Location: Johannesburg, South Africa (Regional remit: South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini)

Reporting To: General Manager

Role type: Senior Leadership (Regional P&L influence) 

Role purpose

Lead and deliver a step-change in brand equity, consumer preference, distribution and revenue growth across the Southern African region by building and executing consumer-led, data-driven marketing strategies. Own brand architecture, marketing strategy and execution across the full marketing mix (7 Ps and beyond). Drive new-product development (NPD), pricing and promotional architecture, go-to-market for township and spaza channels, and integrated digital/social-first brand programs that increase awareness, trial, repeat purchase and profitable market share & most of all support the organization to deliver annual budgets.

Key responsibilities 

Strategy & leadership

Own regional marketing strategy and roadmap aligned to company's commercial objectives and P&L priorities for the region. Translate corporate strategy into country and channel plans.

Define and own brand architecture for the portfolio (master brand, sub-brands, SKUs, local variants) to maximise clarity, cross-sell and route-to-market efficiency.

Lead a high-performing regional marketing plan designing, digital/social media campaigns led by consumer insights, NPD, design, activation and external agencies only when required but firstly working with creative team in Zambia. Set objectives, KPIs, development plans and resource allocation.

Partner with Sales, Commercial, Supply Chain, Finance and Distributors to ensure integrated trade and consumer activation, forecasting and on-shelf availability.

Consumer & customer strategy

Lead consumer strategy across target markets: develop detailed consumer personas and journey maps per country, channel (modern trade, informal/spaza, On-Prem, HoReCa), and cohort (youth, working adults, informal traders).

Apply behavioural science principles to influence trial, frequency and loyalty across micro-segments (age, income, urban vs township, ethnic/language groups).

Develop customer (retailer/distributor) segmentation, value propositions, and bespoke engagement programs for national retailers, wholesalers, convenience stores and spaza networks.

Ensure best-in-class shopper marketing and point-of-sale (POS) design tailored by channel and location.

Brand & communications

Define and protect brand equity: lead brand positioning, narrative, packaging architecture, tone of voice, visual identity and brand guidelines.

Lead large-scale brand equity campaigns and integrated ATL/BTL/TTL programs designed to build awareness, affinity and distinctiveness. Plan and execute multi-market campaigns with local nuances.

Oversee development and management of brand ambassadors and influencer programs across markets; set brief, selection criteria, KPIs and compliance standards for endorsements.

Establish crisis and reputation management plans and processes for rapid and aligned communications.

Digital, social & CRM

Own digital and social strategy: organic and paid social campaigns, content strategy, community management and creator partnerships that drive engagement, trial and UGC.

Build CRM, retention and loyalty programs (email, SMS, WhatsApp, app-based where applicable) with clear segmentation, lifecycle messaging and measurement.

Implement social listening and influencer impact measurement; convert insights into comms and product ideas.

Establish e-commerce presence strategy and partnerships for D2C, grocery e-commerce and marketplace channels.

New product development & portfolio management

Lead NPD pipeline: opportunity identification, concept testing, rapid prototyping, pricing and launch plans.

Manage SKU rationalisation to balance availability and operational simplicity; set SKU lifecycle rules and profitability thresholds.

Run voice-of-consumer testing, acceptability studies, A/B tests and iteratively improve product-market fit.

Pricing, promotions & commercial architecture

Set regional pricing strategies and elasticity models by market, channel and pack size; balance volume growth with margin protection.

Design promotional architecture (mechanical rules for discounts, BOGOF, multipacks, seasonal promos) consistent with brand equity and ROI targets.

Implement PDPs (price, discount, pack strategy) for spaza/township channels to encourage trial and repeat purchase while protecting brand image.

Coordinate trade funds, co-op marketing, and distributor/dealer incentive schemes with finance and sales governance.

Channel & distribution strategy

Build and execute strategies to expand availability and penetration in townships, informal retail (spazas), and peri-urban settlements. Specify sales/distribution models: direct distribution, sub-distributors, commission agents, micro-distribution, and last-mile partnerships.

Design go-to-market playbooks for different channel types including SKU mix, pricing, POS, urban route planning and micro-territories.

Work closely with distributors and key accounts to develop joint business plans, demand planning and fulfilment SLAs.

Lead programs to improve on-shelf availability, store share, merchandising standards, cold-chain or chillers rollout and outdoor branding.

Activation & point-of-sale

Define POS and merchandising standards, including shelf-talkers, posters, cold-room branding, gondola ends, floor decals and van branding.

Lead creative briefs and approval for OOH, experiential activations, sampling programs and in-store demos designed for high-impact trial in target channels.

Manage outdoor branding strategy (billboards, transit, market signage) for reach and frequency in tiered markets.

Data, analytics & insight

Establish KPIs and dashboards across brand, digital, trade, NPD and activation workstreams. Lead weekly/monthly business reviews with actionable insights.

Use data mining, retail and distributor scan data, shopper panels, price-monitoring, POS and social analytics to inform assortment, pricing, promotion and distribution decisions.

Use A/B tests, uplift modelling, attribution analysis and MMM (marketing mix modelling) where applicable to allocate budget optimally.

Forecasting & supply alignment

Work with demand planning and supply chain to produce market forecasts that include promo, seasonality and new launches.

Ensure go-to-market calendars are feasible operationally and minimize OOS and waste.

People & vendor management

Hire, mentor and develop marketing staff and manage external agencies (creative, media, PR, digital) and research partners.

Set SLAs, KPIs, and governance for agency partners; run quarterly performance reviews and retain a supplier scorecard.

Compliance & governance

Ensure marketing activities comply with local advertising, labelling and promotion regulations in all markets; manage product registration, labelling language requirements and claims substantiation.

Maintain responsible marketing principles for youth and alcohol/health-sensitive categories if applicable.

Financial accountability

Own regional marketing budget and spend optimization; forecast CAC, ROMI, LTV and ROI by campaign.

Deliver clear ROI attribution for major campaigns and continuous optimization of marketing spend efficiency.

Key performance indicators

Brand awareness and consideration (unaided and aided awareness).

Brand equity metrics: brand health score, Net Promoter Score (NPS), brand love/association indices.

Trial metrics: sampling-to-trial conversion rate, first purchase rate.

Repeat and retention metrics: repeat-purchase rate, purchase frequency, cohort retention.

Distribution and availability: numeric distribution, weighted distribution, on-shelf availability (OSA), out-of-stock rate.

Sales and commercial: market share (value/volume), revenue growth, gross margin, SKU profitability.

Digital & CRM: engagement rate, reach, CPM, CAC, conversion rate, email/SMS open & CTR, MQLs/DB growth.

Promotion effectiveness: uplift during promotion, promo ROI, cannibalization rate.

NPD outcomes: time-to-market, % of sales from NPD within 12 months.

Channel metrics: number of spaza outlets onboarded, township penetration, micro-territory performance.

Agency/vendor KPIs: on-time delivery, creative effectiveness scores, media ROI.

Forecast accuracy: forecast vs actual variance.

Required experience & skills

Experience 8+ years of progressive FMCG marketing leadership experience; minimum 5 years in senior/regional marketing roles.

Proven experience launching and scaling beverage brands or fast-moving consumer goods across Southern Africa or similar emerging markets.

Track record driving growth in formal and informal channels including township/spaza markets.

Experience managing multi-country marketing, regional brand architecture and cross-border go-to-market strategies.

Demonstrated success with consumer and shopper marketing, digital and social programs, NPD, pricing and promotional design.

Skills

Deep consumer & shopper insight capability; strong qualitative and quantitative research literacy.

Exceptional brand-building skills with a creative and strategic mindset.

Strong commercial acumen: pricing, promo, margin and P&L understanding.

Advanced data literacy: comfortable with analytics platforms, BI tools, segmentation, MMM and A/B testing.

Digital-first: hands-on experience with paid social, influencer marketing, community building and CRM (SMS/WhatsApp/email).

Excellent leadership and stakeholder management: cross-functional influence across sales, supply chain, legal and finance.

Strong negotiation and distributor/customer relationship management skills.

Practical knowledge of on-the-ground execution for outdoor branding, sampling, and POS rollouts.

Fluency in English; knowledge of local languages an advantage for certain markets.

Qualifications

Degree in Marketing, Business, Commerce or related field. MBA or post-grad in marketing preferred.

Certifications in digital marketing, analytics or shopper marketing advantageous.

Behaviours & attributes

Consumer-centric: always starts with the consumer and shopper insight.

Results-oriented with a test-and-learn mentality and appetite for rapid experimentation.

Culturally aware: adapts messaging and activation to local nuances and sensitivities.

Entrepreneurial and resourceful in emerging-market contexts.

Collaborative, decisive and comfortable with ambiguity.

Practical considerations

Willingness to travel regionally (frequent travel ~30–50%).

Experience working with third-party distributors and independent route-to-market partners.

Valid South African work permit / residency where applicable.

Key Drivers

Immersion — review portfolio, current plans, trade partners, agency contracts, baseline metrics and pipeline. Meet country leads and distributors; audit POS, OSA and brand assets in a few pilot stores.

Diagnosis — finalize consumer segmentation, identify top-3 growth levers per market, stabilise critical campaigns and fix urgent distribution/availability gaps.

Plan & Launch — present regional plan including NPD roadmap, promotion calendar, township push strategy, digital funnel and measurement framework. Begin pilot interventions in 1–2 townships/spaza clusters.

Key Requirements

High-impact brand awareness campaign in RSA with localised micro-campaigns for Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique.

Township & spaza penetration pilot: micro-distribution + micro-merchandising + retailer financing/small-promo bundles.

Social-first youth campaign using creators and TikTok/Instagram reels combined with experiential sampling.

Chilled-pack rollout: targeted cold-chain investments for high-potential outlets (sapphire chiller program).

NPD: one small-pack launch tailored to low-income/quantity-sensitive buyers with price elasticity testing.

Loyalty/CRM pilot via WhatsApp broadcast + vouchers for repeat purchase conversion.

Budget & resourcing

Recommend marketing budget allocation across channels: brand (ATL/BTL) 35–45%, digital/social 20–30%, trade/promotions 20–30%, shopper/activation 10–15%, research & NPD 5–10% (note overlap allowed). Final allocation should be driven by KPI priorities and ROMI testing.

Risks & mitigations

Risk: Promotional erosion of brand value. Mitigation: clear promo architecture and strict trade discount guidelines.

Risk: OOS in rapid expansion. Mitigation: tight distributor SLAs, improved forecasting and safety stock models.

Risk: Cultural mis-step in messaging across markets. Mitigation: local testing, country sign-off and use of local creative agencies.

Required tools & tech

BI and dashboards: Power BI / Tableau / Looker

Social and listening: Sprout Social / Brandwatch / Hootsuite

CRM: HubSpot / Salesforce / local SMS/WhatsApp platforms

Retail & distributor data: Nielsen/IRI (where available) and distributor POS systems

Project & asset management: Asana / Monday / Trello; Brandfolder for guidelines

A/B testing & analytics: Google Analytics / Meta analytics and UTM tagging frameworks

Diversity & inclusion

Promote diverse hiring across markets and inclusive marketing that reflects local cultures and languages. Ensure materials are accessible and compliant.

This role is both strategic and operational: we seek a leader who can own long-term brand equity while rolling sleeves up to get products into hands across complex, mixed-channel Southern African markets—especially townships and informal retail. The successful candidate will combine consumer empathy, data fluency, brand creativity and commercial rigour.