Job Description:The Sr Manager, Sports Marketing Brand Strategy - A&F is responsible for leading the strategy, planning and execution of our sports partnerships and initiatives. This role plays a pivotal part in shaping our brand presence through high-impact collaborations with athletes, teams, leagues, and sports organizations to create culturally relevant, fashion focused brand moments. This role will deliver brand campaign strategies that connect with the customer, while balancing product priorities, brand storytelling and sales objectives into customer-facing campaigns, and delivering upon our brand purpose to create consumer trust, loyalty and brand love. While this role technically sits within the world of sport, the ideal candidate for this position has a passion for fashion and its role in culture, with a strong interest in how sport & fashion intersect to shape consumer behavior and brand relevance.
This job is located at our Global Home Office in Columbus, Ohio.
What Will You Be Doing? - Responsible for developing the year-long, seasonal, and weekly sports marketing calendar, leading work sessions with creative partners, and presenting plans to cross-functional teams and leadership.
- Lead the day-to-day development and execution of all sports marketing partnerships, including athlete, league, and event collaborations.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external peers and partners to align partnership goals and maximize impact.
- Manage end-to-end activation plans for sports partnerships-briefing, creative development, timelines, budget oversight, execution and performance tracking.
- Collaborate with internal Talent, PR, Social, and Creative teams to bring sports partnerships to life across all channels.
- Partner closely with the Brand Strategy team to maintain a deep understanding of the product and campaign calendar, ensuring sports marketing initiatives are seamlessly integrated into the broader brand narrative and deliver a cohesive customer experience.
- Manage external agency partners in strategy and execution of campaigns and events.
- Connect with regional marketing leads to ensure they have the tools and plans necessary to adapt to their markets and incorporate regional needs into planning processes.
- Track the success of regional marketing efforts within key markets to ensure global implementation of key learnings.
- Oversee one direct report (Events Specialist), ensuring flawless execution of all sports-related events and appearances.
- Monitor and analyze performance, ensure KPIs are met/exceeded, and provide insights and recommendations for future initiatives.
- Stay ahead of fashion & sport industry trends, identifying new opportunities and partners that align with brand objectives. Works to develop new and unique ways to authentically get in front of core demographic.
- Understands and constantly re-evaluates the customer mindset and regional brand needs to solidify brand relevancy and build effective campaigns that put customers at the center.
- Deeply understands brand and merchant priorities, and can translate those into business-driven, customer-centric marketing campaigns.
- Responsible for engaging in and leading brand partnership conversations as appropriate.
- Continually evaluates processes and ways to find efficiency.
- Key performance measurements: delivers positive brand health measures, creates global marketing alignment, can pull actionable insights out of research and information, showcases strong cross-functional partnership, has presence and can command a room, has strong presentation skills, is a champion for the greater team and brand.
- Key partners: Marketing Channel Strategists, Marketing Operations, Marketing Creative, Merchandising, Data & Analytics, Research & Insights, Global Promotions, Visual Merchandising, Legal, Corporate Philanthropy, Diversity and Inclusion, Corporate Communications.
What Do You Need To Bring? - Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Fashion Merchandising, or a related field, or related experience.
- 7+ years of experience in Marketing Brand Strategy.
- Deep passion for fashion, style, and consumer culture, with a strong understanding of the trends, brands, and cultural moments shaping the industry.
- A passion for sports and understanding of the sports media landscape.
- Exceptional executive presence and communication skills, with the ability to confidently engage, influence, and present recommendations to senior leadership.
- Proven experience managing partnerships and working with talent representation.
- Strong project management skills with the ability to juggle multiple high-profile campaigns simultaneously.
- Strong inter-departmental coordination skills.
- High attention to detail, organization, and time management.
- Experience in a fast paced, multi-channel retail environment is a preferred.
- Global perspective and international experience a plus.
- Analytical and highly motivated, with the ability to thrive in a fluid and demanding environment
- Strong conceptual analytical skills.
- Supervisory experience preferred.
