Innovation Commercialization Manager

ROLE PURPOSE

This team is tasked with the responsibility of delivering business growth and recruitment of new consumers in the next years through brilliant execution of new insights that delight consumers and are compelling to trade partners. This team plays a critical role in crafting the future of the business; delivering innovations that respond to consumer and customer needs, setting trends, redefining, and crafting the choices available to our consumers.

The role will be accountable for the commercialization of allocated projects in support of the Diageo innovation agenda in South Africa by building channel specific innovation and category execution guidelines and standards plus collaborating with the sales team to guide and ensure brilliant execution.

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• Establishing competitive advantage through Innovation and customer marketing expertise, demonstrating operational excellence.
• Ensuring integration of Innovations into the commercial planning calendar, aligning with strategic objectives; develop commercial plans and collaborate to secure commercial alignments required for successful launches.
• Driving flawless planning and execution through the Brilliant Execution Process, supporting transformational change initiatives; deliver the tools and execution materials required to drive world class innovations commercial execution.
• Developing a comprehensive understanding of channel outlet profiles to drive commercial standards implementation. Leverage market trends and internal opportunities to develop effective innovation channel plans.
• Leveraging strong analytical skills to uncover insights, track progress, implement corrective action and deliver against business KPIs.
• Tracking and evaluating point of purchase execution against well-defined scorecard metrics (distribution, visibility, share of shelf, merchandising guidelines, pricing, etc.) ensuring we deliver on time every time to our customers.

• Stakeholder engagements, i.e., managing stakeholders across functions (CR, Supply, Commercial, etc.) and leadership (GMs, HODs, field team, etc.)
• Be a self-starter who can collaborate effectively and deliver results through a team-oriented approach.
• Logical thinking, methodical and a pragmatic problem-solving style that can navigate through organizational barriers and complexities.

• Suitable degree
• Valid Driver's license

• Minimum 8 years of experience in sales and/or customer marketing/trade marketing areas with a clear understanding of how sales organizations operate and how to drive its effectiveness.