Job Description

Designation

Senior Brand Manager –Mainstream Salts

Function

Marketing Location

Mumbai Reporting To

Vice President – Marketing, Mainstream Salts

Job Description

What are the Key Deliverables in this role?

Financial Outcomes

• Drive monthly brand KPIs for iShakti Salt and iShakti Soda through effective planning, monitoring and execution of brand and GT initiatives.
• Analyze primary and secondary sales, distribution, numeric distribution, weighted distribution and other relevant metrics to ensure achievement of monthly/annual targets.
• Identify business gaps and opportunities across markets and channels and drive corrective actions to improve brand performance.
• Track spending, ageing, billing efficiencies and other commercial metrics to minimize business loss and improve ROI.

Customer and Go to Market

• Lead execution of Go-To-Market plans for iShakti Salt and iShakti Soda, ensuring timely deployment of all GT initiatives.
• Drive General Trade growth agenda through market-wise planning, distributor/retailer interventions, visibility, assortment and execution excellence.
• Develop and execute channel and market interventions to strengthen distribution, availability, visibility and offtake across priority markets.
• Partner with Sales to identify market-level opportunities and develop actionable plans to drive volume and value growth.
• Co-create brand and GT communication elements including POSM, retailer communication, merchandising and other market-facing assets.
• Plan and execute activations, market interventions and consumer/retailer engagement initiatives in line with annual brand plans.
• Coordinate with Sales, cross-functional teams and external partners to ensure seamless execution of GT initiatives.
• Ensure timely connectivity of launches, POSM, merchandise, sampling and other activation elements in the market.
• Track and evaluate execution effectiveness and incorporate learnings into future GT plans.

Production Planning and Supply

• Partner closely with Supply Chain and Manufacturing teams to ensure production planning and availability in line with demand and business priorities.
• Develop/track SKU-wise demand requirements and flag potential supply gaps, inventory risks and production constraints.
• Ensure timely availability of finished goods to support GT plans, new launches and key market interventions.
• Coordinate across Sales, Supply Chain and Manufacturing to resolve supply and production issues impacting market availability.
• Monitor inventory and ageing to ensure optimum stock levels and minimize business losses.

Internal Processes

• Manage promo, pricing and pack-change transitions to ensure timely market implementation.
• Ensure timely approvals and closure of vendor payments, contracts and internal IOs.
• Track competition intelligence across:
• MRP, schemes and pack changes
• New product launches
• Communication and activation launches
• GT initiatives and market interventions
• Coordinate with relevant internal stakeholders to ensure adherence to timelines and execution milestones.

Innovation and Learning

• Lead salt innovation projects from opportunity identification and concept development through consumer validation, product development, packaging, testing and commercialization.
• Identify emerging consumer needs, usage occasions and category opportunities to build a relevant innovation pipeline for the salt portfolio.
• Partner with R&D, Consumer Insights, Packaging, Supply Chain and Sales teams to develop and commercialize new salt propositions.
• Lead concept, product and packaging evaluation and translate consumer/market learning into actionable recommendations.
• Track innovation performance post-launch and identify opportunities for optimization and scale.

Strategic/ Critical projects

• Lead execution of critical strategic projects for the Mainstream Salt portfolio, as identified by the business leadership.
• Drive cross-functional projects involving Marketing, Sales, Supply Chain, R&D, Finance and other stakeholders from scoping through implementation.
• Identify risks, dependencies and bottlenecks and proactively drive resolution with relevant stakeholders.
• Translate business priorities into actionable project plans and ensure strong execution against agreed objectives.

What are the Critical success factors for the Role ?

• Strong General Trade and Sales orientation with ability to translate brand strategy into market execution.
• Strong execution skills with ability to manage multiple initiatives and deliver against tight timelines.
• Ability to work effectively with Sales, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, R&D, Consumer Insights and external partners.
• Strong analytical skills with ability to interpret sales, distribution and market data and derive actionable insights.
• Strong project management skills with ability to independently manage strategic and cross-functional projects.
• Ability to balance day-to-day GT execution with longer-term brand building and innovation agenda.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Ability to operate in a fast-paced environment with multiple priorities and ambiguity.
• Fluent in oral and written communication.
• Experience in FMCG brand management / GT-driven businesses preferred.