Carnival Cruise Line is seeking a Partnerships Sr. Manager! This role is responsible for day-to-day strategic identification and execution of Carnival partnerships; this includes those in the discipline of entertainment, sports/lifestyle, and celebrity influencers in order to achieve business goals of enhancing the Carnival brand, driving bookings, and elevating guest satisfaction. This role also includes development of cooperative promotions with like-minded consumer brands, and becoming the steward of those partner relationships. Works closely with cross-discipline shoreside marketing teams, as well as shipboard operations and external agency partners, to plan and activate against the partnership strategy. Responsible for evaluation of ROI across all relevant marketing metrics; will have budget management responsibilities.
Essential Functions:
Beginning-to-end management of all existing partnerships. Requires establishment of mutually-agreeable partner marketing objectives; creation of marketing programs to achieve stated objectives; Lead integrated (when appropriate) execution of all marketing programs and activation efforts; Ensure compliance with all brand and partner parameters; accountability for summarizing and presenting program results and key learnings; Presentation of weekly status updates for all partnerships
Identification and negotiation of new partnerships, a supporting role to VP, Partnerships; Develop a marketing brief for business opportunity offered by new partnership; Research potential partners that align/are a strategic fit; Communicate with internal stakeholders to gain consensus on partnership needs; Participate in outreach, discussions and negotiations with potential partners
Create partnership presentations. Typically a PowerPoint document summarizing objectives, strategies, research, key insights, recommended programs and measurable KPIs
Partnership strategy development, a supporting role to the VP, Partnerships. Annual evaluation of how partnerships can best contribute to overall brand marketing strategy. Requires ability to identify areas of partnership influence across all onboard and shoreside disciplines; Emphasis on determining how partnerships can be used non-traditionally to create incremental revenue or generate budget relief
Develop ROI measurement tools. In advance of each program, establish KPIs to be achieved; During each program, evaluate performance against KPIs and recommend adjustments; After each program, summarize results, including impact on brand, bookings and engagement
Manage budgets. Responsibilities -- forecast expenses for each partnership; track and report on actual expenses without exceeding projected expenses; contribute to annual department budget forecast
Contract review. Liaison with corporate counsel to draft and review partnership agreements; Work with partner to secure agreement to all marketing requirements and deliverables; route contracts for execution
Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing
7+ years partnership marketing experience
Holistic understanding of entertainment and sports partnerships including: audience delivery, activation strategies, best practices
Strong communication, negotiating, and interpersonal skills (verbal and written) with hands-on experience with partners, personalities and agencies
Maintains relationships across key internal stakeholders
Strong understanding of digital ecosystem
Proven leadership skills: ability to articulate point of view and defend it, ability to influence without authority, ability to find creative solutions and sort through challenges to achieve program KPIs
Ability to lead and support a creative team
Exposure to different promotion tactics (sweepstakes, contests, incentive programs) in order to understand relative fit for a given execution
Sweepstakes creation, compliance and administrative proficiency
Able to identify partnership assets that may be unrecognized sources of opportunity
Self-motivated, enthusiastic team-player
Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook
Highly organized team player
Can navigate importance of achieving short term results while not compromising long term partner relationships
Self-starter and self-motivated
