Director of Marketing Planning & Activation

The Fresh Market & You:

Our mission is to make everyday eating extraordinary for our guests. We create a warm, welcoming, memorable experience with exceptional, personal service. We’re looking for a new team member who strives for excellence and brings positive energy, commitment, and a “can-do” attitude to work every day. We value teamwork and celebrate our successes as a team and will value your contribution!

Added Benefits for choosing The Fresh Market Team:

• Team Member discount up to 40%
• Health, Dental, & Vision insurance available for individual, spouse, partner, and family.
• 401K contribution and match for part-time and full-time team members

• Personal time off and additional time off purchase plans are available
• AND much more!

About the Position:

The Fresh Market currently has an opening for a Director of Marketing Planning and Activation to join our passionate and innovative team. In this pivotal role, you will be instrumental in shaping our marketing communications and strategies to engage our broad base of guests while driving brand preference and conversion. Your expertise will ensure that our marketing plans are not just impactful but also strategically sound and aligned with business objectives. You’ll collaborate closely across all marketing channels and with cross-functional teams, utilizing your deep understanding of brand planning, consumer behavior, and competitive landscapes to prioritize activations and create plans that capture attention at every touchpoint. This role offers you the opportunity to lead the Planning & Activation and Local Marketing teams to set the direction for strategic activations that drive the business forward.

This role will report to our Chief Marketing Officer.

What You'll Do:

• Strategic Marketing Planning: Collaborate closely with the Merchandising department to understand key product initiatives, promotions, and seasonal offerings, then set marketing priorities and work with Marketing Directors to develop comprehensive plans to support business needs and product / promotional initiatives. This includes defining target audiences, setting measurable objectives, identifying key performance indicators (KPIs), and outlining spend weight by initiative based on business opportunities.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Lead campaign activation and collaborate across marketing teams (e.g., digital, creative, loyalty, email) to ensure cohesive and integrated marketing campaign activation to maximize impact and reach.
• Go-to-Market Strategy: Lead the development of the marketing Go-to-Market plan, outlining key priorities, initiatives, and spend prioritization.
• In-Store Activation: Develop and execute strategies to bring marketing plans to life in-store, owning in store signage and ensuring seamless integration with visual merchandising. Focus on creating a compelling and consistent brand experience for customers.
• Local Marketing & New Store Openings: Oversee the development and implementation of local marketing programs to drive customer traffic and engagement within specific store locations and create comprehensive marketing plans for new store openings working cross-functionally within marketing. Store Opening planning will include Grand Opening events, market opportunity and competitive insights, and target audience nuances based on market dynamics.
• Retail Media: Lead MP&A Team to partner with the Merchandising department to develop and sell retail media packages to vendors, ensuring alignment with The Fresh Market's marketing goals and targets and vendor objectives.
• Digital Magazine: Brief the creative team with full communication objectives and product details to support and drive development / execution of the monthly digital magazine.
• Performance Analysis: Track and analyze the performance of marketing campaigns, providing regular reports on key metrics and making recommendations for optimization.
• MP&A & Local Marketing Team Leadership: Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of marketing professionals.
• Partner Management: Coordinate with external partners, agencies and vendors to enhance marketing efforts and execution.

Qualifications:

At a minimum, what you’ll need:

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in marketing, with a strong focus on retail marketing planning and activation and brand planning. Experience in the grocery or specialty food industry is highly desirable.
• Proven track record of developing and executing successful marketing strategies that drive sales and traffic.
• Strong understanding of retail marketing principles, including in-store merchandising, digital marketing, loyalty and PR.
• Experience in retail media is essential. Significant recent shopper marketing or trade marketing may be considered.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills. Drive for constant optimization.
• Ability to thrive in fast-paced, collaborative environment, and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Excellent leadership skills with the ability to inspire and motivate a diverse team.
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with a knack for building strong relationships.

Preferred qualifications:

• MBA preferred.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS: Consistent with applicable laws, TFM will make reasonable accommodations for qualified applicants and team members, unless doing so would result in an undue hardship to TFM. This guiding principle applies to all aspects of employment, including hiring and job assignment, compensation, discipline, termination, and access to benefits and training.

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer:

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard race, color, creed, religion, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy and related medical conditions, national origin, genetic information, uniformed service, veteran status, disability, or any other basis prohibited by federal or state law.

The statements in this job description are provided to describe the general nature and level of work expected in this role. While these statements include the essential functions of the job, they are not intended to be a complete list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required. As we work as a team, there may be times team members are needed to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities based on business needs.

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