Job Vacancy For Head - Marketing - FMCG

Their is one good opportunity for West Africa Marketing Head - Ghana 

Purpose of Job:

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

- 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.

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

Principle Duties:

- 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.

- Help develop Trade Marketing plans with Sales/ Trade Marketing (Trade Promotion & Activation).

- Manage the development of design and pack changes.

- NPD - Rhythm Chart 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 Brand Managers.

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

Skills & Competencies : 

- Knowledge of basic marketing principles and processes

- Agency Processes: Ad agency, Design Agencies, Media agency, Research agencies, BTL agencies etc.

- Selection of agencies.

- Briefing the agencies with well thought of creative briefs, media briefs, research briefs and activation briefs as the case may be. 

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

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

- Consumer & Trade Activation: Plan, Innovate, Implement, Control, Evaluate.

- Manage the above mentioned agencies to get the maximum effectiveness.

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

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

- Understanding consumers existing and future needs.

- Understanding consumers, their attitudes & behaviour in general and to the brand and the category.

- Understand purchase behaviour.

- Finding and analysing consumer need gaps. 

- Understanding of and ability to implement formal Consumer Research - Qual & Quant.

- Brand Tracks

- U&A

- Product Tests

- Concept Tests

- Concept Product Tests

- 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. 

- Put together the Category Strategy with cross-functional inputs and over a longer horizon.

- Put together Brand Plans that synthesises big-picture and detail.

- Lead development of activity plans. 

- Ability to configure well thought of and innovative BTL schemes and activations.

- Day to Day management of advertising & media, research and BTL. 

- Understands business situation and sees clearly what is to be done and how to do it. 

- Knowledge of the Stage-Gate NPD process - Ability to champion a new product idea through stages and gates.

- 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 Brand Performance from P&L.

- Ability to understand brand and market dynamics:

- Understanding and 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. 

- Communication skills

- Ability to interact vertically and laterally - discuss issues openly, confidently and with clarity to deliver solutions. 

- Persuade and influence at any level. 

- Ability to produce/ present business documents which have well laid out arguments. 

- Conveys ideas effectively. 

- Excellent presentation skills. 

- Planning & conducting negotiations. 

- 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. 

 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: CEO - Africa 

Reported By: Marketing Managers of Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast & Francophone Countries 

QUALIFICATION& EXPERIENCE :

- The ideal candidate will have at least a Bachelor's degree; Master's degree in Business Administration (Major-Marketing) would be a plus

- 15 + years of experience in FMCG Sales and Marketing function, with stints/ exposure to brand roles/ market and innovation research / product design/ marketing communication in FMCG sector.

- The incumbent should be strong on business orientation, execution of change projects (project management), analytical capabilities and knowledge of marketing best practices relevant to the industry. 

- The incumbent should have led a team and acquired well-developed ability in influencing senior business leaders. 

- Direct exposure to global market is preferred.