Associate Brand Manager

Smithfield Foods is a leading consumer packaged meats company. We are also the world’s largest pork processor and hog producer, committed to providing good food in a responsible way. We accomplish that by maintaining robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental, and food safety and quality programs.

The Associate Brand Manager will work with the Sr. Brand Manager. This position is accountable for the development and implementation of marketing strategy and brand plans, including product quality, close-in and breakthrough innovation, and brand activation. Responsibilities include "Product" (quality, innovation, packaging), "Place" (channel strategies and distribution), "Price" (pricing strategy and implementation), and "Promotion" (advertising, consumer promotion, media strategy and implementation planning, PR). This position is responsible for category strategy, pricing strategy and analysis, and ongoing business analysis to drive the performance of the brand. The Associate Brand Manager works closely with Insight, Category Management, Sales, Business Development, Operations, Legal, and external partners (advertising agencies, etc) to develop and implement marketing and innovation plans. The Associate Brand Manager will manage strategic initiatives and projects including sports marketing, mobile activation, PR and promotions.

**Brand Management** * Analyzes market trends and recommend changes to marketing and product strategies based on analysis and feedback * Develops category strategy and analysis and performs ongoing business analysis to drive the performance of the brand * Leads a wide variety of functional areas to develop and manage marketing objectives, strategies and tactics * Responsible for brand budget * Ensures Legal approval of all documents, contracts and materials that touch external stakeholders * Develops market and competitive analysis leveraging syndicated and propriety data * Participates in sales presentation and customer meetings **Advertising and Promotion Management** * Manages agency relationships and leads the preparation for internal and external brand presentations * Assists in development of an integrated brand image and message throughout all advertising, packaging and promotional efforts * Evaluates creative - ensuring the most motivating messaging reaches target consumers * Collaborates with sales to develop strategic partnership activities with key retail partners **Innovation Management** * Participates in the product development process, identifying consumer insight, creating product proposition, assessing market potential * Partners with other functional areas to quickly bring viable new products to market * Identifies opportunities for growth and cost improvement * Commercializes line extensions that can be launched within 12 months

**Qualifications:** * Bachelor’s degree (B.A) in Marketing or closely related field from a regionally accredited college or university required; MBA in Marketing or closely related field from a regionally accredited college or university preferred. * 2 or more years of consumer marketing experience, preferably with a CPG company in food (refrigerated/perishable experience is a plus) preferred. * Experience managing a budget for a brand and working in a cross-function environment preferred. * Experience working with syndicated data preferred. * Experience commercializing new products and line extensions preferred. * Strong communication and interpersonal skills required. * Ability to prioritize projects and produce high quality and quantity outputs that adds value to the company required. * Strong quantitative and analytical skills required. * Up to 15% travel may be required for this position. * Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite:Word, Power point and Excel required. **Physical Demands:** * Frequently required to sit; stand; walk; reach with hands and arms. * Specific vision abilities required include close vision, distance, vision, color vision and ability to adjust focus. * Occasionally lift and/or move up to 15 pounds. **Work Environment:** * Corporate working environment. * Noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.