About this role
King Features is seeking a passionate, proactive, and creatively driven Brand Marketing Manager to help steward and grow some of the most iconic character brands in the world. Reporting to the Senior Brand Marketing Manager, this role is a key contributor on a small but highly collaborative Brand Marketing team responsible for building, protecting, and evolving a portfolio of beloved intellectual property with century-long legacies, including POPEYE, OLIVE OYL, FLASH GORDON, THE PHANTOM, MOOMIN, CUPHEAD, and more.
This is a dynamic role for someone who takes initiative, thinks strategically, and brings strong follow-through to everything they do. Our work is opportunity-driven by nature, and priorities can shift quickly when new business opportunities arise. We are looking for someone who is adaptable, resourceful, and energized by contributing to meaningful brand growth. The team operates in a fast-paced, collaborative, and lively culture where creativity, curiosity, and a sense of shared ownership are valued.
If you are excited by character brands, pop culture, and the opportunity to strengthen and elevate iconic IP for future generations, this role offers a rare chance to do just that.
WHAT YOU’LL DO
Brand Strategy and Marketing Execution:
-Partner with the Senior Brand Marketing Manager to support long-term brand planning and day-to-day brand stewardship across the full King Features IP portfolio
-Serve as a brand expert across all King Features brands, ensuring consistency in positioning, voice, and messaging across licensing, publishing, gaming, experiential, entertainment, marketing, and press
-Proactively identify and propose brand marketing initiatives that drive awareness, cultural relevance, and revenue opportunities
-Research trends, insights, and marketplace opportunities to inform strategic recommendations
-Lead the planning and execution of approved marketing initiatives and special projects from concept through completion, including timelines, budgets, vendors, creative development, logistics, and reporting
-Prepare post-campaign recaps and performance summaries for internal stakeholders
Public Relations Leadership:
-Act as the first point of contact for public relations, managing the external PR agency relationship
-Own PR calendars and timelines, ensuring alignment with brand, licensing, and partner -priorities
-Conduct first reviews of press materials and manage internal feedback loops
-Oversee press distribution and track coverage to deliver internal PR performance summaries
Marketing Support for Licensed Partners:
-Serve as the primary marketing contact for licensing partners, working closely with the Licensing team to track key launches
-Coordinate and lead marketing support for key licensing launches, including press, social, and marketing tie-ins
Management of Brand Assets and Tools:
-Support the creation and ongoing maintenance of external sales decks and one-sheets used to drive licensing opportunities
-Develop and update internal brand tools such as brand story decks and brand bibles on a quarterly basis
-Oversee Popeye.com, KingFeatures.com, and other portfolio brand sites as needed, including monthly content updates, blog posts, and coordination with digital teams on SEO strategy
-Manage relationships with costume character partners
Brand Reviews and Creative Development:
-Act as the first point of contact for story-driven submission reviews across publishing, gaming, experiential, and other categories, partnering with the Brand Marketing Coordinator to execute reviews
-Assist with general product approvals as needed and escalate when deeper brand guidance is required
Boosting Industry Visibility:
-Curate and distribute quarterly newsletters, highlighting brand activity and performance
-Manage and oversee award submissions across brands and categories
Operations and Team Support:
-Track departmental expenses against budget and submit invoices in partnership with Finance and AP
-Assist with vendor setup and internal operational processes
And More:
-Participate in ad-hoc projects as needed. At King Features, teamwork is core to how we operate, and flexibility is essential to meeting shared goals
WHO YOU ARE
You are a motivated and thoughtful brand marketer who brings both strategic perspective and hands-on execution to your work. You take ownership, communicate clearly, and approach challenges with a solution-oriented mindset. You enjoy collaborating across teams and contribute positively to an energetic and respectful work environment. You care deeply about brand integrity and are excited by the opportunity to help iconic properties continue to grow and resonate in modern culture.
Qualifications and Skills
Required:
-Bachelor’s degree
-5+ years of experience in brand marketing, brand management, or related fields
-Demonstrated experience building or managing brands; character IP or licensing experience strongly preferred
-Exceptional project management, organizational, and communication skills
-Ability to manage multiple priorities and adapt quickly in a fast-paced environment
-Strong relationship-building and account management skills
-Comfort presenting to partners and internal senior leadership
-Advanced proficiency in PowerPoint and Canva with a strong understanding of design principles
-High proficiency in Microsoft Office, including Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, as well as Google Workspace, Dropbox, and Teams
Nice to Have:
-Experience working with PR agencies or managing press initiatives
-Familiarity with licensing, product development, or partner marketing workflows
-Experience in entertainment, media, publishing, gaming, or experiential marketing
-Working knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite, WordPress, and emerging AI tools
-Strong awareness of pop culture, consumer trends, and the evolving brand landscape
-Candidates should be prepared to provide work samples demonstrating brand thinking, presentation skills, and creative execution.
Compensation and Work Environment
The salary range for this role is $70,000 to $75,000, dependent on experience, transferable skills, and other factors permitted by law. This role is based in New York, NY and requires an in-office presence three days per week.
About King Features
King Features is a premier producer and distributor of the world’s most iconic intellectual properties and a leader in classic character licensing and franchise development. With one of the longest-running consumer products programs in the industry, King Features’ portfolio includes world-renowned pop culture brands such as Popeye®, Cuphead, Flash Gordon™, The Phantom™, Hägar the Horrible, Moomin, Prince Valiant® and Mandrake the Magician. King Features produced the Emmy-nominated series The Cuphead Show! with Netflix Animation, which debuted in 2022. As content syndication specialists, the company distributes beloved comics such as Blondie, Beetle Bailey®, Mutts™, and dozens of others as well as columns, editorial cartoons, and puzzles across multiple platforms and content providers around the globe. King Features is part of Hearst Newspapers, which publishes 24 dailies and 52 weeklies, including the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, and Times Union (Albany, New York), and operates local digital marketing services and directories.
Other facts
About Hearst Television
We’re ambitious. We’re smart. We want to be the best, to put our mark on every story we tell and every project we take on. We have an uncompromising sense of integrity and an insatiable hunger for quality. And we’re looking for people like us. When you work at Hearst Television, you’ll have the opportunity to create your own Hearst career story. The opportunity to be developed, empowered, and rewarded.
We set a certain standard of excellence for ourselves. But don’t worry, you won’t be trying to meet that standard alone. Our employees enjoy some of the best support in the industry. We foster a culture of diversity, stability and support – you’ll really feel like part of the Hearst Family.
You’ll be able to rely on of one of the largest, most stable news and broadcasting organizations in the country. Hearst Television has been privately owned for over a century - we’re here to stay. We own and/or operate 35 television stations and two radio stations. We reach 21 million U.S. television households across 39 states. Our stations operate web and mobile platforms which reach 25 million unique visitors every month.
Hearst Television has been honored with numerous awards for journalism and innovation, including the Walter Cronkite Award for political journalism, the Edward R. Murrow Award, the DuPont-Columbia Award and the George Foster Peabody Award. Our community service has been widely acknowledged, including our support for organizations like the Emma L. Bowen Foundation for Minority Interests in Media, the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation and the Broadcasters Foundation of America.
If you seek to excel in your role, whether it’s in news, sales, marketing, engineering, IT, production, graphics/design, radio or technical, a career at Hearst Television could be the perfect opportunity for you. If you can not only see the bigger picture, but be a part of shaping it, we want to hear from you.
What you'll do
- The Brand Marketing Manager will support long-term brand planning and day-to-day brand stewardship across King Features' IP portfolio. They will lead marketing initiatives, manage public relations, and coordinate with licensing partners to drive brand growth.
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