C&C Group plc is a premium drinks company which owns, manufactures, markets and distributes a unique portfolio of beer and cider brands in its home markets and across the globe. You probably know us best from brands like Bulmers, Magners and Tennent’s.

About the Role 

The Head of Brand will be responsible for leading & implementing the marketing strategy & activation for a strategic brand / set of brands which are key to C&C achieving its stated aim of protecting our Core brands and building our Premium portfolio, as part of our offer to our customers in all channels and markets.  

Specifically, you will:

• Lead the development of the brand strategy in the context of the overall portfolio strategy, with particular focus on understanding the brands role and contribution to the commercial success of the business.
• Develop, execute and evaluate annual brand plans for the assigned brand(s)
• Working with the Innovation & NPD Manager, and Insight team, identify key opportunities for NPD which will grow the brand(s) with consumers, managing successful launch plans to bring concepts to reality.

The Head of Brand’s purpose is to deploy and deliver strong, insight led consumer brand propositions, and to create marketing plans which meet both brand and commercial objectives. The Head of Brand will partner the Channel Marketing team, Insight & MarComms teams, and the commercial teams to translate commercial & marketing objectives into strong and robust campaigns. 

Key Accountabilities

• Brand strategy – working with the Director of Brand Marketing to ensure a clear brand strategy is in place for the brand(s) and that this can be easily communicated to and understood by all direct and intermediary sales staff.
• Develop and deliver annual consumer and brand performance objectives, derived from business plan and based on thorough performance review of your brand(s).
• Brand Planning & budget ownership - lead the development and implementation of annual brand plans and associated budgets. Responsible for day-to-day ownership of those brand budgets and maintaining this within agreed limits.
• Own the portfolio role of your brand(s) – define where to play and how to win to recruit new consumers & drive profitable growth
• Deep understanding of consumer insights and barriers to renovate existing variant/sku range &/or identify new growth spaces
• Work with the Innovation & NPD Manager and Insight Manager to as the key stakeholder in  the innovation brief & concept validation for your brand(s) innovation funnel.
• Customer engagement – working with Channel Strategy & Planning, support the sell-in of compelling brand plans to key customers, tailored as necessary to maximise opportunities by customer.
• Work closely with Insight, Commercial Finance and Sales teams to closely understand the commercial performance of your brands, highlighting and recommending remedial action as required, and identifying opportunities for further revenue and profit growth.
• Product/Packaging – working with relevant market and consumer insight, manage development and delivery of all brand materials, maximising visibility and impact across all sales channels and routes to market.
• Communications Strategy – working with the Marketing Communications Director develop a compelling brand communications strategy to include digital and media planning, press and sponsorships programme in line with brand objectives.
• Optimise expenditure on external marketing agencies, developing and deploying internal resource/agency where possible and practical.
• Internal Communications – manage internal brand communications for your brands to ensure visibility/understanding of each brand.

About you 

Skills and Competencies:

• Passionate about consumers, preferably an understanding of the drinks market
• Highly commercial marketer, comfortable in managing brands to P&L level
• Good creative judgement
• Ability to think conceptually, yet retaining strong attention to detail
• Proven ability to deliver outstanding results
• Excellent project management skills
• Strong ability to build and leverage relationships with internal teams, senior management, agencies and consultants
• Strong communication skills.

Experience                                                                     

• Significant experience of developing integrated brand communication programmes, including PR, digital, design, advertising and media.
• Developing successful major brand communication campaigns and providing evaluation of their effectiveness versus brand objectives.
• Developing effective media plans and providing an evaluation of their effectiveness.
• Experience of applying strategic marketing principles and consumer insights, e.g. brand positioning.

About Us 

Operating through the Matthew Clark, Bibendum, Tennent’s and Bulmers Ireland brands, the Group has a market leading range, scale and reach including an intimate understanding of the markets it serves. 

From grass to glass, and everything in between, we grow, brew, manufacture, market, and deliver some of the world’s favourite drinks. C&C Group’s portfolio of owned/exclusive brands include: Bulmers, the leading Irish cider brand; Tennent’s, the leading Scottish beer brand; Magners the premium international cider brand; as well as a range of fast-growing, premium and craft ciders and beers, such as Heverlee, Menabrea, Five Lamps and Orchard Pig. 

We seek to champion and embed sustainability in everything that we do at C&C. While delivering joy to customers, we always shine a light on people and the planet. We have a clear ESG vision delivering to a better world. We respect, support, and develop all our people to be their best, with a focus on results by creating a culture of winning together.

We also recognize that people come with a wealth of experience and talent beyond just the technical requirements of a job. If your experience is close to what you see listed here, please still consider applying. Diversity of experience and skills combined with passion is a key to delivering on our mission. Therefore, we encourage people from all backgrounds to apply. Please let us know if you require accommodations during the interview process.

C&C Group (and inclusive companies) do not accept unsolicited CVs from recruiters or employment agencies in response to any of our roles. For help, please contact our Talent Acquisition Team at careers@candcgroup.com. All applications need to come through the candidate portal https://careers.candcgroupplc.com/vacancies/