Assoc Mgr Customer Mrktg GCC excl KSA

Summary:

The primary purpose of an Associate Customer Marketing Manager is to develop and implement effective Sales & Marketing strategies in support of organizational and regional/ business objectives. The focus is on increasing sales and market share by effective key retailer event planning, driving distribution, understanding market dynamics, shopper behaviors, industry trends, and competitors’ activities to identify opportunities.

Focusing on achieving category/market share gain & revenue growth by working closely with Commercial, Marketing, Finance, Innovations and Supply Chain, ensuring effective execution of customer marketing strategies. Where applicable, this role is responsible for managing the relation between Hershey’s and the distributor, achieving market share, distribution & execution targets. Within the function, the role delivers on controlling of in-market execution expenses, that is part of DME budget.

The role requires close coordination, training & development of key distributors to excel execution in the market, this includes quarterly planogram updates, innovation reviews and post launch evaluation based on sell-in, sell-out & Nielsen data with recommendations for way forward.

The Associate Customer Marketing role focuses on engaging with distributors & cross functional team for market realities, insights & trends, that help develop strategies to drive sales and enhance brand visibility within & potentially beyond the category, ultimately contributing to the company’s overall growth and success.

Major Duties/Responsibilities

Summary of major duties:

IN MARKET EXECUTION

• Defines and grows the business through effective customer marketing, channel and key customer strategies for key markets under the business unit.
• Clearly establishes: “where to win” and “how to win” trade, customer and shopper programs that deliver the outcomes required with clear marketing, sales, and financial deliverables.
• Drives point of sales field execution – Planograms to be tailored as per the requirements of the channel & market.
• Communicates and consistently monitors progress of the execution of the strategy with internal and external stakeholders.
• Manages co-packing process with distributor and agencies, from finalizing artwork design & material selection to the final promo packing & delivery to trade.
• Manages the promoter sampling activities, including post sampling review and feedback to be shared with Sales & Marketing teams for insights & future innovation development.
• Frequent visit to the trade to understand the market & competition dynamics for efficient action, as required.
• Supports with operational tasks, including but not limited to PO creation for agencies on Hershey PO/PR tool

PLANNING & ANALYSIS

• Prepares and recommends the annual customer marketing budget (part of DME) by brand and market to the head of marketing, with monthly tracking on spends vs. forecast. Requires continuous efforts to find efficiency in the operational process, to optimize budget spends.
• Develops and executes monthly promotion plans with focus market distributors on identifying key retail events, ensuring ROI tracking and optimization.
• Monitors distribution trends by channel, using AC Nielsen & ICS data to identify gaps & opportunities for sales growth.
• Leads the deep-dive analysis of Innovation launches using various data sources (ICS/sell-out/Nielsen) for upto 12 months post launch.
• The role requires to actively participate in the monthly forecast review session with key distributor; adapting sales plans on regular & promotions based on market situation, return analysis & supply limitations.
• Collate and present Seasons product portfolio to the distributor – US off-shelf as well as local co-packing options, with a clear understanding on areas that can be influenced to drive a profitable product, within a portfolio mix.
• Create innovation concept sell deck with category insights, launch plan and sales forecast, based on competition overview
• Leads price survey for key market on core SKUs to review product positioning, gross margin by SKU vs. country targets, evaluating competition landscape and recommend way forward for growth opportunity.
• Monthly review of e-commerce performance with focus on availability & content optimization with agency & distributor

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements:

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in marketing, Business Administration/Management or Marketing;

Experience:

Minimum of 3-6 years’ experience in Customer/ trade marketing where the candidate can articulate experiences in leading executions of a cross functional team.