Brand Director

Job Category: Brand Marketing
Job Type: Full Time
Job Location: Chicago - IL

Bel

Bel, makers of iconic brands including Babybel, The Laughing Cow, Boursin, Kaukauna, Merkts, Price’s and GoGo Squeez is a growing global company that values your contributions, strives to create a sense of belonging for everyone and offers career growth and development opportunities, as well as competitive total compensation and meaningful well-being benefits from day one. For All, For Good, our company signature, reflects Bel’s commitment to sustainability and healthier and responsible food for all.

 

Bel Brands USA has been named Chicago’s “101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For” for 10 years in a row. The company has headquartes in Chicago for our Bel Cheese business and in New York City for GoGo Squeez. Bel operates five manufacturing plants in Little Chute, WI, Leitchfield, KY, and Brookings, SD, Nampa, ID, and Traverse City, MI.

 

Job Description Summary

The Marketing organization is responsible for developing the long-term strategy for the brand in the US, building differentiated market positioning, developing superior brand mixes and brand portfolio strategies, as well as developing and executing integrated marketing plans. Specifically, brand management defines the brand’s product mix pricing, packaging, trade merchandising, advertising and promotion strategies and is responsible for P&L management in delivering profit, volume and market share objectives.

 

The Brand Director owns and leads the strategic plan development and execution to drive continued sustainable growth. To do so, the Brand Director defines core strategies and translates those strategies into initiatives that will result in accelerated awareness, share and profit growth through focused and holistic breakthrough marketing plans and innovation portfolios.

 

This dynamic, growth focused and out of the box thinker & leader is responsible for developing their brand team and enrolling and aligning leaders at all levels in the organization and is expected to work closely with Consumer Insights, RID, Finance, Sales, Innovation, Global Marketing teams, and Industrial to optimize product lines and deliver sustainable profit growth. This hybrid role is based in Chicago and reports to the VP of Marketing.

 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

  • Planning Leadership: creates and aligns senior management and global partners to multi-year brand growth strategic plans as well as annual marketing plans based on critical analysis of business performance and US strategies. Align other functions/teams to these strategies and annual plan for assigned brand(s).
  • Brand Strategy Leadership: in close collaboration with Global Brand Teams, owns and develops brand strategy bringing brand purpose to life inclusive of overall US growth strategy, local positioning, tactical plan, price/value proposition, strategic target activation and new product strategies across all channels including out of home/food service
  • Communications & Integrated Marketing Leadership: leads agency partner relationship to ensure maximum efficiency, breakthrough marketing activations and drive big impact on a high priority growth brand
  • Innovation Portfolio Strategy: partners with US Innovation team to define and execute portfolio innovation plans for line extensions and new product introductions, ensuring effective and on-time route to market.
  • P&L Management: delivers business plan results and owns decisions that impact the brand P&L including prioritization on resources.
  • People & Organizational Management: owns talent management and development for their brand team and developing critical brand team competencies. Proven ability to navigate decisions through multi-faceted organizations
  • Go-To-Market Strategist: exhibits deep understanding of Customer channels and product route to market; ability to partner with Sales and Supply Chain through the S&OP and Innovation process.
  • Internal and External Brand Stewardship: Inspires all levels of organization around the purpose of the brand and create excitement and engagement with the brand internally

Qualifications and Competencies

  • Bachelor’s degree required, MBA preferred
  • 10+ years of relevant marketing experience (CPG preferred)

Specific Competencies Required

  • Ability to enroll and align leaders at all levels through effective storytelling and clearly articulated (verbal and visual PowerPoint) strategic thinking and build strong relationships at senior level of US and global leadership team to effectively drive decision making in matrixed organization
  • This person must have a demonstrated track record for success in leading cross functional teams with significant experience in executing high impact advertising & marketing plans and demonstrating solution oriented, creative ‘outside the box thinking’, strong customer experience in either sales rotation or close sales collaboration in marketing function, and knowledge of manufacturing and distribution processes.
  • Must have experience managing multiple projects at once in a fast-paced environment.
  • Ability to manage through a complex matrix-based organization, with influential leadership skills to align all stakeholders
  • Must be an independent and proactive contributor that can excel in changing and ambiguous situations
  • Must have expertise in data analysis (Nielsen/IRI preferred); translating data into insights, demonstrate strong leadership, teamwork and strategic thinking skills.
  • Ability to communicate (both verbally and in writing) concisely and effectively within function and with direct reports, cross-functional team, and agency partners.

Performance Expectations

  • Takes full ownership mindset towards applicable business lines, strategy, and associated performance.
  • Gains trust and respect of management, direct reports, cross-functional teams, global partners, vendors, and agency partners. Maintains the integrity of confidential business and product information.
  • Makes decisions in a complex environment without having all the information at hand.
  • Pushes boundaries to drive high growth, including new & bigger ways of engaging with consumers and driving creative thinking within internal and external teams
  • Demonstrate initiative to proactively raise a concern, offer a proposed course of action or seek additional support to advance the Brand agenda. Demonstrate that same initiative from less intuitive opportunities that could be uncovered.
  • Can prioritize his/her key areas of focus and projects in challenging contexts. Can do the same for his/her team.
  • Gives and can receive ongoing, straightforward, and constructive feedback.
  • Develops trustful relationships and engages teams towards common objectives.
  • Can be trusted to contribute key deliverables on-time with the utmost quality and accuracy.

Total Rewards:

Base Salary Range: $180,000-$190,000 (depending on experience)

Bonus Potential: 28%

401k match, PTO days, Medical, Dental, Vision and more

 

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