Senior Manager Brand Comms Football

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization

The mission of the Senior Manager Brand Communication Performance is to position adidas as the best sports brand in the EMC region through maximizing innovative and inspirational brand exposure by recommending, planning and executing initiatives via Above-the-Line, Offline, Online, Mobile, Events and Activations in an integrated and single-minded manner.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the development, preparation and execution for adidas brand comms with a direct responsibility for football & motosport categories working in close collaboration with EMC CTC & Category mngmt teams, hub teams, in above-the-line and below-the-line media including media planning, buying activities and activation.
• Assume responsibility for Horizontal (‘Brand’) campaigns related to global & local sport moments
• Lead the team of 2 people working on the Performance categories
• Drive the overall brand comms strategy for sport with a direct responsibility for football & motosport categories
• Work in tandem with Category management teams per Sports categories assuming responsibility for activation of full category ecosystem in collaboration with Digital Activation, Omni & other brand teams
• Support and oversee adidas performance campaigns working in close collaboration with the vertical comms managers and hub teams.

• Responsible for the execution of the seasonal and annual brand marketing calendar for performance categories that land the Global priorities and significantly improves Brand KPI’s in trackable parts of the Cluster EMC

• Pro-actively work with and support the Brand Communications Director to direct the media, activation and creative agencies to maximize brand and product exposure for adidas while maximizing integration with other elements of the marketing mix.
• Remains up to date on the fast-developing Media Environment in general and New Media technologies and opportunities in particular
• Proactively works with Sports Marketing in supporting all their brand partner activities with the aim to position the brand as set out in our objectives
• Provides input into the annual and quarterly media/advertising plan in close coordination with the agencies.
• Provides input into the seasonal GTM milestones (calendar, CSMM) in close coordination with the with EMC CTC & Category mngmt teams, channels.

• Assumes responsibility for the (legally) correct usage of the adidas trademarks and logos.
• Lead the creation and delivery of agency briefs for adidas football & motosport to ensure responses are insight led, aligned with global guidelines, inspirational and on budget.  
• Steer the MaEX allocation across the Market alongside the hub teams and within Global guidelines as part of the planning process.
• Establishing and creating strong relationships and managing day-to-day activities with relevant internal and external partners.
• Negotiates and develops quotations with vendors by setting clear objectives and expectations.
• Being the ultimate Brand Guardian for all performance categories across the EMC region.

KPI’s:

• Share of Search
• Market Share
• Market Sales vs Plan
• Market Direct Brand Contribution vs Plan
• Direct to Consumer traffic and conversion

Key Relationships:

• Brand Activation hub and market
• CTC & Category mngmnt teams
• Brand Management functions in Global as well as EM level
• Sports Marketing EM Central
• EM Central BU Directors
• EM Concepts-to-Consumer team
• External Agencies

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strategic Thinking with Operational Discipline
• Executional excellence
• Excellent creative/design/ art direction sense
• Strong conceptual understanding of brand building
• Ability of multi-tasking and attention to details
• Strong PR event experience and event management skills
• Significant knowledge of the full marketing mix (advertising, events, sponsorship, retail) with a major brand or retailer (sporting goods industry preferred)
• Strong expertise in digital and social media
• Advanced user of MS Office suite of products
• Marketing Budget Management
• Strong Interpersonal and influencing skills (eg. Relationship management, facilitation and consumer minded brand builder)
• Arabic speaker preferred
• Category knowledge is a plus

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• University degree in Business or a minimum of 6 - 8 years equivalent professional experience in Marketing; 2 years leadership experience.
• Previous experience in a Matrix organization with Global and Local exposure.

• Fluent in English and Arabic (optional)