Company Description: Instinct® is a rapidly growing, family-owned marketer and manufacturer of science-based 100% natural pet food for dogs and cats. Instinct® is the Raw Brand, with a mission to get more raw nutrition into every bowl of dogs and cats, for proven healthier and happier long lives. Our company mission is to Empower people to transform the lives of pets. We are committed to hiring and developing a team of passionate, performance-oriented professionals who live by our 4 values of championing raw, empowered to make a difference, collaborating as one team, and striving for excellence through continuous learning and improvement. Our home office is located in St. Louis, Missouri with our Center of Excellence Raw Food kitchens in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Instinct® is part of the family-owned group, Agrolimen, who owns leading pet food and human food businesses in the US, China, Europe, and Africa.
Position Summary: This proven Marketing Leader will drive Instinct® household penetration and market share to create one of the leading brands in North America. This individual will manage a best in industry brand team who will keep an active pulse on the category, competition, and the needs of our Progressive Pet Parents. This strategic thinker is responsible for Instinct Brand Equity Value Proposition, ensuring the vitality of the Instinct portfolio and articulation of our 6P strategy guidelines. They will brief and collaborate closely with Brand Communications to deliver ‘always on’ integrated marketing communications, impacting up and down the purchase funnel. Additionally, this Brand creator will plan and execute a continuous stream of brand renovation and work closely with the Brand Innovation team and Retail Marketing to bring disruptive innovation to market. As the leader of our Commercial Process, they will manage the effective implementation of the annual commercial plan and monthly performance tracking. They will lead the cross functional team with evidence-based analytics which aligns external metrics with internal financial metrics to deliver profitable revenue growth.
Primary Job Responsibilities:
Be the Instinct Brand Champion. Make it a leading premium Pet Food Brand.
Lead and own the annual brand planning process, with oversight of the total commercial spending priorities and optimal allocation between retail to consumer demand activation.
Lead and own the Instinct integrated business planning and execution process, with management of the monthly brand/sales performance review meeting and follow up actions
Lead business analytics process with ownership of 3rd party POS and Household panel and managing the team to regularly publish insights which feed and shape the brand strategy responses.
Lead and provide consistent coaching, feedback, and career development to our talented and passionate marketing team
Own and define the Brand Proposition and ensure its effective translation in the physical and emotional attributes of all touchpoints
Briefing Brand Communications to deliver compelling IMC programs, with agile execution and monitoring effectiveness with active optimization.
Brand Portfolio Management including ensuring its vitality and planning necessary refreshes and relaunches.
Pricing Management with regular tracking vs key competitors and owning the selling price increase process with pricing elasticity and optimizations.
Tight and productive collaborative relationships with Retail Marketing to align on synergistic execution of the brand at POP.
Active leadership of the Product Claims process, integrating our science of raw insights to ensure Instinct always delivers the most salient and competitive claims on all key touchpoints.
Personal Attributes:
Business ownership mindset
Insight driven, deep understanding pet needs, pet parents desires from their pet food and how to effectively position Instinct as the solution
Proven Brand Creator and experience in driving brand awareness, consideration, and loyalty
Team player, as a key member of the Commercial Leadership Team, ability to create positive working relationships and the environment that people can confidently express their point of view.
Disciplined planner with ability to ruthlessly prioritize with a focus on critical business impact.
Analytical based on decision making but not seeking perfect information. Ability to balance sound intuition with solid data and clear rationale.
High level of curiosity, engaged and widely read and inform on the category, consumer and pet ownership trends
Strong people development and coaching skills to allow people to be the best version of themselves, creating a pipeline of future leaders.
Outstanding communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate recommendations in a respectful and fearless manner.
Highly competitive, with the strong will to win against the competition.
Disciplined project management executional excellence
Strong organizational skills with ability to prioritize and focus on outcomes.
Preferred Experience
Bachelor’s Degree or higher (MBA preferred)
Minimum of 10 years of marketing experience influencing all elements of the marketing mix (product, positioning, packaging, pricing, promotion, and distribution) in high growth environments
Proven track record in building brand with staying power, preferably within CPG
Ability to leverage consumer insights and behavioral analytics to connect external metrics with internal metrics to prove effectiveness and scale success
High proficiency with Excel, PowerPoint, and Word
Travel Requirements:
Requires travel up to 20% of the time.
Compensation and Benefits
Highly competitive compensation package includes health and dental insurance, life and AD&D insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings account, short and long-term disability, paid time off, Purpose Days off for company partner volunteer opportunities, and 401k with company match.
Our Instinct is to CHAMPION Diversity
At Instinct, we are as passionate about our people as we are about the pets we call family. We are committed to inclusion, empowerment, and respect. We believe that just like our pets, what sets us apart unleashes our greatest strengths. We thrive on the ability to not only empower people to transform the lives of pets through raw nutrition, but also to empower each other to inspire a culture that celebrates our differences. Our unique approach to pet food is what makes us who we are as a company, and our individual identities are what makes us a successful, innovative, authentic team.
