Senior Manager- Brand Activation, Comms and Creative

At M&G our purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work. As an international savings and investments business with roots stretching back more than 170 years, we offer a range of financial products and services through Asset Management, Life and Wealth. All three operating segments work together to deliver attractive financial outcomes for our clients, and superior shareholder returns.

Through our behaviours of telling it like it is, owning it now, and moving it forward together with care and integrity; we are creating an exceptional place to work for exceptional talent.

We will consider flexible working arrangements for any of our roles and also offer work place accommodations to ensure you have what you need to effectively deliver in your role.

Sitting within the Corporate Affairs and Brand function and specifically supporting the delivery of Group brand strategy through brand activation campaigns and activities to build and amplify the M&G brand in support of our commercial growth. This role reports to the Group Head of Brand and is responsible for the identification, initiation, development, management and effectiveness of brand build activation, primarily focussed on brand build for the plc and Life business.

The scope of this role includes cost-effectively planning, executing and measuring brand building awareness, salience and consideration (in collaboration with the Life business marketing team) with the key identified brand audiences.  The role holder is required to develop the activation and engagement strategy for the M&G brand and (other brands within the M&G portfolio if the brand strategy determines that) in line with the overall brand strategy.  Working closely with the Brand Strategy, Management and Planning Team this role holder has the responsibility to define the relevant long term brand activation strategies and agree brand comms objectives, delivering against agreed brand metrics and targets for the Group for the relevant segments to increase brand equity and impact over a 3-5 year horizon, aligned with the SBR programme.

The role holder works under the direction of the Group Head of Brand and the Director of Corporate Affairs and Brand and is a senior member of the Brand team. They will lead their own team in the development and execution of the activation campaigns, in addition they will lead a central creative team to deliver quality and on-brand creative collateral to ‘central function’ internal clients. In addition, they will hold responsibility for management of any central rostered agencies involved in delivering Brand creative work.

Leadership of this team requires a strategic approach but is required to be closely connected to the commercial objectives and marketing plans of the business unit teams so having a broad knowledge of both brand and product/ proposition marketing and where the two intersect is important. The team works across the businesses to make sure that application and adaptation of brand campaign assets within ‘hero’ proposition activities (where the scale and purpose of the activity warrants their use) are in line with the original campaign strategy and gives direction to the Brand Manager – Governance & Mgt.  to help govern their correct deployment. 

Key accountabilities and responsibilities

• In conjunction with the Group Head of Brand be responsible for the development of activation strategies and activities that drive M&G brand awareness, salience and engagement setting measurement and reporting for any campaign activity
• Provide consultancy to the business marketing teams in the most appropriate brand approach and activities to drive consideration
• Build the overall brand and marketing communications model to support better delivery and layering of messaging for best effect
• In conjunction with the Group Head of Brand, initiate the campaign strategy, development of the campaign creative platform and expression, and develop distinctive campaign assets in support of the brand comms strategy and the commercial needs of M&G (both long and short term)
• Initiates, develops and executes integrated brand campaign activities across a range of B2C, B2B and B2B2C audiences, determining these with Corporate Affairs and Life Marketing colleagues
• Works with the Business Marketing teams to understand future campaign objectives and plans to work collaboratively on the adaptation and deployment of brand campaign assets to deliver against defined brand metrics
• Works with the Corporate Affairs and other Group functions to identify key activities and elements of the Corporate Narrative that demonstrate the positioning and bring the M&G brand to life
• Provides input and direction to the Brand Strategy, Management and Planning Team for the development of strategic campaign metrics and measurement (through the Manager – Brand Evaluation and Reporting) and the requirements of the Brand Tracker (and any other regular brand study)
• Responsible for campaign media brief development and management of the (brand) media agency input and support as part of brand campaign development
• Responsible for the development of the strategic activation brief and individual campaign briefs for the brand marketing/activation agency partner(s), including own creative team.
• Create and maintain a forecast and current plan of brand led/impact activities scheduled for delivery in the UK across the brand portfolio – working with the Brand Manager – Planning and Strategy
• Drive activities to ensure the brand strategy and defined framework is supported in terms of appropriate messaging, targeting, campaign and communications positioning, and creative development
• Responsible for recommending selection and deployment of owned (web, face to face etc.), paid (advertising, partnership/sponsorship etc.) and earned (PR & social media) media channel activities and the management of media plans in support of brand objectives
• In conjunction with the Group Head of Brand, accountable for all partnership and sponsorship activities (both strategic brand partnerships and more commercial short-term media and content partners) – selection, rights usage and definition of package, activation strategy and central activity delivery, management of assets across the business where appropriate
• Build a workflow approach to manage creative briefs, execution and on-time delivery to internal clients against the new M&G brand visual identity
• Ownership of driving to completion and oversight of the implementation of the new M&G visual identity, providing advice to the SBR programme and BAU colleagues as required
• Leadership, development and coaching for the team with varying levels of knowledge and experience to create a high-performing team with high-quality output

Requirements and Experience

• Significant and proven experience in a senior brand marketing/ comms role within a major brand/ marketing function or agency environment developing brand activation strategy (B2C, B2B & B2B2C), campaign development and execution across multiple channels, preferably with some Financial Services or regulated industry experience
• Ideally substantive knowledge and/or experience of creative agency processes
• A proven track record in balancing both strategic and shorter-term commercial objectives
• A creative marketer with experience of delivery across range of owned, paid, and earned media and channels (e.g. digital first, TV, radio, print, OOH, PR, and social media)
• Experience of Sponsorship/Partnership strategy development, the selection process for an appropriate partner and the development of a long-term activation strategy, appropriate for the M&G brand and the scale and length of the relationship
• A data led marketer who can help lead objectively on brand activation strategy development, who has developed good instincts and knowledge of where benchmarks for effectiveness should be set
• An influential and persuasive leader with an ability to balance both creativity and strategy in conversations with non-marketing senior stakeholders who can inspire and create an enthusiastic team
• A strong collaborative worker with an ability to select, onboard, lead and win over external agencies, suppliers and strategic partners to produce work that’s on brief, but allows for stretch, challenging existing boundaries and industry norms (has a test and learn mentality)
• A calm and patient people leader with an ability to flex management and communication style to suit varying levels of experience and knowledge, to help develop both their team, the broader Group Brand Team and stakeholder teams’ brand knowledge across the business 
• Experience as a people manager in order to understand what is key in the selection and build of a high-performing team that creates and maintains strong working relationships
• Comfortable with having the responsibility of being a brand creative leader, with subject matter expertise and an ability to effectively delegate, select and deploy other members of the Group Brand Team, where specific brand knowledge and experience is required.  Understands the full scope and responsibilities of the team
• An ability to retain focus on longer term goals and objectives, but has an understanding and can react appropriately to challenge from those who are responsible for shorter term impact and the consequences of strategic change
• A pragmatist with the ability to anticipate potential conflict, deal with ambiguity (both external and internal) and help people understand the benefit of focus on a longer-term strategy as well as mobilise quickly when conditions are favourable and opportunities arise
• Experience of forecasting, gaining agreement for and managing multiple budgets of £m+.  Good knowledge of scales of spend required to achieve brand marketing goals

Recruiter : Martyn Jack

We have a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture at M&G plc, underpinned by our policies and our employee-led networks who provide networking opportunities, advice and support for the diverse communities our colleagues represent. Regardless of gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, nationality, disability or long term condition, we are looking to attract, promote and retain exceptional people. We also welcome those who take part in military service and those returning from career breaks.

M&G is also proud to be a Disability Confident Leader, and we welcome applications from candidates with long-term health conditions, disabilities, or neuro-divergent conditions.  Being a Disability Confident Leader means that candidates who meet the minimum criteria of a job, will be offered an interview if they 'opt in' to the scheme when applying. 

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