Sr. Director, Brand Strategy and Partnerships

Scope:

The Senior Director of Brand Marketing will be expected to drive the development and evolution of our service brands in robust growth categories developing and overseeing programs that bring our brands to life, measure the health of the brands overall and pursue the right brand partnerships to extend our reach. Most notably this role will be a pivotal driver in the evolution of the Anytime Fitness brand as we migrate from a “D-I-Y” gym franchise to a comprehensive ‘coaching’ service model.

This candidate should have the right mix of strategy development experience, brand vision, creative articulation and a proven ability to prioritize and activate marketing initiatives that drive business impact.

The candidate will help balance the immediate needs of franchisees with the future development of the business and brand efforts.

To be successful in this position you need to embrace an ability to move fast, iterate and always be adding value. The successful candidate will be: tenacious, open, imaginative, precise, analytically inclined, and curious, with a proven ability to use data to identify insights and build compelling stories, ask and answer different and difficult questions, inspire and support creative teams with data, evaluate work, learn and adapt quickly. An ideal candidate has an Agency background and accustomed to client service with pragmatic business sense.

This role oversees Brand Managers, Public Relations and Creative Services for all brands under the SEB portfolio, and reports directly to the CMO.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Provide leadership and guidance to brand managers and creative teams on all marketing efforts; Manage and grow team of talented direct reports 
• Develop and oversee programs and initiatives that bring the Anytime Fitness and Waxing the City brand to life and extend brand reach; Responsibilities include annual business strategic planning and marketing strategy of these brand programs based on consumer insights; Programs can include annual campaigns, social good programs, offline events and sponsorships, branded activations, surprise and delight initiatives, customer engagement activities, and more. 
• Develop a deep understanding of AF and WTCs target consumer and become his/her advocate across company initiatives, working in close collaboration with the Operations and research teams. 
• Develop sharply focused creative briefs and deliver inspiring creative briefings; collaborate and support creative teams before and after the briefing 
• Clear and compelling presentation of strategies and ideas to senior stakeholders grounded in data and consumer needs 
• Development of best in class creative across channels, working with both internal creative team and external agency resources. 
• Collaborate with creative, business, Analytics and Digital leaders to devise strategies that inspire and change behaviors, and shape and mold the work product as it is developed. 
• Collaborate with Franchisee leadership to ensure alignment on vision and readiness for change Direct ad funds/ marketing budgets to optimize return for Franchisees 
• Develop and execute influencer marketing strategy in collaboration with PR team 
• Pursue and assess partnership and sponsorship opportunities to strengthen brand positioning and reach 
• Partner with the digital teams to infuse the Anytime Fitness and Waxing the City brands into the site experience; lead holistic campaigns to market key site features and functionality that advance the brands value proposition to prospects and customers. 
• Serve as AF and WTC brand advocate by developing brand toolkits, representing the brand perspective in working groups company-wide, and socializing the brand guidelines with cross-functional stakeholders to ensure that campaigns and programs bring to life AF and WTC’s value proposition and maintain AF and WTC’s brand guidelines. 
• Partner closely with the media, advertising, and analytics teams to define and track brand campaign performance metrics to ensure a high level of effectiveness and impact. 
• Willingly rolls up your sleeves to work hands-on at a tactical level, while still focusing on the big picture strategy

Job Qualifications:

• 10-15 years of marketing, brand strategy, consulting, or brand management experience; service brand, agency, and franchise experience a plus. 
• Excellent strategic thinking skills with strong intuition around what it takes to build a great, lasting brand. 
• Experience managing a team 
• Excellent communication, project management, and organizational skills, with a high attention to detail. 
• Proven analytical skills and the ability to work with data to understand performance, forecast program impact, optimize programs, drive decisions, and measure high-impact user acquisition and retention outcomes. 
• Must be an independent, strategic, and creative thinker who is a strong team player (no job is too small or too large) and willing to take on additional responsibilities as necessary 
• Creative and collaborative team player who can work with multiple stakeholder groups, influence decisions, and work under pressure in fast-paced environment. 
• Thrive on creating new process and navigating in uncharted waters. 
• MBA a plus