Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company is a recognized leader in confections with a wide range of product offerings including gum, mints, hard and chewy candies, lollipops, and chocolate. The company has operations in more than 40 countries and distributes its world-famous brands in more than 180 countries. Three of these brands - Juicy Fruit®, Wrigley's Spearmint®, and Altoids® - have heritages stretching back more than a century. Other well-loved brands include Orbit®, Extra®, Starburst®, Doublemint®, Skittles®, Freedent®, Airwaves®, Life Savers®, Eclipse®, and Winterfresh®. Wrigley is headquartered in Chicago, Ill., and operates as a subsidiary of Mars, Incorporated, a private, family-owned company founded in 1911. Mars, Incorporated is one of the world's largest food companies, generating global revenues of 30 billion dollars annually and producing some of the world's leading brands in six segments that include Chocolate, Drinks, Food, Petcare, Symbioscience and Wrigley.
This position is responsible for leading the strategic direction of assigned brands for the Sales organization, acting as a liaison between Sales & Brand Marketing and all staff functions (finance, corporate development, etc.) for the successful management of trade promotions, new product launches, and sales planning, communication and execution activities that will maximize the brands' potential within the trade channels.
Responsibilities:
Reporting to the Director, National Customer Marketing are the following: National Customer Marketing Managers (NCMM's) and Analysts. NCMM's use his/her knowledge of sales, consumer marketing, and category management to take strategic ownership of assigned brands, identifying, creating, and implementing customer/trade channel programs that will positively impact volume, market share and PFO. The incumbents' expertise is shared with all trade channels across the Sales and Customer Marketing. The key role of this position is the identification, creation and implementation of successful consumer strategies for assigned brands in all trade channel accounts that will lead to increases in sales, market share and PFO.
Key responsibilities include:
- Assuming strategic ownership of the assigned projects within Sales and Customer Marketing, including, but not limited to: a) The annual planning process for the NCMM's respective brand / strategic platform; b) Designing and implementing efficient trade promotions (in alignment with the brands / strategic platforms strategy) within and/or across trade channels with intent to increase sales and profit; c) The development, launch and performance measurement of all tasks related to both new product introductions, new package introduction and product discontinuations; and d) Continuous monthly forecasting of both base and promotional volume across all pack types (including prepack displays)
- Acting as a liaison between the Sales, Consumer Marketing, and other staff functions (i.e. finance, logistics, etc.) to coordinate brand and customer strategies to maximize profitable sales & the brands' value.
- Evaluating trade promotion requests from trade channel teams and field sales to assess financial viability and strategic fit.
- Facilitating all sales related issues with assigned brands, maintaining a steady and clear communication with the field, becoming the "voice of the brand".
- Setting sales strategies for new products within assigned brands, providing either significant input or deciding such issues as price, packaging, timing, and sales coordination. Also, provides feedback to the innovation team in the process of developing the initial 3 month product pipeline & ensuring forecast accuracy.
Dimensions:
Total U.S. Field Sales Revenue for 2011 is estimated at approximately $2.6 Billion.
Principal Activities Performed By The Incumbent:
- Act as a liaison between Sales & Customer Marketing and all staff functions (brand marketing, finance, corporate development, etc.) for the successful management of trade promotions, new product launches, and sales planning, forecasting ,communication and execution activities that will maximize the brands' potential within the trade channels.
- Facilitate all Sales-related issues with assigned brands, and coordinate efforts across other Sales & Customer Marketing teams to assist in the identification, creation and implementation of trade programs and/or co-marketing initiatives that will capitalize on marketplace opportunities.
- Evaluate trade promotion requests from the field from both a financial and strategic perspective, recommending viable proposals to the Director, National Customer Marketing.
- Continually develop new customer marketing approaches that will build better business relationships for all Sales & Customer Marketing teams.
- Participate in the introduction of new products for assigned brands/platforms, deciding or contributing to the decisions in such areas as price, packaging, timing, and sales coordination.
- Perform special projects or assignments as requested by the Vice President - Customer Marketing & Planning and the Director National Customer Marketing.
Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree and/or equivalent work experience is required; MBA is desirable
- This position requires a seasoned sales professional and / or marketer possessing experience in developing customer marketing & brand strategies.
- Sales experience of 5 years is strongly preferred, inclusive of major account experience, as is prior Customer Marketing experience.
- The incumbent is to have had a professional background where he or she can demonstrate a proven track record of having successfully built, created and executed on annual customer plans resulting in increased sales, market share and profit.
- Basic Category Management skills & knowledge of principles is highly desirable.
Additional requirements include, but are not limited to; Effective communication (both written & verbal), proficiency in all Microsoft Office tools (Word, PowerPoint & Excel), ability to function and contribute in a team environment and capable of working independently when required to accomplish tasks & responsibilities, relationship building skills, ability to work closely with trade channel and sales planning personnel and can effectively lead, conduct meetings, create and deliver formal presentations.