Marketing Communications Sr. Manager - Strategic Planning

Job Description

Company Overview

General Mills is reshaping the future of food. We believe food makes us better. It nourishes our bodies, brings us joy and connects us to each other. As one of the world's leading food companies, General Mills operates in more than 100 countries and markets more than 100 consumer brands, including Cheerios, Nature Valley, Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Annie's Homegrown, Old El Paso, Epic Provisions, Blue Buffalo and more. Are you passionate about the future of food? You've come to the right table. We want the very best talent to help lead something big.

Job Overview

OVERVIEW

The Strategic Planner, Sr. Manager, is a key strategic leader in developing Brand strategies for priority brands as part of the Brand Experience (Marketing Communications) team. This individual will report into the Brand Experience Director for the Snacks and Organic Food operating units and is meant to aid Brand Management and Global Consumer Insights to ask/answer the key questions that will help identify insights that drive clarity in diagnosing the business and consumer problem that needs to be solved by our products and brands. They will help teams make choices into where they want to play and how they will win - translating those choices into clear human language that inspires great ideas to grow the business and brand across partners from R&D, Partnerships/Culture, agency teams. They will also articulate the User Journey & Experience Strategy specifically for Brand Experience Priority brands – responsible for helping teams craft briefs that align to the broader brand and experience strategy. This person will also be a leader within the Strategic Planning function, helping to anticipate the tools, process to train others on how to develop brand and experience strategies for their brands.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Develop and articulate the Brand Strategy and Experience Strategy for priority brands at General Mills
• Deep consumer empathy and ability to pull out critical elements that will inform a brand’s future growth
• Partner with team and agencies to help uncover insights that inform Brand Strategy
• Articulate the language and brand narrative that will best inspire future actions
• Be able to influence and present to help others see the vision for where a brand should go – particularly to levels higher than their own (Director, VP-level)
• Partner with other team experts – specifically Brand Design, Brand Experience Orchestration to ensure brand is expressed according to the strategy

Qualifications

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelors degree in Advertising, Communications, Marketing, Marketing Research or related
• 8+ years related experience
• Insight-Finding – Ability to synthesize and analyze data to uncover insights – connecting the dots of those insights to inspire action
• Creative thinking – problem solving based on deep consumer empathy and understanding of brand point of view
• Facilitation of Brainstorm/Strategy Teams – comfortable facilitating conversations with multiple team members to uncover ideas or areas to pursue

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience as a Strategic Planner at an agency and/or Consumer Insights experience at an agency or elsewhere
• Experience working with Agencies – high profile role with agencies, prefer experience managing those types of relationships
• Story-telling – ability to sell big concepts as well as tactical plans to leadership
• Presenting and influencing others – especially those more senior to see the big picture and path forward

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