Associate Brand Manager

Hybrid Work Model

#LI-hybrid

JOB SUMMARY:

The Associate Brand Manager is an important global marketing role that is integral to the continued growth of the Sonic the Hedgehog brand across various businesses gaming entertainment consumer products and live events. The role will support the strategic development execution and management of Sonic brand initiatives to drive growth strengthen fandom and build brand equity.

The Associate Brand Manager position will help support the development and execution of the global marketing strategies & campaigns for the Sonic the Hedgehog brand celebrating the Sonic IP and entertaining engaging and educating new and existing audiences worldwide. The role requires a balance of strategic thinking creativity and analytic expertise to deliver marketing programs that help achieve larger business & franchise goals.

The role requires knowledge and experience in the following: brand building style guide creation campaign development creative production of marketing assets social media PR and experiential / event management.

This role will interface closely with teams in Burbank (CA) Orange County (CA) England and in Japan. Our team is composed of thoughtful innovative flexible supportive collaborative and most importantly respectful people. We are looking for a team member who will be a positive addition to this type of team environment.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Brand Strategy & Campaign Development: Collaborate on the development of annual brand campaigns that are aligned with company objectives leveraging consumer insights and category trends.
• Brand Expansion & Stewardship: Champion and evolve the voice of the Sonic the Hedgehog brand for our core audience and the next generation of fans.
• Campaign Management: Manage the annual marketing calendar ensuring consistent & timely execution across campaigns activations and promotions.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Serve as the point person and drive collaboration across various internal Sonic teams including Licensing Partnerships Product Marketing / Gaming Animation Social/Community PR and global brand teams.
• Creative Execution: Support the creative development of key assets for brand collateral promotions and activations (key art logos trailers social content digital assets etc).
• Agency / Partner Management: Manage creative agency event agency and promotional partner onboarding and communication.
• Performance Analysis & Reporting: Track brand performance metrics and provide actionable insights.
• Consumer Research & Insights: Support various consumer research and business data analysis projects to intelligently develop marketing strategies & franchise planning.
• Financial / Budget Management: Ensure business plan goals are met and budget management is achieved while maximizing global campaign effectiveness.
• Performs other duties as assigned
• Working in-office is an essential function of this position. This requirement of face-to-face interaction is in place to ensure effective supervision collaboration and -office attendance is required for the following reasons:
  • For effective supervision of employees and our work product which includes ensuring all employees have necessary oversight of their work and access to supervisory assistance which includes meetings to review work product deadlines and status.
  • To foster communication and collaboration among team members which includes the following: allowing for spontaneous brainstorming sessions and exchanges of ideas quick access to team members to enable collaborative problem-solving and stronger cohesion among co-workers and within teams.
  • To enhance the sharing of information necessary to effective job performance and product creation.
  • To enhance understanding of our stakeholders work and business needs facilitate a more seamless and organic workflow and ultimately increase efficiency and successful outcomes.

QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS:

• Bachelors Degree or equivalent experience in the field.
• Minimum of 3 years of brand and marketing experience. Experience with game publishers entertainment studios creative agencies and/or consumer products is a plus.
• Proven track record of producing highly creative campaigns for major global brands showing strong results and achieving business goals.
• Experience with domestic and international marketing that supports the entire brand ecosystem across entertainment games animation consumer products and more.
• Ability to drive global campaigns end-to-end from research & positioning through go-to-market and post-launch.
• Strong written & oral communication skills as this role is central in interfacing with cross-functional teams executive stakeholders and external partners.
• Project management experience with a proven ability to work with multiple teams as you coordinate execution of plans within budget set timelines and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment with a high attention to detail.
• Ability to leverage quantitative analytic measures build business cases to support initiatives and focus on KPI / ROI metrics.
• Experience managing budgets and contracts together with Accounting & Legal teams and some P&L experience is a plus.
• Understands the media landscape recognizes opportunities and demonstrates knowledge of creative development and effective media campaigns.
• Independent worker with little or no supervision required and willingness to proactively navigate areas of unfamiliarity working in a global environment.
• Positive professional and curious attitude.
• Willing to work overtime and conduct meetings with Europe and Japan at off hours.
• Occasional work over the weekend and travel may be required.
• Ability to work in office 3 days a week (in-office days are Tuesday Wednesday Thursday).

PREFERRED SKILLS:

• Microsoft Suite (Teams PowerPoint Excel Word).
• Creative Development (including Key Art and trailer development).
• Project Management tools (such as Trello Asana Monday Notion etc.)
• Digital and Traditional marketing (including Performance Marketing Print and OOH).
• Video game industry knowledge a plus