Joining King's Hawaiian makes you part of our ohana (family). We are a family-owned business for over seventy years, respecting our roots while thinking about our future as we continue to grow and care for our customers and the communities we serve. Ourohana members build an environment of inclusivity as they freely collaborate, pursue learning through curiosity, and explore innovation as critical thinkers. Beyond that, we are also passionate about supporting the long-term health and well-being of our employees and their families. If you're excited to rise with our team, come and join our ohana!
Who Are We?
Joining King's Hawaiian makes you part of ourohana (family). As a family-owned business for over seventy years, we respect our roots while thinking about our future as we continue to grow and care for our consumers and the communities we serve. Our ohana members build an environment of inclusivity as they freely collaborate, pursue learning through curiosity, and explore innovation as critical problem solvers. Beyond that, we are also passionate about supporting the long-term health and well-being of our employees and their families. If you're enthusiastic to rise with our team, come and join ourohana!
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Who Are You?
As a Senior Brand Manager, New Product Marketing and Opportunities, you will be a key player in driving marketing innovation as a capability at King's Hawaiian. You will team with other innovation experts (chefs, food scientists, insights, manufacturing, etc.) and sales to bring irresistible product ideas from initial design to national scale and the King's Hawaiian brand to new markets. As a part of these multidisciplinary project teams, you will lead the marketing activities from positioning and packaging development to launch strategy and marketing communications. Ultimately, you will deliver identity and style to our new products on our journey to create irresistible food and experiences for our consumers. Reporting to the Head of Marketing, New Products and Opportunities, this position is for self-starters who are eager to run a high growth line of our business, contributing to our tremendous national sales and brand growth.
The following five characteristics describe you perfectly:
Curious - You are not someone who only reads the headlines. You have an instinctive desire to always dig deeper and understand why. You act like a detective, with curiosity and anticipation that help identify both opportunities and obstacles.
Self-starter - You do not sit back and expect complex problems to simply work themselves out. You are an initiator with a "get it done demeanor". You jump into projects and create movements that achieve results.
Leader - You have a highly developed ability to inspire teams to collaborate and achieve results. Your demeanor and interpersonal skills build strong relationships that cultivate trust and empower teams to go above and beyond. Creative - you are a creative team leader with an intimate knowledge of our audiences, consumer needs, attitudes, behaviors, trends, and ability to drive strategic planning across multiple marketing channels to achieve business goals. You will work with our amazing Brand team and our cross-functional partners to bring our brand to life via New Products and shape our messaging, creative, and marketing investments.
Entrepreneurial - You don't get trapped in the status quo. You have a curious imagination and interest in asking "what if...". You are comfortable living, breathing, and navigating ambiguity. You don't need a precedent because you can create the precedent.
Key responsibilities:
- Team with other innovation experts to identify new product opportunities.
- Provide marketing/brand/consumer point-of-view during the early stage of new product development cycle, working in partnership with the innovation team.
- Use a variety of data sources (ex: IRI, Mintel, trend reports, proprietary brand research) to analyze category landscapes to study new product opportunities.
- Develop a pre-discovery strategy for new products, platforms, and categories; recommend white space opportunities with clear execution strategy.
- Be the consumer's voice, providing insights and understanding their pain points and needs to develop new winning products.
- Partner with Innovation and Brand Insights experts in the design and execution of new product testing (qualitative and quantitative).
- Build business cases outlining financial performance for each new product under consideration, including forecasting and profit level.
- Lead naming and packaging development with design teams for all new products.
- Lead marketing activities for in-store testing in conjunction with the Insights team and Sales teams to evaluate new products at retail and resolve if they have commercial viability.
- Lead production positioning and go-to-market strategy for all new products.
- Lead and execute national-scale marketing launch plans including the full marcom suite (TV, digital, print, in-store, PR, etc.).
- Work with the sales team to build plans to sell in product at retail.
- Partner with sales and omni team to execute winning retail strategy, including product mix analysis and display/promotion plans.
- Lead strategy and execution of product expansion across channels and geography, including new formats, sizes, and flavors.
- Partner with Finance and other team members to build and maintain profit and loss statements for new products.
- Manage multiple projects simultaneously from idea to new product in-store validation and new markets.
- Communicate go-to-market strategy to the organization, including cross-functional partners and senior leadership.
- Lead brand positioning and marketing communication strategy for new markets, including messaging, creative, and media.
- Partner with sales to optimize SKU mix for each new market, as well as display/promotion channel strategy.
- Develop blueprint for King's Hawaiian to enter new markets.
- Lead annual brand plan and budgets for new product launches and markets.
- Oversee execution of marketing plans for both innovation and new markets by project managing different agency partners, cross-functional partners, and internal team.
Skills/Experience:
- 3+ years of new product development or commercialization experience.
- 6+ years of overall brand marketing experience.
- Cross-functional team leadership experience.
- Direct reports leadership experience.
- Creative marketer with the ability to imagine unique and winning new product positioning, packaging, and launch strategy.
- Ability to evaluate consumer data to drive decision-making. Strong understanding of brand metrics including Nielsen/Circana (IRI) is a must.
- Strong financial acumen to analyze and evaluate new product size-of-prize and potential profitability.
- Understanding and execution of the brand budget, both top-down and bottom-up.
- Standout colleague with strong interpersonal skills and the ability to effectively interact both inside and outside the organization.
- Flexible and willing to handle a constantly evolving work environment.
- Comfortable presenting to larger groups and senior leadership.
- Master's in Business Administration (MBA) preferred.
- Ability to travel (approx. 20%).
We operate in a hybrid environment - we are in the office Monday - Wednesday and remote on Thursday and Friday (work permitting).
The salary range for this role is $137,500 to $187,500. Final compensation for the chosen candidate will depend on several factors.
King's Hawaiian is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for our ohana.