Category Manager at Alan & Grant

Industry: FMCG/Foods/Beverage

Job Objective

• The Category Manager is a senior manager who manages a cluster of related brands and the brand team who work on those brands.
• He/She leads the product category and has the responsibility for managing the growth and profitability of all brands in the category.
• He/She works with the brand team to develop the multi-year strategies for long term brand growth, the annual brand plans, and the production, execution, tracking and reporting of all marketing and brand campaigns.
• The person reviews the annual and monthly business targets for the brands in the category and works with the brand team to deliver the key performance indicators (KPIs) for all brands in the category.
• The Category Manager is responsible for coordinating the development of the brand’s vision, architecture, and communication development guidelines, and ensuring that these are always adhered to and clearly communicated in all brand communication campaigns across multiple connection points.
• The Category Manager leads the brand team in implementing the defined marketing strategies and plans for the brands in his/her category.
• He/She leads the brand team in managing all internal and external stakeholders with middle to a high level of authority to deliver brand projects and is the first escalation point for issues and conflict resolution with the marketing agencies, vendors and third-party suppliers, or other persons.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Planning for and managing the growth and profitability of all brands in the category.
• Regularly review market research and business reports to understand brand and category
• performance across multiple metrics, consumer needs/trends, and performance of key competitive players, and proffer business solutions or improvements to Marketing Director and other internal stakeholders.
• Monitor and analyze the market and industry trends and leverage the insights to plan and develop short-term and long-term marketing strategies and annual plans of the brands in the category for execution across various consumer connections and media platforms.
• Lead the development of briefs for brand campaigns that effectively and clearly communicate the brand’s message, values, and personality, anchored on a Core Creative Idea that can be brought to life through impactful storytelling and communicated across multiple media platforms to win consumers’ hearts and minds.
• Manage the category DME budget, implement cost-effective strategies and solutions to drive optimum efficiency, spending, and ROI delivery on the DME budget for all line items.
• Innovation. Work with the Marketing Director in developing the Innovation Pipeline for the category. Proffer suggestions and ideas for new product and packaging launches to sustain the relevance of the product portfolio to consumers and ensure business continuity. Lead the brand team in the execution of all deliverables to ensure timely and successful new product/packaging launches.
• Lead the packaging development process for new brands/products and the re-design/adaptation process for packaging of existing brands in the category.
• Lead the brand team’s collaboration with the Sales, Production, R&D, Regulatory, Supply Chain, Finance, Procurement, etc. teams to drive the timely execution of annual business plans and other project deliverables. Serve as an escalation point and initial resolution point for issues on the brands and category projects.
• Media Planning and Execution. Lead the brand team in the development and review of the media plans for all brand campaign executions across various connection points. Validate media platform selection, deployment strategy, budget allocation, and campaign duration on all platforms for all brands in the category.
• Project Management. Ensure adherence to the project management process for all brand projects. Lead the brand team in managing all external stakeholders working on brand projects, specifically marketing agency partners, vendors, and third party suppliers. Ensure that the development, production, and execution of all brand campaigns and briefs adhere to the brand’s communication development guidelines.
• Supervise the regulatory approvals of brand campaigns, innovations, and new products for all brands in the category.
• Ensure adherence to company procedures, policies, rules and guidelines as they pertain to the Marketing function by direct reports, marketing agencies, vendors and 3rd party suppliers.
• Execute other projects which may be assigned by the Marketing Director from time to time.

Requirements
Education / Knowledge:

• Bachelor of Science (BSc. Hons) Degree or Higher National Diploma (HND) in Marketing or other applicable courses from a reputable higher institution.
• An MBA or Master’s Degree in a related field is highly recommended.
• 7 - 8 years working experience in a Brand Management role in an FMCG or B2C company.
• Previous experience in the Account Management or Strategy department in a marketing creative agency would be an advantage.

Working Experience:

• Experience in Brand Management and a good understanding of all elements of the Marketing Mix, Media Planning and Execution, Digital Marketing, and Experiential Activation.
• In-depth knowledge of developing and implementing above-the-line, below-the-line, and through-the-line marketing/brand campaigns.
• Good knowledge, use, and application of marketing research tools and reports, to extract insights for brand strategy development, planning, and execution of winning brand campaign ideas.
• Result Oriented. Good knowledge, understanding, and application of strategic and tactical brand initiatives to drive achievement of brand volume, revenue, profit, and equity targets.
• High business acumen, commercial awareness and understanding of Sales, Distribution, Trade Marketing, & Merchandising principles.
• High proficiency in DME budget management and ROI delivery for multiple brands or categories.
• Creative & Innovative. Ability to apply creativity and innovativeness to develop exciting brand campaigns to communicate the brand’s value to consumers. Ability to develop systems and processes to improve work for the category team and drive improved synergy of operations.
• Knowledge of Brand/Product Innovation principles and New Product Development process and launch steps.
• Planning and Execution Excellence. Good Project Management skills, experience with implementing
• Marketing processes and principles to deliver Marketing brand plans on time and in full.
• Ability to prioritize between strategic and tactical brand initiatives to ensure optimum delivery of brand volume, revenue, profit and equity targets.
• Ability to work in a matrix environment and build effective and collaborative working relationships; working effectively in teams; engage and manage multiple internal and external stakeholders.
• Demonstrate a high level of Accountability & Ownership for the category of brands he/she manages and is responsible for.

Skills & Other Requirements:

• Good Verbal & Written Communication – Ability to communicate clearly and without ambiguity. Demonstrate exceptional command of the English Language.
• Problem Solving – Develop innovative solutions to address business, brand, or company issues. Innovate and/or create new opportunities to ensure future company success. Review proposals and suggestions from the brand team and marketing team to determine viability for success.
• Business Knowledge – Knowledge and understanding of the company's supply chain and value chain processes; understand all areas of the business with a view to being able to make decisions that positively benefit the brands and impact the company's bottom line.
• People Management – Responsible for motivating, training, coaching and managing all persons in the category team to ensure achievement of each individual's set objectives. The individual should have the ability to manage people on different grade levels in the organization, and provide constructive feedback and recognition to the team, including Individuals and People Managers. The person must be well-skilled, knowledgeable, and a subject matter expert in brand management. He/She should know when/how to delegate, when to step in to help the team achieve a set deliverable, and when to execute tasks himself/herself.
• Influencing & Negotiating – Ability to convince Internal and External Stakeholders toward making and executing decisions that would benefit the organization. This also involves being able to reach an agreement with Internal and External Stakeholders in favour of the organization.
• Performance Delivery – Provide strategic direction and leadership to everyone on the category team, the larger marketing team, marketing agencies, vendors, and third party suppliers. He/She leads the category team to develop, produce, and execute the best and most engaging communication campaigns possible in line with business expectations.
• Analytical Skills – Able to read and correctly interpret data to obtain information and insights, proffer recommendations, and develop plans that drive the achievement of positive business results and brand/category and company growth.
• Planning & Organizing – Utilize systematic processes and orderly procedures to execute deliverables on all brand projects. Work with the brand to ensure that all brand project executions are accurate, precise, and deployed on time and in full as required.
• Assertiveness – Exudes confidence, not aggression. It involves displaying persuasive skills, demonstrating initiative, and communicating clearly to all stakeholders to drive home a point.
• Good Teamwork – Display a synergetic attitude and commitment to working with individuals and teammates towards achieving a shared goal. It involves collaboration, knowledge sharing, and supporting fellow team members to win.
• Self-Development / Self-Drive – Ability to assess current skills and capabilities, identify gaps and development areas, develop a hunger for knowledge and continuous learning, and set and achieve goals to close knowledge and experience gaps.
• Project Management – Ability to break down big projects into smaller executable tasks, assigning resources to each task, initiating, planning, controlling, executing, and measuring all deliverables on time, in full, and accurately, within approved budgets to achieve success on set targets/metrics.
• Be Authentic – Being a role model who respects the company’s values and displays integrity, trust, and respect for other people at all times.
• Strategic Thinking – This is the ability to think clearly, to review facts, to observe consumer and market trends, to distil insights from data, to review circumstances and consider consequences before making decisions, to create new solutions to old problems, to plan effectively for the future, to constantly reinvent one's point of view against current realities, and develop unique plans to enable the organization win and gain a competitive edge in the market place.
• Empathy – Empathy is the ability to understand and embrace another person's point of view like it was yours, to perceive, be aware of, and understand unspoken needs, feelings and emotions. In a business context, it involves following and monitoring trends, perceiving consumer needs, and developing and rolling out solutions to address consumer needs ahead of the core competition.