- Published on
THE COCA COLA COMPANY IS HRING
DIRECTOR, MARKETING, SOUTH AFRICA FRANCHISE
The Director, Marketing – South Africa is accountable for end-to-end marketing leadership within the market—driving sustainable brand growth, portfolio leadership, innovation, precision execution, and capability-building across Coca‑Cola’s priority brands.
Operating within the integrated OU ↔ Market model, this role blends strategic influence with pragmatic frontline execution—translating global and regional priorities into high-impact local programs that resonate with South African consumers, retail customers, and key partners.
This role demands expertise in consumer insights, commercial acumen, and digital-first approaches to execution, ensuring that marketing is a competitive accelerator for portfolio shaping, pricing strategy, and omnichannel engagement.
Scope & Impact
- Serve as the South Africa market marketing lead—accountable for portfolio strength, brand equity health, consumer engagement, pipeline delivery, and IMX orchestration.
- Lead Annual Business Plan (ABP) and influence Operating Unit Long-Range Plans (LRPs), anchoring strategies in affordability, cultural passion points, sustainability, and digital commerce realities.
- Own local execution for brand and innovation plans, including precision marketing flywheel routines and full-funnel IMX delivery.
- Drive system-wide alignment with bottling partners on capability deployment, joint scorecards, and operational readiness.
Key Responsibilities
1) Brand & Portfolio Leadership
- Translate OU category strategies into South Africa-specific brand plans with clear need-state, occasion, and consumer-job foundations.
- Lead Portfolio & Price Pack Architecture (PPA) to win across channels (Modern Trade, Traditional Trade, Away-From-Home, and Digital Commerce).
- Build cultural relevancy through activations tied to music, gaming, sport, and creator ecosystems aligned to local passion points and seasonal demand cycles.
2) ABP, Innovation & Renovation
- Lead ABP for priority brands to define portfolio choices, allocate investments, and lock innovation launches.
- Deliver End-to-End (E2E) innovation and renovation—from concept and commercialization to On-Time-In-Full (OTIF) market execution.
- Partner with technical and packaging teams to address returnable, affordability, and sustainability requirements critical to the South African context.
3) Consumer & Shopper Insights / Analytics
- Define consumer learning agendas incorporating first-party data, social listening, retail analytics, and brand tracking.
- Convert insights to action via growth hypotheses, agile test-and-learn pilots, and precision targeting strategies.
4) IMX & Precision Marketing
- Orchestrate full IMX across paid, owned, and earned touchpoints to ensure high-quality reach and creative effectiveness.
- Activate Studio X workflows, influencers, and creator networks for agile, mobile-first campaigns.
- Steward brand safety, creative compliance, and labelling governance across all platforms.
5) System & Customer Leadership
- Align with bottler leadership on joint business planning, calendar harmonization, and in-market routines.
- Partner with customers to drive joint value creation (shopper marketing, category leadership, retail media innovation).
- Collaborate with Commercial and RGM teams to drive NSR, margin mix, and optimized promo efficiency.
6) Performance, Governance & Capability Building
- Lead performance tracking dashboards for ABP execution, ROI, and creative quality metrics.
- Institutionalize flywheel operational cadences to accelerate decision-making and continuous improvement.
- Build marketing capability across insights, IMX, performance marketing, experimentation, and commercialization disciplines.
Experience & Critical Requirements
- 12+ years in marketing leadership roles spanning brand strategy, innovation, IMX orchestration, PPA, and commercial partnership.
- Frontline activation experience within complex systems (preferably FMCG in Africa).
- Deep understanding of South African consumer culture, retail landscapes, regulatory frameworks, and affordability-based portfolio design.
- Proven ability to embed digital and data at the core of marketing—from performance marketing to ROI-based investment decisions.
- Track record of leading multifunctional, matrixed teams with strong governance rigor and capability transformation.
- Strong financial literacy and commercial partnership experience with customers and bottlers.
Account Management, Business Development, Business Insights, Communication, Consultative Sales Management, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Customer Service Management, Decision Making, Leadership, Marketing, National Account Sales, Negotiation, Pitch Presentations, Results-Oriented, Sales Forecasting, Sales Management, Sales Process
Location(s): South Africa
City/Cities: Johannesburg
Travel Required: 00% – 25%
Relocation Provided: No
Job Posting End Date: September 22, 2026
Our Purpose and Growth Culture:
We are taking deliberate action to nurture an inclusive culture that is grounded in our company purpose, to refresh the world and make a difference. We act with a growth mindset, take an expansive approach to what’s possible and believe in continuous learning to improve our business and ourselves. We focus on four key behaviors – curious, empowered, inclusive and agile – and value how we work as much as what we achieve. We believe that our culture is one of the reasons our company continues to thrive after 130+ years. Visit Our Purpose and Vision to learn more about these behaviors and how you can bring them to life in your next role at Coca-Cola.
The Coca-Cola Company is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. If you are an individual with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation to assist with your job search or application for employment, please click here. You can also view our employment policies or if you have a question on fraudulent recruitment activity.
