Title: Sr. Brand Manager, Lubricants, VALVOLINE, Lexington, KY
Location: US-KY-Lexington
Other Locations:
Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) provides specialty chemical products, services and solutions for many of the world's most essential industries. Serving customers in more than 100 countries, it operates through four commercial units: Ashland Specialty Ingredients, Ashland Water Technologies, Ashland Performance Materials and Ashland Consumer Markets (Valvoline). To learn more aboutAshland, visit www.ashland.com.
We are looking for a Lube Marketing Manager. This position will be based inLexington,Kentucky.
TheLubeMarketing Manager for Valvoline / US Installers will develop and deliver all marketing and product line strategy efforts for the lubricant business. Responsibilities include product line strategy, product line development, promotional activities and marketing communication.
The Lube Marketing Manager will be responsible for the following within US Installer Channel:
· Lube Marketing Plans-- The Lube Manager will be asked to set the vision for the brand and develop brand objectives, strategies, and key initiatives that drive growth and plan successes on Lubricants. As part of this effort, the Lube Manager will work closely with Sales and Trade Marketing to create customer-specific plans for Lubricants.
·Level Business Tracking-- The Lube Manager will be the business expert on their brand(s). The Lube Manager will closely monitor and proactively manage his /her performance versus plan. He/she will be the experts on their competition, understanding how their initiatives impact Valvoline's ability to achieve plan. Finally, he or she will understand where the profit opportunities lie within their business P&L and proactively lead top-line and bottom-line-driving initiatives to make plan across Oils.
·Company-Wide Marketing Initiatives-- The Lube Manager will also be expected to lead the development of business and marketing strategies that span the various brands (e.g., marketing efforts against key demographic efforts such as NextGen or Engine Guarantee promotional effectiveness, etc.).
·Consumer Insights & Creative Development-- The Lube Manager will be the expert in the consumer insights, brand equities, and customer segmentation dynamics. They will leverage their deep consumer understanding to create best-in-class consumer communications across the businesses, the various touch points (advertising, consumer promotions, Trade, POS, etc.) and channels (Contract Distributors, Direct Market and National Account).
·Coordinated Brand Initiatives-- The Lube Manager will identify and champion Brand business opportunities that span the US Installer outlets. They will gain DIY and US Installer Channels support for these initiatives by effectively presenting the opportunity in a fact-based, strategically-grounded approach.
· New Brand or New Product Launch Plans-- Working with the New Products group, the Lube Manager will develop new product ideas that drive Oil top-line growth and profitability across the organization. He or she will represent Lube Management on new product launch to teams, ensuring that new products are grounded in marketplace reality.
·Team Leader and Influencer-- The Lube Manager will be expected to lead cross-functional teams (e.g., New Product Teams, Agency Teams, or Customer Marketing Plan Teams), work seamlessly with the Product Management group, and effectively interface with the US Installer Channels marketing team. These wide-ranging leadership responsibilities will require the Lube Manager to be both a strong strategic thinker and an adept influencer to engender support for his or her ideas despite a lack of formal authority.
·Creative Thinker and Innovator-- The Lube Manager will be charged with developing consumer-grounded, breakthrough ideas that drive profit growth on their businesses. They will show an ability to create ideas that are both consistent with the brand objectives/strategies and grounded in the business realities.
·Analyzer-- The Lube Manager will demonstrate seasoned judgment and an ability to handle complexity. To do this, they must distill and synchronize various data sources (that are sometimes incomplete) to develop fact-based, strategically sound, and proactive recommendations on their Lubricant businesses. They will be the experts on their brands, mastering the details around customers, financials, product assortment, competition, consumer and trade initiatives, etc.
· Leverage trends competitive analysis, R&D/OEM relationships, and customer research to identify product/service opportunities and needs gaps with current category offerings.
· Assist the pricing department with channel and sub-channel focus based on established lubricant objectives.
· Building the effective sales stories and marketing strategies within the channel and sub-channel.
· Supervise the coordination of trade programs through all business units to ensure sound execution of programs. This effort keeps Valvoline from committing redundant marketing spend, and drives increased financial performance.
Lead development of marketing plans, programs and communication.
·Determine barriers to selling process with distributors, installers and consumers.
·Drive installer and consumer pull to increase sales and loyalty through optimized promotional programs, installer and consumer communication and other marketing activities.
·Ensure acceptable return for marketing spending via measurement and cost/benefit analysis. Monitor, analyze and adjust plans accordingly.
· Bachelor's degree required; Masters Degree preferred.
· 5-6 plus years of related experience.
· Experience working with a smaller company or start up division in a larger company desired.
· Applicants must be authorized to work in theUnited States.
Ashlandhas a history of attracting the best people and keeping them. The reasons are simple: industry competitive salary and benefits, pay-for-performance incentive plans and a diverse workenvironment where employees feel challenged and valued. People come toAshlandand stay. As a growing Fortune 500 specialty chemicals company, we offer opportunities for development and advancement throughout our global organization. Our values define who we are and what we care about as a company. If you are looking for a relationship with a company instead of simply a job, this may be a great fit.
TO APPLY FOR THIS POSITION, please go to Ashland.com and view position DO10088.
We do not accept resumes from external staffing agencies or independent recruiters for any of our openings unless we have a signed recruiting agreement in place to fill a specific position.
Ashlandis proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer
