Associate Brand Manager

The Associate Brand Manager (ABM) is a key participant in the management of Riviana Food's national brand portfolio. The Associate Brand Manager's primary responsibility is assisting the Brand Manager in defining business strategies and creating and executing marketing plans to meet Riviana Food's short and long-term sales, share and profit goals. As a portfolio manager, the ABM helps to define, protect and deliver upon the brand's positioning and equity to achieve financial well-being for their brands. This position requires the ability to work independently to provide analysis of sales and industry trends and requires the ability to lead cross functional teams with members from Sales, Customer Marketing, Operations, R&D and Finance in identifying and innovating solutions to commercialization projects, business issues and opportunities.

MAJOR DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES/SKILLS:

Business Situational Analysis (25%) - Create reports and provide analyses of sales trends by brand, SKU and customer. Proactively mine data to anticipate problems, identify opportunities and to understand competitive activity and its impact on the brands, to include velocity analysis, pricing and distribution.  Assist brand team in the creation of situational assessments and go forward recommendations for the brands as a key input into Riviana Food's annual planning process.

Marketing Budget Planning and Forecasting (25%) - Plan and forecast for key cost drivers that will hit the marketing budget for the going year.  Track actuals, forecast spend and follow through the process of setting purchase orders to payment of expenses.  Track shopper marketing spend.  The ABM shall also create requisitions and manage payment of invoices for marketing programs.

Marketing Commercialization (20%) - Support commercialization projects by managing development of the new item or packaging NPD, from coordination of item set up, item spec definition, new packaging design, forecast, financials and timelines; seamless coordination with Packaging Engineering, Special Markets, Operations (production planning and supply chain), Sales, Legal and external suppliers, to act as the voice of Marketing during the development process.

Shopper Marketing, Execution (20%) - Partner with Shopper Marketing and Trade Marketing to ensure brand strategies and plans are clearly communicated throughout the sales organization.  Lead the creation of sales materials for new items and programs.  Provide Category Management with meaningful category and consumer insights.  Act as a liaison between the brand team, the shopper marketing team and the shopper marketing agency.

Assist brand managers in the execution of Marketing Programs (10%) – Assist in the execution of marketing programs including generating quotes, managing timelines, managing NPD sample requests and project management oversight to keep projects moving forward. Proactively review in-market results and recommend course of action.  Become well acquainted with the Rice consumer including: demographics, purchase behavior, market segmentation, current trends and need gaps by reviewing existing marketing research and by participating in the design and execution of new research.

The ABM's role also requires the ability to partner with external suppliers including advertising, social media, digital and PR agencies, graphics and promotion firms.

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS/ABILITIES REQUIRED FOR SUCCESS:

• Strong Project Management Skills
• Familiarity with Nielsen or IRI
• Passion for brands, marketing, operations and business development.
• Strong analytical skills to mine data and create analyses
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills to work cross-functionally
• Good leadership and project management skills to build effective teams and keep tasks on track
• Good strategic thinking skills and ability to recommend focused plans to capitalize on opportunities
• Understanding of marketing strategies and tactics and communication mediums for brand building. (Advertising, digital and social media)
• General understanding of consumer research methodologies
• General financial acumen to understand P&L statements and ROI analysis
• Proficient use Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint
• Ability to use Nielsen (or other syndicated data source)
• Ability to assist in development and rollout of new products
• Category management experience desired

MINIMUM EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:

• Preferred experience in consumer promotion, package design and new product projects
• Preferred understanding of US retail food trade classes through cross-functional relationships
• Accountable, results-oriented, trustworthy, good leader, persuasive, team player, proactive and innovative

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing with MBA (preferred) or other Bachelor's degree with MBA

Experience:

• 1 - 2 years of marketing-related experience
• Types of Background Desired
• Nielsen/IRI data understanding
• Category Management role