Times Group - Brand Manager - Economic Times

ET - Brand Manager; Location - Mumbai

About Function/Department

As India's leading brand of business news and information, The Economic Times is also the country's fourth largest English daily. Over 1 million readers pick up ET every day for the first and last word on business and policy in India, while also relishing its coverage on politics, sports and international affairs.

The Economic Times is accompanied with a leisure-and-lifestyle supplement called ET Panache that covers the 'good life' (Monday through Friday). The newspaper circulates nationally, and covers all important cities and towns of India. Despite a legacy of over half a century, The Economic Times continues to attract the young and the rich, with those under 40 comprising over two-thirds of total readers, and 85% of its readers belonging to the NCCS A socio-economic category. Ninety per cent of ET's readers do not read any other business newspaper. The Economic Times champions the cause of free markets, globalization and diversity, and prides itself for its progressive and libertarian values.

Company: Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd.

Position: The Economic Times Brand

Location: Mumbai

Position Summary

This marketing role involves a gamut of activities with the twin objective to drive the newspaper's readership and revenues. This includes (1) conceptualizing and executing reader/consumer engagement programmes; understand consumer segments and gather insights (2) Work closely with the sales team to ideate and create sponsorship opportunities for advertisers (3) Financial analysis of the brand's P&L on a regular basis (4) Operational coordination across the supply chain to solve problems, improve processes, facilitate a smooth workflow across functions

Areas of Responsibility:

Brand Management:

(1) Advertising Campaign - Draft creative brief for the advt. agency, evaluate creative shared, gather feedback from internal stakeholders, liaise with agency, execute campaign basis a media plan

(2) Consumer/Reader Engagement - Involves a plethora of activities such as organizing panel discussions, awards ceremony, on-ground activities, national programmes such as ET Young Leaders etc. Coordinate with event agency, print vendors, social media agency etc.

(3) Competition Analysis - Keep track of business newspapers in terms of content and activity. Monthly + Quarterly analysis and reporting involved

(4) Reader/Consumer Research - Carry out research via agencies (Nielsen, IMRB etc.) as well as independently to understand consumer trends and behaviour

(5) Edition Management - Work with regional teams to build readership and engagement for city editions. For example, a local event, panel discussion in Delhi, Pune etc.

Financial management:

(1) Analyze P&L, Revenue and Circulation on a monthly basis. Share findings with internal stakeholders. Identify areas to reduce costs, increase revenues.

(2) Liaise with other departments and work towards achieving cost and revenue objectives

There is an emphasis on financial analysis in this role, hence a candidate is expected to be proficient in his/her numerical skills and working with excel. This will involve:

- P&L scenario building for a variety of cost and revenue occurrences

- Analysis of pricing rates, ad value and volume co-relation, sector contribution

- Cost trends, margin impact, cost saving elements and variables

- Productivity norms across operational tasks

Operations Management:

(1) Work closely with depts. such as production, distribution, sales to either improve a process or fix a problem.

(2) Work towards gaining an in-depth understanding of the company's key functions

(3) This aspect involves a fair deal of co-ordination and follow-up with various depts

Sponsorship Initiatives:

(1) Understand client/advertiser objectives and create sponsorship opportunities

(2) Create sponsorship proposals for existing and new ET programmes to drive revenues

(3) Liaise with sales team on a regular basis