The Sr. Manager, Licensed Sports Marketing, will lead the development and execution of integrated marketing strategies and initiatives supporting growth of the New Era licensed sports marketing business with an initial emphasis on the basketball category in North America across all relevant products, licenses, channels and consumers.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Lead the development and execution of annual, integrated, category-specific marketing plans to position the brand with New Era’s category consumers; create and drive the cross-functional roadmap for developing and executing all category-level marketing initiatives, campaigns and product launches across the marketing mix at New Era
Lead an effective, on-going GTM and integrated marketing process to position the brand and its products with retail partners across all channels and product-types at sell-in, and drive timely execution of all brand and category campaigns, initiatives & product launches at sell through (drive on-going consumer adoption of New Era’s basketball licensed and branded product offerings)
Lead the development and adoption of category insights (consumer-, market-, competitive-, retailer-) to support category development plans, build future concepts, set investment priorities, and advocate for the resource requirements needed to drive growth at New Era
Be the category and consumer champion within New Era. Build and lead a culture of consumer-focus, collaboration and go to market excellence within the core category team and across the New Era matrix (product, marketing, sales, etc.) and ensure strong understanding of New Era’s basketball consumer target(s) and overall category focus within New Era
Lead the development, management and evaluation of an annual basketball category-marketing budget. Together with the Licensed Sports Marketing Director, and functional marketing teams, establish the investment plan to support brand and business growth of the New Era Brand in basketball across all functions, channels and initiatives, inclusive of pre-existing marketing commitments and sponsorships
Partner with New Era’s license partners (i.e. NBA) to create and build effective working relationships that support the on-going development of new concepts, ensure alignment and support for all relevant marketing initiatives and ensure that New Era meets the requirements of its licensed agreements
Directly and indirectly manage internal & external resources and agencies to support the development of concepts and execution on an on-going basis, from consumer insights to Creative, Media, PR, Digital, Sponsorships & Team Services, Sports Marketing, Entertainment, Retail and Events
Participate in all relevant brand strategy, brand development and long-term planning meetings on behalf of the basketball category team
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES
Brand Management: Candidate must have a passion for brand building and have demonstrated experience building a brand POV for their assigned category within a constantly changing and evolving consumer marketplace
Passion for the game and a strong working knowledge of basketball at all levels. Candidate must be able to connect the dots to drive category opportunities with New Era’s retail partners and new opportunities for growth
Integrated Marketing: Candidate must have a strong-working knowledge and experience guiding multi-platform and multi-channel campaigns across all aspects of the marketing mix, with emphasis on Digital/Social, Media, PR, Sponsorships, Grassroots, Events and Retail
Go To Market Leadership: Candidate must have demonstrated experience driving an integrated marketing process across functions (direct and indirect reporting), and across other departments of the business (product, sales, operations), in support of stated Category Business objectives
Decision-maker: Must be willing to Push Go, inspire and enable their team(s) to take a swing at new concepts in support of New Era Brand and Business objectives
Cultural Relevance: Must understand the power of the New Era Brand in sports and sports culture, on the field, and off of it, and have a passion for helping New Era create a leading brand position across headwear, apparel & accessories
Innovation: Must be committed to generate new ideas and concepts that will drive growth of the New Era Brand and enhance the brand’s influence in Sport & Culture
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration or related field required; MBA preferred
7-10+ years of experience successfully leading brand marketing and brand development strategies for brands in sports, lifestyle & youth culture; including but not limited to: headwear, apparel, footwear, accessories, retail, gaming, music/entertainment and sports in North America and Globally
In-depth knowledge basketball required as well as consumer insight and culture inspired by basketball
Must be able to demonstrate previous success in the following areas:
Go To Market Leadership within a brand, agency or other mid-size company; demonstrated experience in successfully leading product, marketing, sales and retail teams in the development, planning and execution of product launches, marketing campaigns and initiatives
Integrated Marketing Leadership: Demonstrated success leading cross-functional initiatives across Digital/Social, Media, PR, Sponsorships, Grassroots, Events and Retail
Strategic Planning & Insights: Demonstrated experience successfully leading the formal & informal development of consumer insights to drive marketing, product & business strategies in support of overall brand positioning goals and revenue objectives
Team Management and Development: Demonstrated experience building strong teams and managing people; comfortable managing across a global network
Managing external resources (agencies, partnerships, sponsorships)
Communicating & Influencing: Strong cultural marketing and relationship-building skills
Annual marketing plan development and execution: Demonstrated experience leading the development of an annual marketing plan, and corresponding budget, across multiple product launches, channels of distribution and multiple marketing functions of direct and indirect budget authority
TRAVEL
25% travel, depending on need
