Head of Marketing- India

POSITION : Marketing Head, IndiaREPORTS TO     : Direct line reporting to Commercial Director, General Mills India Foods    Functional reporting to Marketing Director, Global Emerging Markets      

1. KEY PURPOSE

General Mills is a $ 20 Bln Global Foods company with iconic Brands like Cheerio's, Betty Crocker, Haagen Dazs, Pillsbury. The India Business is about $ 150 mm. The opportunity is large and India is a Priority growth market. The business currently has 3 large parts

1. B2B: Which about 50% of the business an consists of servicing a large universe of 15,000 customers with Cake Premixes, where we are a market leader with well established credentials of trust in product and team.
2. Retail: Which is about 25% of business, which is 85% Pillsbury Atta which has a selective GT distribution in South India and in MT & Ecomm. 15% of the business is Cake mixes, Pancake mixes and a imported portfolio of Haagen Dazs ice creams and Nature Valley energy bars.
3. Exports: Which is about 25% of business and consist of Atta exports to the Indian Diaspora across the world where we have very well established product and distribution with abut 35% market share.

This is a critical Brand Marketing Leadership role for a rapidly growing country, in Top 10 focus, for General Mills globally. This position will lead Category , Brand & Product Strategy. Play an active role in the development of the business strategy for all 3 of Units – Retail, Exports and B2B Food Service. The role involves building the business for strong double digit growth today and for unlocking accelerated growth for the future, across the Business Units. The position works closely with the India Commercial Director and Regional Marketing Director, and with India Finance, R&D and Sales Heads and is key member of the India leadership team.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Build for Now: core innovation, developing marketing strategy and communication, building annual plans and delivering quality in-market execution across the entire portfolio – leading to brand volume, value, share growth; and deliver profit.
• Build for Future: white space identification, experimentation, brand equity and portfolio development
• Build 3 year Innovation Strategy across Business Segments that enable delivery of 3 year operating plan and vision. Lead with a structured approach to innovation that enables category, share and profit growth – balancing short and long term.
• Lead the India Marketing function working across B2C and B2B business units, including e-commerce marketing. Play a pivotal role in hiring, developing, retaining marketing talent – to grow into future marketing leadership roles.
• Be the 'voice of consumer and customer' while communicating product priorities to R&D and consumer insights teams.
• Build continuous awareness, discoverability of all brands and expand consumption occasions through brand activation.
• Partner with creative and media agencies to develop and execute effective and efficient brand activation campaigns.
• Collaborate with the Sales & Trade Marketing teams to develop and deploy go-to-market strategies by brand and by channel for each business unit. Ensure successful and timely launches with activation excellence.
• Develop e-commerce marketing strategies and quarterly demand generation campaigns to achieve business objectives.
• Monitor and mentor cross-functional teams on the use of sales and brand data to drive business decisions.
• Partner with India leadership team to develop critical top talent for future leadership roles within General Mills India.
• Unlock opportunities for India business internally and externally by crafting a compelling vision for investment & growth.
• Partner with R&D, Supply chain and Finance to evaluate capital decisions to unlock white space category growth.
• Develop Top Customer Marketing Programs for B2B, Modern Trade, eCommerce, focused on business development.

1. KEY INTERFACES

Internal

• India Commercial Director
• India Leadership – closely work with Functional Heads (B2C and B2B Sales, R&D, Supply Chain, Finance)
• Regional Leadership (Global Emerging Markets)
• Regional Marketing Director
• Regional Consumer Insights

External

• Advertising and PR agency
• Media agency
• In-store/POS agency

1. KEY CAPABILITIES

• Around 10 years of overall experience in Sales and Marketing.
• Leadership experience, owning either country or category P&L exceeding 100$m, leading a team.
• India FMCG marketing experience is a must. Experience in Food & Beverage is an advantage, but not required.
• Experience in B2B FMCG, and/or in South India Retail, and/or in eCommerce focused brands are an advantage.
• Consumer focused - able to think intuitively about consumer needs and beliefs, and ability to demonstrate examples of real consumer insights.
• Commercially minded - Strong business acumen, strategic thinking, analytical rigour, able to think laterally to identify solutions.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills - able to communicate ideas and learnings concisely.
• Excellent project management skills - Able to plan effectively, to handle complex project networks and implementation.
• Skilled at leading cross-functional teams and in managing multiple stakeholders across organization levels and functions in a matrixed international organization.

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