Company Description: Instinct® is a rapidly growing, family-owned marketer and manufacturer of science based 100% natural pet food for dogs and cats. Instinct® is the Raw Brand, with a mission to get more raw nutrition into every bowl of dogs and cats, for proven healthier and happier long lives. Our company mission is to Empower people to transform the lives of pets. We are committed to hiring and developing a team of passionate, performance-oriented professionals who live by our 4 values of championing raw, empowered to make a difference, collaborating as one team, and striving for excellence through continuous learning and improvement. Our home office is located in St. Louis, Missouri with our Center of Excellence Raw Food kitchens in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Position Summary:
Reporting to the Senior Brand Manager, NHP & Longevity, this individual will help drive Instinct household penetration, market share, and overall brand health. The Assistant Brand Manager will be responsible for managing brand commercialization activities, leading performance tracking, and competitive/market reviews. This individual is commercially minded, exhibits strong analytical skills, detail oriented, and a creative problem solver. Leveraging market and consumer insights, this individual will support the building and managing of the Instinct portfolio. To succeed, must possess the ability to thrive in an entrepreneurial environment, multi-task, and keep various projects on track.
Primary Job Responsibilities:
- Assist in the development of annual operating and marketing plans. Makes recommendations regarding product objectives and 6Ps strategy assortment (pricing, packaging, promotion, pop media and positioning activation).
- Manage daily portfolio activities for North American Instinct to help achieve brand objectives and deliver on brand and sales goals.
- Prepare monthly business performance analysis and reporting, including new product sell-in and velocities, utilizing internal and external data (e.g. SAP-BI, NielsenIQ, Brand Health Equity Studies, DTR, etc).
- Supports commercialization of renovations and innovations including go-to market plans (branding, pricing, benchmarks, promotion, etc.), influencing cross functional teams including R&D, Regulatory, Procurement, Demand Planning, Operations, Sales, Finance, Creative, and Integrated Marketing Communications
- Ownership of product updates and details, serving as lead cross-functionally in ensuring effective change management communication.
- Develop and maintain in-depth industry knowledge via competitive and category analysis and offering recommendations to react to category trends and competitive dynamics.
- Measure and report on Instinct and competitive performance. Monitor market trends and competitive activities.
Personal Attributes:
- Business Ownership Mindset
- Strong leadership and project management skills in order to manage project timelines and cross-functional teams with excellence in execution and strong attention to detail.
- Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously with a high level of responsibility and accountability.
- Strong analytical skills in using data. Ability to translate data into insights that drive business growth.
- Excellent written communication and project management skills.
- Excels in a fast-paced, team oriented and deadline-oriented environment.
- A no task too small “doer” with a drive to see gaps and opportunities and make change happen.
- Strong organizational skills with a knack for making processes more efficient and effective.
Preferred Experience
- Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, Advertising or related field
- 2+ years of marketing experience, preferably with CPG
- Strong quantitative and analytical skills, required. Ideally, experience working with syndicated data.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills required.
- High proficiency with Excel, PowerPoint and Word.
Travel Requirements:
- Requires travel up to 20% of the time.
- In-person meetings at the discretion of the team lead and business needs.
- Annual travel to Lincoln, Nebraska for Company Rally.
Compensation and Benefits
Highly competitive compensation package includes health and dental insurance, life and AD&D insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings account, short and long-term disability, paid time off, Purpose Days off for company partner volunteer opportunities, and 401k with company match.
Our Instinct is to CHAMPION Diversity
At Instinct, we are as passionate about our people as we are about the pets we call family. We are committed to inclusion, empowerment, and respect. We believe that just like our pets, what sets us apart unleashes our greatest strengths. We thrive on the ability to not only empower people to transform the lives of pets through raw nutrition, but also to empower each other to inspire a culture that celebrates our differences. Our unique approach to pet food is what makes us who we are as a company, and our individual identities are what makes us a successful, innovative, authentic team.