Job Purpose

A key leadership position within the Marketing team, this individual will have overall responsibility for managing and leading the South African brand portfolio, to define the allocation of spend for the South African business and develop cut-through communication to support the consumer, professional & speciality brands within the AkzoNobel framework. The individual will also drive the innovation pipeline and delivery thereof for the South African Business and lead the business in ‘go to market’ execution for the South African brands, innovations and activations to drive share gain and elevate in-store presence across key segments.  

This leader will collaborate with functional areas (Sales, commercial ops, R&D, Technical services and Supply chain) and be required to work closely with marketing specialists within the team to deliver the commercial results for the decorative portfolio. 

Priority Objectives

• Share gain 
• Brand health 
• Deliver the plan (Vol, GIV, EBIT and specific brand health and share targets)
• Excellence in ‘Go to market’ execution
• Develop digital capabilities and media understanding into the team to enable full path to purchase discussions and activations 
• Full ownership and responsibility for the creation and execution of the ‘go to market’ plans and assets
• Define the 3yr Innovation Roadmap for South Africa 
• Prioritise and drive the key initiatives to ensure brilliant execution across the business
• Define, create and execute all brand and promotional/activation programmes
• Work in partnership with the Sales, R&D and Commercial teams to execute the plan
• Take a leadership role across Marketing as a direct report of the SSA leadership team 
• Leads brand team for South Africa 
• Help build marketing Capability and raise the standard of execution across the business
• Lead, motivate and coach the Marketing team to create a highly effective team culture
   

Key Accountabilities

• Own the Brand Marketing agenda – from strategy through to execution.
• Champion the Brand Portfolio – lead brand health for each brand – define strategies, segments, innovation potential, optimization potential and how we can work together to our business and drive commercial performance
• Develop the vision and help peers to understand the importance of supporting brand initiatives.
• Develop and embed a set of compelling brand strategies and drivers that drive growth and retailer acceptance to maximise listing and ongoing support for our brands, products, and ranges. 
• Develop the brand plans with due consideration for channel dynamics and empower the comm ops, sales teams and TSD teams to execute the plans for each channel.  
• Support the adoption of innovation and activation plans through retailer / professional interface / interaction. 
• Leverage research insights and commercial results to craft activation plans to enhance or remedy results where necessary.   
• Bring the physical and digital worlds together seamlessly along the ‘path to purchase.’
• Build strong relationships with the Sales team leads, R&D, TSD and SC leads locally and EMEA communication and innovation teams. 
• Spend time with our customers.
• Manage team to develop and source appropriate on and offline content for use within our customers, particular focus needed on web imagery and video for brand representation on and offline. 
• Oversee execution of brand/channel events in line with brand/sales objectives. 
• Responsible for ongoing representation of our brands in-store - development of colour walls and all in store permanent and semi-permanent fixtures in collaboration with POS specialists.  
• Responsible for management and set up (resourcing within the team) for brand activation and management of agencies.
• Leads brand team in South Africa (people manager)
• South Africa 18month rolling calendar for activations.
• 3yr innovation plans
• 2yr asset roadmap
• Own and manage the South African advertising & promotion budget. 

Experience

Education & Experience

• Ideally educated to BCom, Beng, BSc degree level or equivalent
• Customer marketing experience in high performing businesses with multiple categories and/or brands
• Experience at senior level in marketing and/or commercial within FMCG, Retail or DIY industries
• Experience in marketing and/or commercial within FMCG, Retail or DIY industries
• Ideally cross functional/market experience (Customer Marketing, Sales, Innovation, Insight, Global)
• Ideally experience working within a matrix organisation structure and influencing Global stakeholders
• Ideally experience working with consumer and professional segments 

Marketing/Commercial Competencies:

• Brand Marketing – building category, channel and/or customer plans 
• Marketing strategy and brand planning
• Commercial experience 
• Deep understanding of P&L Management
• Proven ability to influence across a broad network of the organisation 
• Experience in development and implementation of ‘path to purchase’ communications plan
• Good creative judgement and experience in developing work across multiple brands, segments, channels.  
• Proven track record in inspiring agencies to deliver great work. 
• Champion of brand/customer insight as the foundation to the marketing plan
• Demonstrated interface with retailers
• Commercially astute (with ideally a good understanding of the building/paint/DIY category)

Required Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Successfully lead and build strong relationships across organisational boundaries
• An ability to collaborate and inspire action across diverse and cross functional groups, including outside agencies
• Strong team orientation with the ability to inspire, influence and motivate action and excellent execution  regardless of reporting relationships
• Proven project management and analytical skills
• Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills
• Ability to analyse issues and develop and deploy solutions within a dynamic environment
• Demonstrate creativity and effectiveness in development and execution of marketing programs 
• Ability to prioritize and manage multiple assignments simultaneously
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including speaking in front of small and large groups
• Strong time and project schedule management skills required to consistently meet deadlines
• Well organised, strong administrative and detail oriented skills