Director, Category Marketing

Job Description

Position Title: Category Marketing Director, Writing – North America

Location: Atlanta, GA

Reports to: Head of Marketing, Writing – North America

Job Summary:

The Category Marketing Director is a key leader within the Writing Business Unit. The position is responsible for delivering the annual commitments of his/her respective sub-categories while developing and executing the strategies to enable sustainable and profitable growth over the next three years. The Category Marketing Director leads a Category Marketing Team and is responsible for all aspects of brand management, including but not limited to, optimizing brand foundations, innovation development and execution, advertising and other equity building activities, base & promotional pricing, distribution, P&L ownership, etc. The Category Marketing Director role is one that requires a broad business leader able to work effectively with Marketing Analytics, Activation, and Operations, as well as other cross-functional teams such as CMI, Finance, Sales Planning, Operations, Product R&D, Packaging, Industrial & Graphic Design, etc. to deliver the short and long-term goals of his/her respective business, in support of the overall Business Unit. The Category Marketing Director role is responsible for attracting, developing and retaining high-performance Marketing talent for the North American Writing business.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Analytics & Insights

• Utilizes a deep understanding of consumer behavior and attitudes as well as the omni-shopping experience to inform all short- and long-term decisions.
• Captures the full potential of consumption analytics (i.e., translating syndicated data into actionable insights that deliver sustainable and profitable growth at the segment, sub-category & category level and by customer & key channel). Champions and partners with Marketing Analytics to ensure the robust and continuous development of the Category Marketing Team on consumption analytics and ensures all are employing regularly in their decision making and strategy setting.
• Identifies knowledge gaps in consumer, customer & marketplace understanding that are preventing the business from realizing its full potential and champions analyses & research within and outside of Marketing to rectify.
• Partners with CMI to create consumer, shopper, category & customer learning agendas and priorities.

Strategic Planning & Brand Development

• Leads the annual Strategic Planning process for his/her respective sub-categories to develop a robust and executable plan to deliver the growth, profit and cash flow commitments for that business over the next three years. The process includes:
  • Situation Assessments at the sub-category and segment level that address the most important issues and opportunities for each business.
  • Strategic Plans at the sub-category and segment levels to address the Key Issues & Opportunities identified in the Situation Assessments. These strategies and tactics will ultimately inform the BU Strategic Plan for the Writing Category.
  • Annual Operating Plans for the upcoming year that detail the actions taken to deliver the upcoming year commitments and cascade down to the category and sub-category level.
• Identifies gaps that must be addressed to deliver the plans and proactively builds plans to address.
• Responsible for the clear, differentiated, global brand positioning and ensuring consistency to that positioning in North America. Drives key brand, category or portfolio category initiatives that effectively reach and connect with targets.
• Sets the global brand hierarchy to include the role of sub-brand(s) and endorsed brand(s) relative to the parent brand(s) and any regional adaptations.
• Approves global brand(s) standards and design language, ensuring consistency with global brand positioning and long-term vision and strategies. Approves product packaging and content designs to be consistent with product communications hierarchy and brand(s) standards. Works collaboratively with enterprise design center to lead global designs.

Innovation & Product Portfolio Management

• Collaborates with the CMI, Marketing Analytics, Product and Packaging R&D, Sales and Sales Planning teams to develop category innovation strategies that enable the business to deliver on its short- and long-term commitments while ensuring that the strategy delivers on the needs of the Consumer, Customer, and Company.
• Translates the category innovation strategy into a long-term product road map for each sub-category and segment that delivers on a risk-adjusted innovation funnel aligned to growth targets. Funnel needs to be robust and customized to the overall role and strategies of each sub-category and segment, while also having proper focus to navigate resource constraints and to ensure excellence in execution.
• Manages the product portfolio lifecycle to deliver needed revenue and profit growth while also reducing complexity through SKU harmonization and rationalization.
• Accountable for omni-channel launch plan and programming on new products.
• Monitors and manages new product launches to learn what worked and what did not, sharing across the organization to ensure a continuous improvement mindset.

Pricing & Promotion

• Responsible for base and promotional pricing strategy for respective portfolio for all channels across North America. Partners with Sales Planning and Sales to ensure plans are executed within guidelines and optimize strategy as needed.
• Ensures pricing strategy is informed by brand equity & product performance relative to competition, price elasticities and customer requirements such as retailer margin among other things.

Trade Strategy

• Defines trade strategy for respective sub-categories and segments as well as the role of all channels in achieving the strategic plan with input from Sales Planning & Sales Leadership.
• Drives promotion and merchandising targets for innovation and key activation programs.
• Participates in annual Innovation Summits with Strategic Customers and supports annual customer Line Review process by providing robust consumer, shopper and market insights support for sell stories for new products, marketing programs and initiatives to drive growth on the base.
• Works closely with eCommerce team to develop and execute omnichannel strategies and tactics for respective sub-categories and segments to maximize profitable revenue growth and deliver on commitments.

Activation

• Responsible for defining sub-category marketing objectives, strategies, and A&P budget needed for the upcoming year.
• Leads an annual planning process to deliver a fully integrated marketing plan, utilizing both traditional and digital vehicles as appropriate for the respective sub-category. Prioritizes initiatives based on the size of the prize and long-term strategic value. Works closely with Marketing Activation to develop A&P calendars and media plans.
• Is a student of advertising trends, research on efficacy, etc. to ensure the business is utilizing the best tools to connect with consumers and drive awareness, trial and repeat as necessary.
• Develops agency/creative briefs to fulfill communication objectives, advertising and media plans. Evaluates agency creative and execution, as well as media execution to ensure communication objectives are met at anticipated or better cost efficiencies.
• Analyzes progress against long term brand vision and implements changes to strategy as needed.

Financial Management

• Works collaboratively with finance to set base and stretch revenue, gross margin, and OI goals for the business for the annual and strategic planning horizons.
• Partners with key cross-functional team members, especially sales and finance, to deliver the sub-category sales, margin, income and operating cash targets. Balances financial risks and opportunities, including contingency planning, managing product mix, and approving incremental programming to fill any identified gaps between projected performance and targets.
• Collaborates with sourcing and operations to ensure productivity pipeline and strategy is consistent with brand strategy.
• Supports cross-functional team in execution of S&OP product forecasting process and disposition of E&O inventory.

People Development

• Sets the structure and resourcing for the Category Marketing Team.
• Sets clear objectives and prioritizes initiatives for the team.
• Drives professional development across the NA Marketing organization. Performs regular check-in conversations, semi-annual and annual performance reviews for team members. Helps recruit and assess talent across the NA Marketing organization for Writing.
• Helps identify key competencies for success in Category Marketing roles and partners with HR to develop talent with the right experiences to position them for long-term success while addressing the current business needs.
• Establish marketing and general management development needs and ensure plans are in place to address the needs in a timely fashion.
• Collaborates with marketing peers to share marketing best practices.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE / QUALIFICATIONS

• Four-year college degree, MBA preferred.
• 10+ years of Brand Management (i.e., Marketing + General Management) with experience in Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry.
• Demonstrated ability to translate consumer insight and understanding into strategies, new products, and in-market tactics. Demonstrated results in successfully managing the product lifecycle of a product portfolio. Demonstrated success in innovation including both renovation and breakthrough innovation, white space identification.
• Demonstrated ability in translating business priorities into marketing objectives, strategies and plans. Has experience in developing communication campaigns integrated across marketing and trade plans.
• Experience successfully managing P&Ls, with understanding/experience in setting pricing strategy, reducing costs, balancing financial risks and forecasting future performance.
• Experience leading large, cross-functional teams to successful results.
• A skilled and credible brand ambassador, capable of building and implementing brand architecture and driving brand value across all consumer channels.
• Understands how to develop and implement a consistent and brand coherent customer experience across all channels to build demand, drive traffic, and promote loyalty and depth of engagement.
• Ability to manage and implement a robust portfolio of digital tools across multiple functions and/or businesses to maximize impact while maintaining a consistent message. Capable of implementing social media strategies to enhance the customer experience and drive brand awareness.
• Actively builds a team culture that proactively uses syndicated market data to derive actionable insights and drive sustainable and profitable growth.
• Develops frameworks and processes to continuously monitor and assess customer needs, competitive landscape, and other key intelligence topics to promote market-driven decisions.
• Demonstrated commercial orientation and ability to influence business strategy by understanding and proactively communicating implications of external trends and delivering actionable insights that ultimately drive business outcomes and value to customers.
• Track record of experience working with advertising, digital agencies, media planning and buying agencies.
• Ability to drive proactive, unified communications strategies and initiatives that are aligned with the category’s strategy and further the category’s success in the market.

LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS

The Category Marketing Director will be a critical team builder and an equally strong contributor with a collaborative, hands-on approach that translates effectively to a dynamic, high-growth business environment like Newell Brands. He/She will be passionate about the opportunity to take their sub-categories as well as Newell Brands to the next level of success, but also driven by the opportunity to build the capabilities of the category team. He/She will be highly intelligent, with analytical and creative problem-solving abilities and will possess a clear understanding of the critical success factors in the marketing function. He/She holds self and others accountable for meeting commitments, creating a framework with clear goals & objectives with process rigor and accountability. He/She will create a climate in which people are motivated to do their best to help the organization achieve its objectives while developing people to meet their career goals.

Newell Brands (NASDAQ: NWL) is a leading global consumer goods company with a strong portfolio of well-known brands, including Paper Mate, Sharpie, Dymo, EXPO, Parker, Elmers, Coleman, Marmot, Oster, Sunbeam, FoodSaver, Mr. Coffee, Graco, Baby Jogger, NUK, Calphalon, Rubbermaid, Contigo, First Alert, and Yankee Candle. For hundreds of millions of consumers, Newell Brands makes life better every day, where they live, learn, work and play. Newell Brands and its subsidiaries are Equal OpportunityEmployers and comply with applicable employment laws. EOE/M/F/Vet/Disabled are encouraged to apply.