M-PESA Brand Specialist at Safaricom Kenya

• Reporting to the Chapter Lead -  M-PESA Brand Strategy And Marketing Communications, The role  will ensure that everything we do is in service  Safaricom’s Purpose of transforming lives.

About the role:

• The role is responsible for developing and executing brand strategies that build awareness, drive engagement, and establish the M-PESA Brand  as a leader in the Financial Services category . It will require an understanding of the mobile and financial services landscape, target audiences, and the ability to create compelling brand narratives that resonate across various channels. 
• As the principal brand storyteller, this role presents a unique opportunity to shape the brand perceptions in order to grow brand love; following a digital-first, insights-led approach, within the Brand Center of Excellence (COE)
• This is also a  principal brand guardian role. The role holder ensures adherence to brand guidelines across the business, which includes the regular audit, review and update of guidelines and brand assets.
• The role requires a strong cross-functional collaborator who can partner effectively with teams across various disciplines including research, commercial, legal, corporate communications, consumer / business / financial services organizations, channels organization, sustainability and social impact

RESPONSIBILITIES

Below are the key skills and competencies required to be successful in this role:

• Experience in driving brand campaign budget and performance management, and understanding of commercial drivers, data analysis  to drive performance.
• Insight generation & application,  Strategic and creative problem-solver and collaborator
• A strong understanding of brand storytelling and Brand PR with Excellent written and verbal presentation skills.
• Digital Marketing  & Marketing Technology (Martech) understanding,  including but not limited to) AI/Machine learning, Data & analytics
• Experience managing partners and complex projects for flawless  campaign execution 
• Ability to effectively influence cross-functional stakeholders and external partners.

The role holder will be required to demonstrate the following competency and proficiency dimensions used as our contribution framework.

Brand building competency:

• Define and refine the brand's positioning in the market, ensuring stand-out from competitors and appeals to the target audience.
• Articulates the brand story clearly to various stakeholders in order to meet various business objectives
• Analytical with ability to gather and evaluate information guiding the development of solutions that meet various business needs 
• Turns growth issues and opportunities into insightful objectives, specified and implied tasks for the team
• Builds business insights by seeing patterns in data and anticipates the future
• Identifies behavior change barriers and triggers, and designs solutions to address them
• Applies learnings from adjacent business units and other industries as well as taps into open innovation stream to help develop breakthrough ideas. 
• Plan, execute, and measure the success of integrated brand campaigns across various channels, 

Productivity / Marketing effectiveness management:

• Influences engagement approaches with a sharp focus on achieving critical KPIs.
• Identifies and leverages synergies within the business to scale resources while delivering impact 
• Digital evangelist who actively seeks opportunities for digitization to drive efficiency 
• Influences partnerships and negotiations with a long-term  view in order to sustained high impact delivery

Communication development and deployment:

• Accountable for multiple 'one briefs' going to agencies 
• Sets high standards for the business and agency teams, fostering a challenging, risk-taking environment.  
• Uses a variety of techniques to engage and energize Safaricom & Agency teams, nurturing ideas that have the power to drive communication and business results 
• Aligns campaign reverts to overall organizational goals, encouraging synergies where possible and avoiding cross-purpose executions  
• Project management, prioritizing projects, balancing between business expectations and changes in operating environments
• Utilizes agile rituals to create a visibly high performing cross-business team in a bid to unlock growth

People and Mindset Dimension

• Demonstrates ownership by holding self & others to account for highest standards to drive brilliant execution 
• Inspires teams to take entrepreneurial risks; encourage collaboration & learning 
• Inspires and guides others, to live Safaricom Spirit e.g., listens & values to every voice 

Customer and Business Dimension

• Balances customer and business needs in decisions
• Ensures customer experience is at the core of all delivery 
• Able to rally people behind a strong vision
• Has strong commercial and risk-reward judgement
• Is tech-driven and understands the role of tech in brand building and marketing communications to drive performance and efficiency. 

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree 
• +5 years’ experience in brand management including atleast 2  years in senior roles in brand Management/ category marketing / innovations manager or Leadeship roles in communications agency, strategy consulting, or related field