VP, Digital

Job Description:

The Vice President, Digital & Marketing Center Of Excellence for Pet Nutrition NA is a critical leadership role in the Pet Nutrition NA Marketing organization, leading the continued transformation into a digital-first approach to Marketing delivering profitable growth.  She/he will have 5-6 direct reports and lead a total team of 25-30 associates.  The scope of responsibilities include Media, Digital Experiences, 1st Party Data collection & CRM, National Recruitment, Social & Influencer Marketing Capabilities, NA Agency Ecosystem Management, Annual Brand Planning and Marketing Budgeting, Functional Marketing Capability Building, and Media/Marketing Measurement.

Our ambition in this transformation is to:

• Build global mega brands pet parents love – through recruiting new pet parents and retaining them.
• Build digital-first marketing capabilities, media partnerships, ways of working and talent, to engage with pet parents along the full purchase funnel, and throughout their pet parent journey.
• Put data & analytics at the heart of our omnichannel content, media & national recruitment to deliver strong ROI.
• Contribute to & leverage broader NA Mars Pet Care capabilities in building our Pet Nutrition brands.

• Lead a 25-30-associate Center of Excellence team of digital, media & marketing specialists supporting the 7 core brands in Pet Nutrition NA, with responsibility for $400 Mio of Marketing budget (including $300 Mio in media)
• Lead annual brand planning & marketing budgeting cycles, working effectively with the brand teams and Finance.
• Manage the NA scope of work and relationships for creative, media, and shopper agencies, in close partnership with Commercial, the NA brand teams and global Pet Nutrition marketing.
• Oversee Data-Driven Marketing (DDM) for the division, including full-funnel media (national & retail media), our consumer data strategy, audience activation, consumer journey personalization, and measurement.
• Continuously improve our media performance through integrated media Quarterly Business Reviews, marketing mix modeling, sales lift studies, in close partnership with Market Research and the NA brand teams.
• Support the NA brand teams in building differentiated brand presences across their owned & earned digital ecosystems, including websites, CRM, and social/influencer.
• Further accelerate 1st party data collection efforts through brand & portfolio recruitment programs and through tools that create a mutual value exchange with pet parents on our brand websites and social media accounts.
• Oversee brand- and portfolio CRM programs, including broadcast and trigger campaigns. Optimize and further develop brand-led CRM programs with retention programs.
• Support the development of Point-of-Entry programs, recruiting puppy & kitten owners as well as new adopters to our brands, working with the NA brand teams & the newly established NA Point-of Entry marketing team.
• Partner with Corporate Affairs on a portfolio approach for Influencers/KOLs and best-in-class organic content and community management.
• Lead the implementation of mutualized digital products & services from Global Mars Petcare for NA Pet Nutrition in prioritized areas – Digital Asset Management, Consumer Data Platform, Single Sign On / Identity, and CRM
• Provide thought leadership in various DDM global conversations and steering groups to help craft the Mars PN global DDM strategy and ensure that US market or division-specific interests are fully represented.
• Support the digital & marketing upskilling of our PN Marketing community. Regularly bring thought leadership in digital through pilots, external experts, formal trainings, and marketing engagement events, with a specific focus on key digital trends such as Artificial Intelligence, influencer marketing, cookie-less future, etc.
• Be obsessed with people and talent development – strong team engagement and talent pipeline planning.

Requirements:

• 10+ years’ experience in business leadership roles
• Preferred experience includes digital marketing disciplines such as media (including performance marketing and retail media), social media, websites, CRM, content marketing, and analytics
• Experience in recruiting, developing, and managing a team of digital specialists
• Experience in managing significant marketing budgets, working effectively with external agencies and platform partners.
• Demonstrated experience collaborating effectively with digital functional IT teams, brand teams, finance, and other business partners / peers.
• Energy for technology platforms & IT solutions.
• Passion for pets would be ideal.
• Languages: Fluent English required

• Work with over 140,000 diverse and talented Associates, all guided by the Five Principles.
• Join a purpose driven company, where we’re striving to build the world we want tomorrow, today.
• Best-in-class learning and development support from day one, including access to our in-house Mars University.
• An industry competitive salary and benefits package, including company bonus.

Mars is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the application process because of a disability, it is available upon request. The company is pleased to provide such assistance, and no applicant will be penalized as a result of such a request.