Customer Marketing Manager - East Africa at Mars

Job Purpose

This role is responsible for creating customer strategies, plans and activations which bring our brands/portfolios to life instore, drive optimal physical availability, engage the shopper, and drive conversion. Working closely with Sales and CBU’s (Brand teams), this role is accountable for ensuring plans are based on shopper & customer insights, and are tailored to drive demand for our categories, whilst meeting the individual needs of customers/channels. 

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.

Job Accountability:   

• Shopper and Customer Research and Analysis 
• Channel Strategy and Activation 
• Perfect store and display solutions 
• Influence and Deploy Activity Calendar 
• Customer Specific Calendar and Consumer Promotion 
• White-space expansion/ new brand and category launches 
• S&OP, volume, and pricing 
• Budget Ownership & Tracking 
• Build Strong Relationships internally and externally to deliver business objectives

Knowledge/Experience:

Minimum education: Bachelor’s degree

Work Experience: Minimum 6, and maximum 8 years’ 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.