KIND Marketing Lead MEA

Job Description

This role has the primary responsibility and accountability is to co-develop, deploy and accelerate the growth strategy for KIND business within the Middle East Africa & Turkey cluster , it?s a key contributor to the +$ 20 mio Middle East business vision. The scope of this role is Middle East Africa & Turkey.The Category Head will be immersed in KIND?s dynamic, fast-paced culture as a key member of the local market activation team. This role requires strong analytical skills, attention to detail, a keen sense of creativity, and a high degree of comfort working in a team environment. The Category Head will experience brand marketing at a company with a strong social mission and unique brand ethos, where we produce high quality products that are healthy AND delicious.The Category head will manage the day-to-day KIND?s product lines, including business analysis, portfolio management, activity management, project management , Category leadership , Customer marketing , Media / Advertising and Consumer promotions budgets.He will partner with the Global Demand, Marketing, CMI and Digital teams to deploy market activation playbooks and strategies. This will also require a strong knowledge of the local market to ensure messaging is relevant and compelling to target customers and consumers.In addition of executing global strategies and plans, this role is the main contributor to developing 5 years strategy for middle east , the role is responsible of driving category analysis and market trends to identify opportunities for category growth as well as developing the necessary portfolio and category roadmap / projects to deliver on this strategy.The marketing manager for middle east is a unique and VERY stretched role scope: this role will 5 in 1 roles for KIND : 1- Brand Management 2- Media Management 3- Activity Management and 4- Customer Marketing Management 5-portfolio managementThe complex added responsibility / wider scope of project / activity management & Customer Marketing is unique Vs other KIND clusters as in MEA we work with no support from MW across Category leadership, Customer Marketing, brand management as well as portfolio managementBasically this role manages all New product introduction initiatives thru working closely with global supply chain teams as well as coordinating local supply, logistics , QiD and IS work streams linked to launching new SKU?s ? this job is fulfilled through the Activity Managers in MW.This role manages a team of 2;

• Customer marketing manager
• Field marketing executive

Besides managing all the above for MEA markets, currently working within Paola Peretti?s team in laying down the foundation of the digital/ consumer journey strategy. 25% of time spent on Digital & CX journey plans

• Partnering with Paola to set up and lead a digital experimentation lab for EMEA markets
• Bi-weekly meetings with the #swatteam to develop and build a plan to deliver our 3 priorities
• Interviewing and partnering with EMEA markets to understand where we are so far & agreeing on relevant experiments to be done in 2022 different by market
• Running the experiments along with the markets and evaluating the results for future rollouts

Key ResponsibilitiesPlease list the most important and relevant responsibilities

• Partner with Market Director to develop and drive the growth of the KIND business.
• Work with Global Demand and Marketing teams to activate the global marketing strategies and initiatives at a market level.
• Work with Global Demand and Marketing teams to develop Middle East Africa portfolio map .
• Owns the category analysis & leadership process development thru recommending SKU prioritizations and optimizations (additions and deletions) as appropriate as well as lead the development and deployment category strategic initiatives such as Snack Attack (re-organizing the category in our partner customers).
• Collaborate with Business Development Leads to identify key customer opportunities in key customer metrics such as Assortment, Merchandising, Pricing, and Shelving (AMPS)
• Develop the marketing forecast for annual planning, including baseline assumptions leveraged by Sales/Demand
• Analyze in-market performance vs launch assumptions with focus on the key growth levers as well as trade and competitive reactions
• Analyze category and market trends to identify strategic category growth opportunities
• Translate tracking results into a strengthened in-market activation plan which focuses on the transformational drivers over time
• Inform long-term media and brand strategy including brand objectives, positioning, consumer targeting, marketing plans
• Ensure flawless development and execution of brand marketing tactics and activations, including traditional media and advertising
• Ensure synchornized customer activation calendar across GCCt through his customer marketing direct reports.
• Leads the management and development of Filed marketing operations across GCC through his/ her field marketing direct reports.
• Lead relationships with agency partners communicating key strategic decisions and feedback
• Lead internal campaign management with relevant stakeholders, ensuring successful (on time and within budget) delivery of media and creative briefs
• Manage the marketing messaging via all consumer touch-points
• Partner with Global Digital and CMI resources to turn insights into meaningful action and investigate opportunities in new channels (digital/social)
• Act as Sales contact for all questions/feedback on product support plans
• Partner with Global and be market level point of contact for cross-functional projects, including items such as:
  • Packaging updates due to any reformulations, die-line changes, etc.
  • New SKU launches (flavors, pack sizes, etc.)
  • Create new display vehicles to drive sales

• Be an expert in the Snack Bar category
  • Understand performance of the brand as well as category and key competitors, conducting monthly assessments as well as ad-hoc analysis based on syndicated consumption, panel, and shipment data
  • Proactively communicate key learnings and actions with internal stakeholders

Over and above this role:

• Act as activity management lead / PMO for all new product introductions
  • This person will be the primary and key point of contact with global supply chain teams as well as local supply, logistics, QiD and IS teams.
  • Development and management of NPI?s CPS including leadership of cross functional teams and sub teams to deliver projects on time with th right quality.
  • Managing and maintaining different Mars systems updates / changes.
  • Ensure project tasks execution according to agreed CSF?s and agreed scope.

Context and ScopeComplete how the job gets done and the way it operatesThis role reports into the Middle East Africa & Turkey Market Director, and is the market lead for Brand Marketing , activity management , Customer Marketing , Category leadership as well as related project management activities.This role performs all marketing , activity management and customer marketing activities across the flowing markets:

• KSA
• UAE
• Kuwait
• Qatar
• Oman
• Bahrain
• Cyprus
• Malta
• MEA market expansions

The role must collaboratively manage relationships between global resources, the local Business Development Leads. The candidate for the role must be:

• Confident, driven, self-starter with ability to work autonomously and multi-task
• Passion for driving results and living the Mars & KIND core values
• Analytical and insightful
• Strong team player and able to lead projects but also possess the ability to work independently
• One who takes initiative and demonstrates resourcefulness as a self-starter
• Genuine in your desire to help make the world a kinder place, committing to always spreading and celebrating kindness

Mars is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the application process because of a disability, it is available upon request. The company is pleased to provide such assistance, and no applicant will be penalized as a result of such a request.

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