Evaluation & Management of Best in Class Ad Agencies, Design Agencies, Media Agencies, Activation Agencies & MR Agencies.

- Manage the mix to deliver the budgeted profitability on the portfolio.

- Oversee actions on the Regulatory & Legal front pertaining to the brands.

Skills & Competencies:

Agency Processes:

- Ability to objectively develop & judge advertisements, designs, media plans, research proposals, discussion guides, questionnaires and BTL proposals.

- Media Plans: Plan, Innovate, Implement, Control, Evaluate.

- Understand the cost structure for ad agency, media, research, BTL.

- Ability to develop strong Consumer Understanding through immersions and formal Market

Research:

- Consumers: existing and future needs.

- Consumers: their attitudes & behaviour in general and to the brand and the category.

- Understand purchase behaviour.

- Finding and analysing consumer need gaps.

- Ability to implement formal Consumer Research - Qual & Quant.

- Ad Testing

- Brand Equity and Varianting Study

- Ethnographical methods

- Understanding of how PR works in the market and development & implementation of relevant strategies.

Strategic Thinking:

- Developing a future vision.

- Conversion of business goals to marketing plans.

- Conversion of consumer insights into marketing ideas.

Brand Equity Development & Management:

- Developing Brand Lighthouses based on consumer understanding.

- Ability to rigorously maintain brand identity in all branding activities.

- Ability to conceptualise & develop the Brand Architecture.

- Ability to develop a portfolio strategy for the business.

Analytical skills:

- Identification of opportunities and issues

- Ability to develop hypothesis for each issue and come up with alternative ideas.

- Analysing sales, media and research data.

- Use of data to create detailed, fact based and logical arguments.

- Present Analysis and Conclusions in a clear, structured manner.

- Understand Portfolio/ Brand Performance from P&L.

- Ability to understand brand and market dynamics:

- Tracking of brand vs. competition (including strategies, gathering intelligence, activities etc.)

- Understanding Trade & Trade structure.

People skills:

- Develop a strategic contact matrix - internal and external to ensure that brand plans are achieved.

- Commercial understanding

- Identify Profitable and sub-optimal SKU's and plan marketing strategies accordingly (invest, exit decisions).

- Manage A&P budgets (Plan, Track).

- Review P&L monthly and take corrective actions.

- Coordinates a KPI review monthly.

Project management:

- Set objectives, time lines & responsibilities.

- Ability to break projects to components and identify critical path.

- Manage day to day communication to ensure projects are progressing on time and on budget.

- Ensure that agreed procedures are followed in terms of processes quotations, estimates, proof of work with invoices etc.

- A thorough understanding of lead time cycle for various activities.

- Ability to issue well thought of briefs for NPDs & tracking deadlines.

- Brings in a speed and urgency culture.

Product Knowledge:

- Manufacturing Process

- USPs vs competition, if any

Teamwork:

- Has good working relationship with superiors, peers and subordinates and external customers and is well acceptable to them.

- Supports other team members (the wider country team) depending on the need.

- Has a thorough understanding of how marketing impacts other groups in the company.

- Maintains two way communications with internal and external teams.

Personal:

- Ability to prioritise tasks - differentiate between urgent & important.

- Ability to review & change priorities as new tasks achieve.

- Allots times for 'thinking', 'planning' and implementation.

- Ability to do fieldwork to check plan implementations.

- Ability to achieve objectives within deadlines.

- Exhibits initiative in handling different assignments rather than waiting for instructions, seeks out opportunities and solutions to problems for continuous improvement, is self motivated and can take stretch goals.

- Sees uncertainties as an opportunity and not as a problem.

- Recommends and accepts ideas and builds upon them. Creates new and unique approaches by rethinking or reconceptualising so as to resolve problems. Has high degree of curiosity.

Leadership:

- Seeks out and leads change, challenges the norms/ status quo.

- Instills belief and passion among sales, finance & supply chain (including manufacturing) to enthuse, motivate and inspire higher levels of performance on the portfolio.

- Is able to create and drive initiatives independently

Reporting to:

Head - Marketing: West & Central Africa

Business Head - Nigeria