Associate Brand Manager

In this role, the Associate Brand Manager will be integral to leading both marketing strategy and tactical execution, performing business analyses and making business recommendations, as well as helping to fuel growth, while partnering with cross-functional leaders. The Associate Brand Manager will be involved in helping to manage both our butter business and our La Vaquita business. Working across a portfolio of butter brands, including Plugra, Breakstones, and Kellers, as well as on La Vaquita, the ABM will be leading and implementing key initiatives to ultimately drive business performance.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Project Management

• Provide leadership to a cross-functional team with ability to lead multiple and diverse team members toward successful completion of common objectives 
• Develop and manage multi-faceted projects including operational, sales, and marketing components from concept to completion with a high level of attention to detail and timeline 
• Interface with, provide input to, and establish strong working relationships with agencies and vendors

Duties and Responsibilities (continued):

Brand Strategy

• Participate in the definition and development of butter and La Vaquita brand strategies 
• Develop agency briefs and project timelines to execute projects in support of brand strategies 
• Supports creation and execution of required plans, including but not limited to digital, social and PR for key brands in butter portfolio and La Vaquita 
• Manage product development from start to finish, including concept development, consumer research, product development, and commercialization.

Packaging Development

• Own and lead packaging review and approval process, including management of internal and external participants and agencies 
• Initiate and manage branded packaging projects including graphics and structure

Deliver Business Results

• Manage project budgets including tracking of estimates and invoices and reconciling actual expenses 
• Maximize the portfolio and initiatives to achieve short-term and long-term sales, shares, and profit objectives 
• Collaborate with brand manager and business unit general manager to plan, benchmark, and deliver annual objectives

Analysis

• Regular category and brand reporting on trends using syndicated sources to business unit leaders and shared with top leadership 
• Utilize syndicated and other sources of data to develop expertise on the product, category, consumer, customer and competitive set 
• Identify consumer trends to be leveraged in new products and line extensions 
• Participate in building methodology and evaluating results from key research projects 
• Maintain general awareness of key financial measures and business performance

Media Planning & Delivery

• Support development of annual media calendar including channel selection, format, and frequency in tandem with agency
• Content calendar and social media management to create effective and efficient always-on presence on owned platforms 
• Help oversee creative development for media calendar as needed, including video and print shoots and PR activations

Requirements:

• 1-3 years of experience in brand management track FMCG CPG companies, marketing, and/or new product development as an assistant or associate brand manager 
• A Bachelor's degree in marketing or related field; MBA preferred 
• Ability to work effectively and demonstrate strong interpersonal skills in a cross-functional environment, with internal and external team members 
• Ability to organize and prioritize work, and manage multiple and varied projects simultaneously 
• Ability to clearly communicate ideas, both verbally and in writing, in a fashion that is appropriate to various levels of the organization 
• High level of comfort analyzing and synthesizing quantitative information 
• 1+ years of prior experience with POS syndicated data – pulling data to create reports, understanding the common metrics to focus on, etc. (IRI experience preferred) 
• Willingness to provide insight to business challenges and initiate solutions, as well as to seek own development opportunities 
• Hybrid work with several days in the office/week 
• Ability to travel, 10% of time