Director, Brand Marketing & Creative Lead, Asia

Manulife’s regional marketing team is accountable for how we market Manulife across Asia, with the objective of impacting core earnings and NBV by driving the right value of intermediary KPIs. The regional marketing team is made up of several core marketing skills: brand, content, design, customer experience, insights, analytics, performance marketing, sponsorships. The Brand, Content & Sponsorship team is made up of two (2) roles focusing on brand and marketing communications (of which this is one), two (2) people focusing on content marketing, and one (1) person focusing on community investment partnerships.

This position is responsible for driving long-term, sustained growth by building and strengthening the Manulife brand through consistent marketing communication to the target audience. The role aims to deliver engaging and impactful messaging and Manulife’s visual identity to positively impact our brand associations and grow our brand health metrics across the board. Will act as an enabler for local markets to deliver effective marketing initiatives in line with our global brand strategy.

Position Responsibilities:

Brand strategy

• Work with the insights team to establish a customer segmentation by market, and then champion its use in all marketing.

• Leverage local customer insights and business context to determine the optimal interpretation of the global brand strategy in each local market.

• Drive awareness, understanding and activation of our global brand strategy in our customer, agent and employee experiences and in all communications.

• Review and sign-off campaigns and initiatives against our global brand strategy and guidelines.

Marketing campaigns

• Champion marketing campaigns, across the region, which are based upon customer diagnosis and strategy (targeting, positioning and objectives).

• Collaborate with internal and external creative and media teams across Asia to connect consumer insights to customer-facing campaigns.

• Research, write and share high quality briefs for regional campaigns that drive best-in-class marketing. Briefs will include insights, business objectives and measures of success to guide the strategy, creative and media teams.

• Guide the development of creative work to ensure that creative deliverables are impactful, aligned to Global brand strategy and following brand guidelines.

• Work closely with Regional Insights team on all campaign testing, including methodologies and reporting to stakeholders.

• Support specific local market campaigns and initiatives as assigned.

Brand management

• Identify brand guidelines which are required and represent Asia by providing feedback into the guidelines being developed by Global Brand.

• Help ensure brand visual identity is applied correctly and consistently

• Ensure that our intellectual property is adequately protected and look for opportunities to protect our intellectual property for strategic advantage.

• Manage cost centre budget, tracking and reporting

• Maintain regular updates/communication with local and global brand stakeholders.

• Manage Global Creative Agency Of Record Asia relationships for Tier 1 and 2 campaigns

Brand KPI tracking and diagnosis

• Manage annual brand KPI target setting, tracking and reporting

Individual accountabilities

• Be the champion of the brand in Asia and represent the region in the global context, ensuring that the Asia voice is heard in the development of new initiatives and programs.

• Regional brand governance to maintain global brand standards across Asia. Includes management of markets to the global marketing compliance process.

• Management of Tier 1 and Tier 2 creative agencies of record in Asia.

• Brand cost centre management.

• Brand KPI reporting for Asia.

Key shared accountabilities

• Increase brand awareness

• Increase brand consideration

• Positively shift brand perception

Required Qualifications:

• Over 8 years of experience in brand and marketing role.

• Experience working at a regional and/or global level in large, multinational, matrix organizations.

• Experience in the insurance sector highly advantageous.

• Fluent in English. Fluency in other Asian languages is advantageous.

• Someone who is inspired by creative and driven by data. The ability to perform strongly in both areas is highly important to this role.

• A critical thinker who has the ability to work strategically and tactically, think big and dive into the detail, and drive results in the short and long term.

• We want a go-getter, who has the drive, initiative and ability to identify and implement positive change.

• An exceptional relationship builder who can foster strong partnerships with a range of stakeholders, teams, external agencies, seniorities, and geographies (local regional, global).

• Strong project management skills and ability to anticipate needs.

• Strong communication skills and an ability to develop and deliver compelling business cases and presentations (including to senior leadership).

• A living ambassador for the Manulife brand and what it represents.

When you join our team:

• We’ll empower you to learn and grow the career you want.

• We’ll recognize and support you in a flexible environment where well-being and inclusion are more than just words.

• As part of our global team, we’ll support you in shaping the future you want to see.

About Manulife and John Hancock

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. To learn more about us, visit https://www.manulife.com/en/about/our-story.html.

Manulife is an Equal Opportunity Employer

At Manulife/John Hancock, we embrace our diversity. We strive to attract, develop and retain a workforce that is as diverse as the customers we serve and to foster an inclusive work environment that embraces the strength of cultures and individuals. We are committed to fair recruitment, retention, advancement and compensation, and we administer all of our practices and programs without discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, religion or religious beliefs, creed, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), sexual orientation, genetic characteristics, veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, or any other ground protected by applicable law.

It is our priority to remove barriers to provide equal access to employment. A Human Resources representative will work with applicants who request a reasonable accommodation during the application process. All information shared during the accommodation request process will be stored and used in a manner that is consistent with applicable laws and Manulife/John Hancock policies. To request a reasonable accommodation in the application process, contact [email protected].

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