Shopper Marketing Lead

This role will also be responsible for building and maintaining strong and influential relationships with customers, and representing their voice and the voice of the shopper internally to ensure future business strategies help support the strategic ambitions of the customer and execution plans to maximize conversion opportunities for Mars. 

Key Accountabilities or Responsibilities       

• Grounded in shopper and customer insight, develop and execute channel and customer activation initiatives that delivers the short- and long-term brand portfolio aspirations, drives optimal physical availability, engages the shopper and drives conversion. 

• Partner with Sales, Marketing and Customer Activation Lead to deliver an annual activation plan which is aligned to SCM choices, category growth drivers, customer needs and influences shoppers throughout the path to purchase.  Effectively adapt and adjust activity plans to reflect the changing customer and internal environment.  

• Ensure activity plans are aligned across Sales and CBU’s and brought into the S&OP+ process where appropriate, ensuring trade-offs are made to meet wider business objectives. 

• Engage Customers and Distributors through Joint Business Plans (yearly) and Quarterly Sales Deployments. 

• Partner with the Perfect Store team to establish channel and customer specific KPI’s which deliver both short- and long-term physical availability opportunities and ROI is calculated and used to continuously improve future plans. 

• Ensure in-store POS and sales selling stories are tailored appropriately for assigned customer/channel and designed to maximize conversion and impact in the retailer/channel. 

• Builds strong and influential relationships with key customers to ensure delivery of shopper, channel and category centric solutions which support the strategic ambitions of the customer and Mars. 

• Represent voice of your customer and shopper internally to ensure future business strategies help support the strategic ambitions of the customer and execution plans maximize conversion opportunities for Mars. 

• Share periodic Customer Marketing reports to keep the key stakeholders updated on latest customer and shopper insights and trends. 

• Co-pilot with sales team to develop new Businesses strategy that targets growth via new customers and touch point opportunities outside of traditional retail environment (for example E-commerce, HORECA etc); identifying new consumption occasions that drive more interaction of our brands with consumers.  

• Contribute to the Execution Recommendations (ER) for activities and work with Activity Management, Marketing, Sales, Finance and Demand planners to secure approval of plans. Responsible to input on pricing, and lead volumes, CP and D&E budgets and customer support plans 

• Manage briefing and relationship with agencies to ensure flawless execution of programs: Execution toolkits & activation specific designs, sampling, promoters, permits, trade marketing events. 

• Lead major forums such as the Sales and Marketing meetings/ Growth feeder. 

• Active contribution to the Demand Management Review, Forecast reviews (drivers accountability), and Sales meetings. 

• Periodic review of YTD customer shape & develop mitigation plans if required (outlook, profitability, share). 

• CP & D&E (if applicable) In charge of the Budgeting for the yearly plans & in control of spends/tracking, maximize spend and ROI accordingly to deliver the agreed plan. 

Context and Scope      Complete how the job gets done and the way it operates 

This role will collaborate with and influence internal stakeholders and external Customers to deliver effective customer activation plans which meet customer and shopper needs and brings our brands to life instore, drives optimal physical availability, engages the shopper and drives conversion. 

This role will be fully responsible for utilizing shopper & retailers insights and leading the implementation, integration & planning to create Disruptive customer activation plans which drive conversion 

This role requires strong influencing, analytical and leveraging insight to action capability. 

Relevant Quantitative and Budget Information      

Financial 

Staff 

Other 

Job Specifications     Minimum education, knowledge, skills and experience this position requires 

Education & Professional Qualification  

Minimum education: Graduate caliber, minimum of 6 years’ experience with experience in blue chip FMCG/consumer products and a Sales or Marketing background. 

Knowledge/Experience 

• Customer and/or marketing experience that includes selling, negotiating, and leveraging insights and proven ability to understand and translate brand strategies into engaging customer strategies that are mutually beneficial for company and customer. 

• Ability to assess needs, propose mutually beneficial solutions, overcome objections, demonstrate resilience and manage conflict with a positive & confident mind-set and close to maximize mutual value. 

• Good numeracy and analytical skills and experience of applying a wide range of analytics that drive insights and actions for complex customers and a variety of business situations.   

• Good business acumen with an understanding and application of the sales cycle, trends and broader business implications to making judgments and recommendations for action. 

• Ability to understand shopper needs and behaviors and the fundamentals of category management and how you might apply these to drive differentiated customer solutions. 

• Good interpersonal skills and proven ability to develop long term, effective and influential business relationships with multiple stakeholders. 

• Able to respond and adapt to a fast moving, changing environment with a can do / solution-based attitude. 

• Experience in areas such as (but not exclusive to):  Sales, Customer Management, Marketing and Category Leadership.  

Level of role, Critical MLCs and Competencies (Leadership & Functional/Technical) 

Level of Role 

      Individual Contributor  

• Delivers Consistent Results  

• Creates Collaborative Relationships  

Key Supporting Competencies (4-6)  

Critical Leadership Competences required for the role 

• Problem Solving 

• Organization Agility 

• Command Skills 

• Drive for Results 

• Customer Focus 

• Priority Setting