Life as a Brand Manager

Have you ever wondered what life as a Brand Manager is really like? What does it take to get into brand management and to stay on top of the game?

In this context, we caught up with David Cuddihy, Head of Brand at James Read Tan, to give you a little more insight – if you are considering a career within Marketing or are planning on adding an expert Brand Manager to your team – you can find some first-hand perception right here.

ADLIB: In approx. 30 words, what does your role involve?

David: I’m responsible for implementing the global brand strategy, which involves defining and executing multiple campaigns, developing a new product development roadmap and go to market plans, working alongside PR and Creative agencies to deliver.

ADLIB: What do you like most about working in brand management?

David: I like developing the creative propositions and managing the operations to bring these to life. I work very closely with James, our excellent PR Team and our customers, such as QVC to execute the brand strategy.

Also, it can be very glamorous working within the beauty industry, you have opportunities to work alongside key influencers, bloggers/vloggers and high profile celebrities. I have to organise video shoots for promotional product launches, so work closely with different modelling agencies to select the most appropriate models that best reflect the brand values.

ADLIB: From your perspective, what are the top 3 skills it takes to succeed as a Brand Manager specifically?

David:
1. Turning Insight into Action
Be able to analyse customer behaviour data and use primary research for insights, which will lead to better products, propositions and campaigns. This should be your starting point whenever you are planning your growth strategy for the brand and identifying any new opportunities.

2. Storytelling
Need to bring the brand to life through engaging and inspirational stories via integrated multiple channels. It’s important to have that human element in every brand that resonates with people and demonstrate how you can add value to their everyday lives.

3. Commercialisation
To stand out from the crowd you need to balance your creative skills with commercial abilities. You’ll need to demonstrate how your creative efforts are adding value to your customers and how this converts to actual brand profitability by using a mix of different metrics and KPIs to measure performance.

ADLIB: Finally, what top tip would you give someone to ensure that their skills and industry knowledge remains top-notch?

David: Fully immerse yourself into key markets to grasp the presence of your brand and how it is being perceived by customers. Knowing this is essential for any marketing campaigns and to understand what types of brand messaging is most effective.

One way to immerse into your target markets is to study the media your customers consume. The best way to see whether your message is compelling is to look at it from a customer perspective.

After you’ve immersed yourself in customer-centred media and conversations, you’ll have a better perspective when looking at your brand messaging and remember to always remain agile as customer behaviours are constantly changing all-the-time.

Thanks so much for sharing!