Director, Harman Kardon Global Brand Lead (Stamford)

A Career at HARMAN
As a technology leader that is rapidly on the move, HARMAN is filled with people who are focused on making life better. Innovation, inclusivity and teamwork are a part of our DNA. When you add that to the challenges we take on and solve together, you’ll discover that at HARMAN you can grow, make a difference and be proud of the work you do every day.

Introduction: A Career at HARMAN Lifestyle

We’re a global, multi-disciplinary team that’s putting the innovative power of technology to work and transforming tomorrow. As a member of HARMAN Lifestyle, you connect consumers with the power of superior sound.

• Contribute your talents to high-end, esteemed brands like JBL, Mark Levinson and Revel
• Unite your passion for audio innovation with high-tech product development
• Create pitch-perfect, cutting-edge technology that elevates the listening experience

About the Role

The Global Brand Lead for Harman Kardon is responsible for leading the development and execution of the Harman Kardon 3-year and annual growth plan. This plan will be designed to grow the business and brand equity of Harman Kardon in the consumer audio space to maximize its growth potential in the car audio space. The role will direct the way the brand comes to life around the world through global campaigns, websites, partnerships, and more.

With the introduction of a new licensing model agreement across Lifestyle and Automotive, this role will be instrumental in establishing and chairing the Harman Kardon Brand Committee to position the brand across Consumer and Car Audio, guide the growth of the brand in Consumer Audio, assist the Car Audio team to meet their pursuits / support current customers, and to ensure a connective thread between the businesses in brand positioning and brand role within the portfolio.

Additionally, the role will lead all global consumer advertising and ensure brand communication is optimized across the web and all consumer touchpoints—driving awareness, consideration, and sales.

Your Team

This role will have 1 Direct HARMAN report (Brand Manager) and manage various 3rd party agencies.

What You Will Do

HARMAN KARDON BRAND COMMITTEE

• Develop and implement a Harman Kardon brand management model to act as best-in-class principles; this new-to-HARMAN model will be leveraged and expanded to other brands, to improve and transform how HARMAN develops, nurtures, and protects brands and establish a new brand management way-of-working.
• Establish and chair the Harman Kardon Brand committee to build business recommendations and facilitate/partner on decision-making impacting both divisions, to ensure success of the new licensing model agreement between Lifestyle and Automotive
• Execute against a regular meeting cadence to ensure transparency and act as a tool for issue/challenge resolution.
• Partner closely with senior business/division leaders (Consumer and Car Audio BU and Division Presidents) as well as sales, business development, insights, regional and divisional marketing leadership, to grow Harman Kardon equity globally to maximize returns.
• Ideate and execute the long-term strategic Harman Kardon growth plan; working with the divisional strategy teams to identify the most attractive where to play opportunities (geographies, product, consumers, and channels) to drive the brands growth ambitions.
• Create the global brand positioning, core brand idea, and executional guardrails, working with applicable stakeholders (insights, regional marketing teams, Lifestyle Marketing Lead).
• Prove the brand is driving incremental growth (minimizing cannibalization) and occupies the space best suited to driving equity for both divisions.

HARMAN KARDON GLOBAL MARKETING

• Develop the 3-year brand growth plan to meet the business goals for the brand across both Lifestyle and Automotive; align organization and business leaders on the budget allocation by market.
• Lead the development of annual global marketing plans for Harman Kardon, collaborating with the BU and regions to create comprehensive launch plans that include advertising creative, activation ideas and other core assets; drive a 360 integrated activation plan, for which global will be responsible for Above-the-Line marketing and guiding regions to activate Below-the-Line marketing.
• Lead global creative & campaign development in line with the HARMAN Communication Development best practice way; drive agency to deliver a breakthrough creative idea; maintain fidelity to vision while overseeing the full process through production and asset distribution; responsibilities include the management of agencies managing organic & paid content, creative production, development of monthly content calendars, community engagement and management and reporting.
• Engage, inspire and galvanize the organization around the brand expression, strategy and purpose, so regional marketers, ecomm, Car Audio, and other partners are clear in bringing them to life in their areas of functional expertise. Serve as internal change agent and champion for rich brand content creation.
• Lead and manage advertising $20+ million ATL budgets globally; ensure strong ROI through impactful global creative, effective media and activations, and fit-to-purpose partnerships.
• Partner with regional marketing teams to ensure that the execution of the BTL plans are consistent with business objectives and priorities and planned into regional calendars. Align Global Marketing and regional plans and programs, set KPIs and measure and communicate post-campaign learnings.
• Build and execute Global Go-To-Market team strategies and plans to ensure that all launches are consistent with the aligned portfolio role, global brand positioning, core brand idea, and executional guardrails.
• Own & Manage Digital Marketing and Brand Storytelling across all consumer touchpoints (website, social media, digital, etc.).

HARMAN KARDON AUTOMOTIVE SUPPORT

• Support and inform marketing activities in the Automotive space to ensure compliance with portfolio role and strategy and consistency with the business goals.
• Demonstrate business value of Consumer Audio brand building activities to our Automotive customer to validate the licensing fee.

What You Need to Be Successful

• A minimum of 15 years of similar or related work experience within consumer electronics or related industry, with a powerful vision for how brands can become best in class, and the tenacity to pioneer cross-functional ways of working and break through organizational siloes to achieve superior outcomes.
• Experience marketing brands that stretch across categories, with expertise related to brand licensing and the nuances and dynamics of working across businesses/companies to establish agreed KPIs and ensuring those are successfully met.
• Paramount are superior communication skills; a deep understanding of the business and consumer needs; capacity to analyze data and act on insights; and the ability to work up, down and across the company.
• Strong leadership and exceptional influencing skills, with a proven record in change management; comfortable interacting with and persuading personnel from executives to entry level—within HARMAN, agency/partner organizations to align against a common agenda.
• Strong business background and understanding of how brands operate across B2B and B2C sectors (consumer, automotive, luxury, pro) and the business drivers that yield growth.
• Global awareness and cultural sensitivity to develop creative that meets the needs of multiple markets. A clear understanding of how a global creative idea can be expressed locally.
• Experienced in web marketing/social activities. Knowledgeable about paid search, social media, web metrics, and ecommerce.
• Strong experience in agency management—ability to get the best strategic and creative output from agency partners, while using resources and budget effectively. Deep understanding of creative process.
• Solid ability to analyze data and insights to inform agency briefs, assess and troubleshoot regional performance, and recommend solutions for improvement.

Bonus Points if You Have

• A person with a strong personal interest in technology who can understand the technical attributes of a product or a device.
• Someone with a very broad marketing background that includes B2B and B2C product launch experiences.
• An energetic individual who has demonstrated an ability to energize others as well around difficult goals and objectives.
• A creative individual who has created and articulated sales and marketing strategies for world class product lines.

What Makes You Eligible

• Due to the nature of global infrastructure, you understand that flexibility in working hours is required.
• Be willing to travel up to 20%, domestic and international travel.
• Be willing to work in an office in Stamford, CT or Northridge, CA
• S uccessfully complete a background investigation and drug screen as a condition of employment

What We Offer

• Flexible work environment, allowing for full-time remote work globally for positions that can be performed outside a HARMAN or customer location
• Access to employee discounts on world-class Harman and Samsung products (JBL, HARMAN Kardon, AKG, etc.)
• Extensive training opportunities through our own HARMAN University
• Competitive wellness benefits
• Tuition reimbursement
• “Be Brilliant” employee recognition and rewards program
• An inclusive and diverse work environ