Description
The Director of Brand Management owns Walk-On's brand positioning and leads the planning, integration and performance of brand campaigns and priority cross-functional initiatives. The role drives comp sales growth, strengthens brand equity and ensures consistent execution of the Walk-On's brand across the system, working within the overall marketing strategy set by the Head of Marketing.
This position builds and owns the brand campaign calendar and the brand health tracker, leads Walk-On's PR, social and creative agencies, and partners closely with Digital Marketing, Field Marketing, Operations and Culinary to turn guest insights into integrated campaigns. The Director also leads and develops the Brand Manager.
Key Responsibilities:
1. Integrated Brand Campaign Leadership
• Develop and manage the annual brand campaign calendar aligned to sports seasonality, the LTO roadmap and beverage partnerships.
• Define clear KPIs for each campaign (sales lift, guest frequency, attachment rates and awareness metrics).
• Lead cross-functional campaign planning across Operations, Culinary, Digital Marketing, Media and Field Marketing, ensuring integrated execution across channels.
• Develop LTO strategies that support campaigns, bringing in beverage, food and alcohol partners to activate as needed.
• Partner closely with Guest Insights & Analyitics on menu optimization and guest insights, translating findings into LTO strategy, campaign themes and Core Menu initiatives.
• Conduct post-campaign performance reviews and identify optimization opportunities.
2. Brand Strategy & Positioning
• Own and evolve Walk-On's brand positioning, value proposition and messaging pillars, informed by consumer insights and aligned to the overall marketing strategy set by the VP, Head of Brand and Marketing.
• Ensure all campaigns and initiatives align with Walk-On's brand positioning and messaging pillars.
• Partner with the creative agency to maintain consistency across in-restaurant, digital, PR and POP materials.
• Set the brand narrative and content strategy for organic social and system communications.
3. Brand Amplification, Partnerships & PR
• Lead strategy and coordination for Scholarships and the Game On Foundation.
• Guide the strategic role of the brand's sponsorship portfolio, including major collegiate partnerships, in campaigns and brand amplification.
• Develop 1-2 annual brand collaborations aligned to growth priorities.
• Lead PR, social and creative agencies, including scope, briefing, budget and performance evaluation.
4. Priority Brand Initiatives
• Lead cross-functional execution of major brand initiatives (e.g., uniform program, Core Menu, conference management).
• Define objectives, timelines and success metrics for each initiative.
• Ensure initiatives are delivered on time and aligned to brand standards.
• Identify opportunities to improve guest perception and brand clarity.
5. Performance Accountability
• Steward the brand campaign and priority initiative budgets, including oversight of sponsorship investment.
• Develop and own a Walk-On's brand health tracker (awareness, consideration, perception and brand clarity), establishing the baseline and reporting cadence.
• Own the review of brand campaign portfolio performance and KPIs to derive insights for future planning.
• Identify opportunities to optimize messaging, timing or channel integration based on campaign results.
• Document key learnings from each campaign and apply them to future brand activations.
• Lead and present quarterly brand performance reviews, including brand health results, to the leadership team.
6. People Management
• Lead and develop the Brand Specialist or Manager, setting clear priorities, goals and performance expectations aligned to the brand calendar and priority initiatives.
• Direct and oversee execution of franchisee and system communications (including the weekly newsletter), organic social and cross-functional campaign coordination.
• Provide ongoing coaching, feedback and performance reviews, and build a career development path within the brand team.
• Other duties and projects as assigned.
Requirements
Qualifications:
• Bachelor's degree in marketing, business or a related field. MBA preferred.
• 8+ years of brand marketing experience, including experience managing direct reports and agency partners.
• Brand marketing experience in a multi-unit restaurant, hospitality or retail brand, preferably within a franchised system.
• Proven track record leading integrated, multi-channel campaigns from planning through post-campaign analysis, with measurable sales results.
• Experience managing PR, creative and/or social agencies, including scope, briefing and budget.
• Experience building LTO and promotional calendars; beverage or CPG partnership experience (preferred).
• Experience building or managing brand health tracking.
• Sports, collegiate partnership or cause marketing experience.
Skills and Competencies:
• Strong brand strategy and positioning skills, with the judgment to translate strategy into executable campaigns.
• Exceptional cross-functional leadership and project management; keeps multiple initiatives on time and on brand.
• Analytical mindset: comfortable setting KPIs, reading campaign and guest insight data, and turning results into recommendations.
• Strong verbal, written and presentation skills, including presenting to senior leadership and franchise partners.
• Ability to manage budgets effectively and pivot when necessary to achieve business objectives.
• Ability to coach and develop team members and to guide agency partners.
• Skilled at building relationships with franchisees, internal partners, agencies and external brand partners.
• Proficiency in PowerPoint, Excel and Word.
Working Environment:
Office-Based: Work is performed on-site at our headquarters in Atlanta.
Travel Requirement:
Up to 20%, including restaurant visits, partner and sponsorship events, Foundation activations and conferences.
