The Gist

This key leadership role will be a steward of the Lagunitas brand, responsible for overseeing global creative and communications. The Senior Brand Director is responsible for the brand health and growth of the overall Lagunitas portfolio, including Core Beers, Specialty / Seasonal beers, Beyond Beer, and non-alcoholic products. They lead consumer marketing / commercial efforts through strategic planning, programming development, execution/implementation, and analysis of existing products and innovation

This leadership role has a strong emphasis on project and people management, as they will manage a team of brand managers and associates in the management of marketing activities including integrated campaigns (media, digital/social, event/experiential, sampling). Additionally, they will provide strategic priorities / direction, and budgetary guidance for other marketing teams including Insights & Innovation, Trade Marketing, Retail / TapRoom marketing.

The ideal candidate would be a strong leader, strategic, business savvy, passionate about craft beer and building brands, and have strong multitasking abilities. They will have strong analytical skills, financial skills, and people skills – able to wrangle many different functions and set a clear course.

This key role will be a steward of our brand, responsible for leading and steering all aspects of brand marketing.

What You’ll Do

Strategic Brand Plan Development and Execution: (50% time allocation)

• Partners closely with CMO to provide leadership, strategic direction and vision for Lagunitas positioning and creative

• Fosters a culture that inspires creativity, collaboration and innovation

• Partners with CMO and strategy team to develop the positioning for all Lagunitas’ brand and product initiatives

• Oversees the development of break through creative and activation ideas that align to the brand mission, connect authentically with consumers, and ensure consistency of brand voice and visual identity across all channels

• Lead the development of the annual brand plan and budget recommendation based on market data and relevant brand / consumer insights

• Work cross-functionally (Sales, Legal, Supply Chain, Communications, etc.) to ensure solid implementation of agreed plan

• Partner with Insights & Innovation team to develop the positioning for Lagunitas’ brand and product initiatives, and on primary and secondary consumer research to develop appropriate brand developments / innovation required for growth of brand equity and performance

• Leads the strategic rationale and presentation for all major brand initiatives, providing direction to in-house teams/departments (media/communications, events, customer marketing, creative) as well as external agencies (media, PR, creative).

• Oversee the development of break-through creative ideas that align to the brand mission, connect authentically with current and future consumers, and ensures consistency of brand voice and visual identity across all channels

• Partners with Marketing Leadership Team Peers (Customer Marketing, Creative, Innovation and Retail) to develop multi-channel programs that drive brand awareness and sales

  
  

Analytic and Financial Oversight:

• Via management of Brand Managerm ABMs, monitor and evaluate results/impact to brand performance

• Oversee budgeting, forecasting / phasing of budget, reconciliation.

• Recommend budget shifts across portfolio or programming based on brand/market performance or opportunities

• Proven experience in consumer research and analytics

  
  

Commercial Strategy and Execution: (20% time allocation)

• Via management of Brand Manager & ABMs, monitor on-going business and competitive analyses and provide findings and recommendations for corrective action where appropriate to CMO and Lagunitas LT

• Oversee the ongoing analysis of category, competitive and consumer trends

• Oversee marketing projects through all stages, ensuring that work is delivered on time and regularly reports the status of projects to the team

• Lead the management of business relationships with agencies and vendors

• Develop scopes of work as needed for external agency support

• Identify, brief and lead in-house creative team, agency partners and freelancers on brand initiatives

• Ensure implementation of approved plan on time and ensure quality of execution

• Strong ability to analyze price and product positioning vs category

• Knowledge and proven leadership with Sales team and specific channel accounts in the US market

• Partnership / interaction with sales operations, sales force, and on occasion, key distributor personnel in support of sales efforts and execution of marketing programs.

  
  

People Management: (20% time allocation)

• Manage, coach, and develop a team of BM, ABM and Associates to success in roles

• Cross-functional team Management with key internal groups including legal, creative, customer marketing, communications, finance, and production as required.

• Fosters a culture that inspires creativity, collaboration and innovation

• Develop best practices to improve execution

  
  

Brand Ambassador: (10% time allocation)

• Serve as an effective and eloquent ambassador for Lagunitas, professionally representing the brand at key internal and external events (i.e. distributor visits, trade events, sales meetings, association meetings, etc.).

• Visit key markets in support of market blitzes, new product launches, surveys, etc. and report brand and competitive findings as well as any market driven recommendations to management team

  
  

What We’re Lookin’ For

• A minimum of 10 years of brand management experience at a high-profile brand.

• Ideally craft beer and/or counter-culture lifestyle brand experience, as well as CPG

• Knowledge and experience with of a wide range of marketing functions: traditional advertising/media, digital/social media/marketing, experiential, sampling shopper/retail, public/media relations.

• Proven ability to think strategically, creatively, and executionally in developing marketing strategies, tactics and initiatives

• Deep understanding of developments in technology and the social media space. Ability to appropriately apply this knowledge to our overall communications strategy

• Experience managing integrated teams (in house or agency)

• Proven leader with the drive to learn and thrive in a high-growth, dynamic and entrepreneurial environment

• Demonstrated capacity to cultivate strong relationships within and outside the organization

• Love of dogs is optional, but tolerance of dogs is mandatory

  
  

Key Relationships

• Reports to Chief Marketing Officer

• Collaborates with cross functional marketing partners to ensure consistent execution across every platform

  
  

Physical Requirements

• Typical office environment (by Lagunitas standards)

• Hybrid work policy: Required to be in the Petaluma office at least 3x per week in order to foster collaboration and serve as a culture carrier for the organization

• Occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds

• Travel approximately 20% per year