Guinness Nigeria Plc Recruits Head of Commercial Planning & Activation - Spirits

Guinness Nigeria Plc - We are Guinness Nigeria, member of Diageo Plc the world's leading premium drinks business with an unrivalled collection of beverage alcohol & non-alcohol brands across the Spirits, Wine & Beer categories.

Diageo is the world's leading premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, beer and wine.We are continuously interested in talented individuals who want to progress their careers and make a difference to our business.

Job Title: Head of Commercial Planning & Activation - Spirits

Location: Lagos
Level: L4
Reports To: Customer Marketing Director

Job Description
Nigeria is a major market for Diageo and has historically been involved in the sale and manufacture of beer, Lager, RTDs and Malt drinks within this market.

The Nigerian drinks market is relatively unsophisticated, but highly dynamic. In that regard, Nigeria represents the greatest spirits growth opportunity available on the continent. Diageo Brands Nigeria (DBN) has been established to expanding Diageo’s operations and portfolio of brands by venturing into the marketing and sales of Diageo’s already existing rich Spirit brands.

A key contributor to the success of the DBN strategic plan is an effective Customer Marketing Team demonstrating industry leadership via:

• Translating Trade Strategy and Brand Game Plans into a world class commercial plan
• Winning the Consumers at moment of purchase via understanding of consumer needs and ensuring Diageo Brands Nigeria (DBN) is the preferred Trade Partner

Dimensions:
1. Financial:

Accountability and Responsibility for:

• Advertisement & Promotions (A & P) budgets allocated from Marketing to Field sales for Below the line (BTL) activation such as Consumer Promos, Trade activities and Point of Sale (POS) materials.
• Tactical operating budget

2. Market Complexity
The Nigerian Liquor landscape is complex with major challenges. High import tariffs on spirits and an immature retail market.

• Category teams to ensure a robust Joint Up Business Plan (JUBP) process is in place which ties in key customers and channels to DBN
• Plans are driven by shoppers and category drivers understanding and executed brilliantly.

Leadership and Functional Responsibilities
The role is responsible for the leading the Spirits Customer Marketing Team that comprises of Category Development and Commercial Planning & Activation Teams. Leadership and Customer Marketing Functional capabilities are expected to be at a level commensurate with the role.

The role holder will:

• develop, implement and execute marketing strategic plans in field and be accountable for brilliant execution.
• be a key member of the Customer Marketing Leadership team, with dotted line into the Spirits Leadership
• develop and follow through coaching & personal development plans for team
• develop insight generation and translation of insights that guide key business decisions
• create value for Diageo by translating category and channel understanding into activity design and activations that addresses core consumer/shopper and customer issues
• enable brilliant execution by driving discipline from Planning to In-market Execution
• ensure business is conducted in line with Diageo Policies and Code of Business Conduct guidelines.

Purpose of Role:

• Deliver Sustainable Competitive advantage for Diageo Brands Nigeria (DBN)
• Develop Reserve Brand Strategy for Nigeria in conjunction with Global Brand Team and ensure Diageo Brands Nigeria (DBN) reserve Brands leads within category.

Key Accountabilities:

1. Deliver Annual Operating Plan

• Lead trade & customer strategy to develop customised annual Game plan to deliver financial and volume targets for priority brands
• Category and Channel value creation
• Develop and activate annual customer account plans Joint Up Business Plan (JUBP) to support the delivery of business goals – ensure effectiveness & discipline including quarterly activity planning cycle

2. Deliver Brilliant Execution

• Ensure that the Customer Marketing activity calendar, planning and timings are such that field sales capacity and capability are efficiently utilized
• Ensure field sales and distributor sales teams are provided with tools and support materials to drive brilliant execution
• Ensure activity tracking and Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) process for all activities are on-going.
• Drive excellence in execution through the implementation of business plans, trade term compliance, cycle activation and category management
• Deliver amazing promotional activation experiences in line with Game Plans

3. Attract, Develop and Retain Great Talent

• Ensure all team members have a clear understanding of their performance objectives and that processes are in place for development

4. Measurement

• Delivery of NSV, Vol and TP plan targets via AOP
• Deliver marketing plans via Market share data and Brand health scores
• Growth of strategic partnerships via JUBP and Activity Success Rate & Budget Effectiveness.
• Development and growth of the team through P4G and Diageo Survey
• Controls, compliance and governance via audit reviews　

Skills, Qualifications and Experience Required:

• Graduate calibre with a minimum of 7years commercial expertise gained across Customer Marketing and/or Consumer Marketing.
• Minimum 4 - 5 years field sales experience is essential.
• A highly motivational coach and leader that can provide clear direction
• Creative in finding solutions
• Ability to tune tactics to achieve desired business results
• Great People Skills
• Strong communication skills – written and verbal
• Ability to negotiate at a senior level and ensure alignment cross functionally

Barriers to Success in Role:

• Inability to work collaboratively across the broader organisation and also ensure alignment of category teams and field sales
• Inability to spend sufficient time on the field
• Inability to generate insights and translate them into specific actions.
• Inability to build and motivate leaders to consistently deliver great performance.
• Loss of personal integrity
• Inability to properly identify risks and plan mitigation steps.
• Inability to work flexibly and respond to unforeseen challenges and opportunities at short notice.

Application Closing Date
11th September, 2013.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online