Job Abstract

JOB SUMMARY

The Director, Marketing, Luxury Brands is a member of The Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve and Bulgari Global Brand Team. This role functions as the strategic and consumer marketing leader for the brand reporting to the Senior Director. This position plays a key role in determining the marketing strategy for The Ritz-Carlton and Ritz-Carlton Reserve driving a differentiated and on-brand experience. The marketing execution will be driven by this Director collaborating with a diverse group of disciplines within the luxury organization and through external agency partners. The Marketing Director will have an intimate understanding of the brand’s target audience, the Cultivator and Experience Collector, and will apply that knowledge to drive strategic decisions.

The Marketing Director will oversee development of all marketing plans, strategies, creative, messaging, and advertising/marketing communications, and paid media. This role will collaborate with the luxury partnership and marketing activation lead on partnerships strategy, content creation and execution. The role will also partner with internal teams and agencies to drive the content marketing strategy ensuring creative and messaging reflects the direction of the brand. This role will partner with the luxury Public Relations lead to drive the strategy for the brand and ensure a robust plan in place supporting brand initiatives. Partnering with the luxury brand teams globally, the Director will drive the overall marketing strategy and execution. In addition, the Director of Marketing will collaborate with the luxury marketing team to drive messaging that aids in the acquisition of new customers across all channels, including paid media. This position is pivotal on the global brand team partnering with brand management on the expression of brand voice initiatives, guest experience and as well as new lines of business.

This role leads efforts in defining the marketing and brand strategy in a way that is consistent with the brand business models and creates maximum profitability. This experience ranges from driving brand prestige, enlivening and building brand preference for both next gen luxury customers and investors, to on-site product and service touch points. To support these efforts, the Director, Luxury Brands will focus on these priorities 1) support the development of the long-term brand strategy and multi-year planning efforts, 2) direct the execution of the brand marketing priorities, campaigns, partnerships, and events including continent and cross-functional resources, and 3) managing the business model & driving brand performance. This role also focuses on accelerating prestige, perception and awareness, through immersive brand programs and internal marketing platforms and strong engagement with continent teams and properties globally.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Education and Experience Required

• 4-year degree from an accredited university in Business Administration, Marketing, or related major and 6+ years of relevant professional experience, demonstrating progressive career growth and a pattern of exceptional performance; MBA preferred OR
• 8+ years of relevant professional experience in marketing or related function, demonstrating progressive career growth and pattern of exceptional performance.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver results under complex conditions, particularly when faced with ambiguity.
• Broad marketing experience across digital, social media, PR and paid with brand awareness + NPS as a key goal. Must be able to effectively create and lead activations that support campaign, partner needs, brand needs and hotel needs. Must be able to develop briefs for programs that outline the goals and budgets and KPIs. Able to plan and execute marketing plans & events, develop & distribute content, and evaluate the program success.
• Global and strategic thought leadership through a combination of creative savviness + strong business acumen.
• Represent the brands with key stakeholders in design, development and ownership groups and senior level executives; must have strong presentation skills
• Partnership and activation expertise.
• Demonstrated management of team and agencies.
• Strong complex project and budget management experience. Exemplary resource management skills.
• Excellent communication skills.

CORE WORK ACTIVITIES

Brand Strategy & Multi-Year Planning

• Participates in the development of a compelling and differentiated brand and marketing strategy, leveraging the brands’ consumer, competitive, and other stakeholder profiles and needs.
• Supports the creation of strategic brand business plans for the brands, inclusive of a viable economic strategy, product and service model, brand positioning, value proposition definition, competitive strategies (for product, service, talent & culture, marketing, growth, demand generation, partnerships).
• Supports the strategic development of partnerships for the brand and how they are activated.
• Drives brand aesthetic pull through for hotels to include photography point-of-view as well as related toolkits for key initiatives.
• Creates project plans, guides and engages respective project teams, including agencies, throughout the project from kick off to implementation
• Informs business strategies, plans and initiatives with relevant consumer and market trend data including the ability to lead custom research.
• Significantly contributes to and leads aspects of the long-term strategic plan for The Ritz-Carlton and Ritz-Carlton Reserve with a lens on the broader portfolio to include The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center, The Ritz-Carlton Residences and other focus areas for the brand.

Marketing Strategy

• Champions the brand Positioning, develops and manages the brand’s Visual Identity, + develops communication tools and templates to ensure consistent execution by broader organization and hotels.
• Partners with brand management team to establish and evolve the brand positioning and ensures the proper and cohesive articulation of the brand’s proposition to customers consumers in on-property and all other communication channels.
• Develops the Global Brand Marketing and creative strategy with a global lens focusing on KPIs of awareness', perception shift and engagement.
Supports partnership development and activations, identifying the key ways to go to market for target reach.
• Collaborates with and supports the continent (international) brand teams on marketing planning nd halo openings
• Collaborates with Portfolio & Loyalty Marketing to ensure brand pull through
• Encourage property pull-through of brand marketing initiatives with the development of Activation Toolkits (PR, Social, Experiential, Digital, etc.)
• Supports halo-hotel marketing initiatives + opening activities
• Supports all external marketing efforts with internal communications.
• Creates solid creative briefs that logically tie to impactful consumer insights leading to best in class creative work from Marriott’s agency partners.
• Acts as an advocate for the ultra-luxury space driving the positioning, messaging and aesthetic for Ritz-Carlton Reserve.

Marketing Strategy Execution

• Partners with the PR team to manage and oversee the communications strategies.
• Partners with the digital and social teams, portfolio marketing organization and agencies, on the development of customer facing brand communications, brand voice / collateral development, photography, etc.
• Establishes brand approach to experiential marketing in conjunction with discipline leads.
• Leads the bespoke Ritz-Carlton and Ritz-Carlton Reserve email marketing program to include agency management, content creation and optimization.
• Manages multiple agencies across several projects to include visual identity, tone of voice, marketing campaigns, video creation, digital marketing, etc.
Defines and develops compelling brand promotions in partnership with the continent brand marketing team that can be executed globally to drive revenue and PR buzz. Leverages groundbreaking hotel partnerships and activations, as appropriate, to drive buzz and brand building.
• Leads brand projects to drive brand differentiation and preference.
• Consults with development marketing and residential marketing teams to further drive owner awareness, owner communication and support, building a competitive value proposition for owners and developers to drive growth for the brand
• Interfaces with Legal to develop and execute marketing plans in alignment with all international licensing agreements.
• Collaborates with leadership to identify marketing strategies and tactics to support new lines of business or gues experiences relevant to the brand. Leads Senior Manager in development of strategies and execution setting clear goals.

Global Openings

• Provides global opening support for halo hotels, coordinates with openings and regional team to ensure all elements of the ‘opening countdown’ including opening countdown, training, communications, pre-opening marketing, driving awareness, PR/media plans etc are executed on brand
Provides guidance to opening teams to ensure branded critical path documents for openings and conversions are developed and maintained.
• Acts as brand lead for all US and Canada openings to including brand amplification across owned, earned and paid.
• Drives the pre-opening process for Ritz-Carlton Reserve, including development of bespoke visual identities and positioning's, in collaboration with the continent teams.

US/Canada Continent Brand Focus

Owns The Ritz-Carlton US/Canada Brand Marketing Plan with a top-funnel focus. Key aspects include:

• Support of openings to include regular meetings with hotel team and Area Directors of Marketing.
• Oversees the development of individual hotel positioning collaborating with other internal disciplines and agency partners, as appropriate.
• Develops and executes a comprehensive marketing plan for the brand that includes merchandising with key stakeholders.
Creates and drives execution of integrated marketing strategies (in collaboration with digital/social team, PR team, activations marketing team, media agencies. Creative agencies, etc.) to include creative messaging in support of the brand strategies and performance goals.
• Manages to budget and sets KPIs for all marketing activities in the US and Canada.

Business Model & Brand Performance

• Act as Brand Champion to stakeholders – owners, customers, executives and associates within HQ and market. Builds strong relationships with continent teams and hotels to ensure the brand culture and communications come to life on property, driving pull-through of the brand promise
• Educates and communicate on brand strategy, marketing framework, positioning, voice and strategic pillars, competitive environment
• Helps develop and drive execution of communication strategies associated with launching tactics/deliverables in support of the brand strategies and stated performance goals
• Represents brand in external forums (eg: GM conferences, owners’ meetings, advisory committee meetings, etc)
• Defines brand marketing performance metrics and recommend performance targets

MANAGEMENT COMPETENCIES

Leadership

• Communication - Conveys information and ideas to others in a convincing and engaging manner through a variety of methods.
• Leading Through Vision and Values - Keeps the organization's vision and values at the forefront of employee decision making and action.
• Managing Change - Initiates and/or manages the change process and energizes it on an ongoing basis, taking steps to remove barriers or accelerate its pace; serves as role model for how to handle change by maintaining composure and performance level under pressure or when experiencing challenges.
• Problem Solving and Decision Making - Identifies and understands issues, problems, and opportunities; obtains and compares information from various sources to draw conclusions, develops and evaluates alternatives and solutions, solves problems, and chooses a course of action.
• Professional Demeanor - Exhibits behavioral styles that convey confidence and command respect from others; makes a good first impression and represents the company in alignment with its values.
• Strategy Development - Develops business plans by exploring and systematically evaluating opportunities with the greatest potential for producing positive results; ensures successful preparation and execution of business plans through effective planning, organizing, and on-going evaluation processes.

Managing Execution

• Building a Successful Team - Uses an effective interpersonal style to build a cohesive team; inspires and sustains team cohesion and engagement by focusing the team on its mission and importance to the organization.
• Strategy Execution – Ensures successful execution across of business plans designed to maximize customer satisfaction, profitability, and market share through effective planning, organizing, and on-going evaluation processes.
• Driving for Results - Sets ambitious standards of performance for self and/or others; assumes responsibility for work objectives; initiates, focuses, and monitors the efforts of self and/or others toward the accomplishment goals; proactively takes action and goes beyond what is required.

Building Relationships

• Customer Relationships - Develops and sustains relationships based on an understanding of customer/stakeholder needs and actions consistent with the company’s service standards.
• Global Mindset - Supports employees and business partners with diverse styles, abilities, motivations, and/or cultural perspectives; utilizes differences to drive innovation, engagement and enhance business results; and ensures employees are given the opportunity to contribute to their full potential.
• Strategic Partnerships - Develops collaborative relationships with fellow employees and business partners by making them feel valued, appreciated, and included; explores partnership opportunities with other people in and outside the organization; influences and leverages corporate and continental shared services and/or discipline leaders (e.g., HR, Sales & Marketing, Finance, Revenue Management) to achieve objectives; maintains effective external relations with government, business and industry in respective countries; performs effectively as a liaison between locations, disciplines, and corporate to ensure needed resources are received and corporate strategies are understood and executed.

Generating Talent and Organizational Capability

• Developing Others - Supports the development of other’s skills and capabilities so that they can fulfill current or future job/role responsibilities more effectively.
• Organizational Capability - Evaluates and adapts the structure of assignments and work processes to best fit the needs and/or support the goals of an organizational unit.

Learning and Applying Professional Expertise

• Continuous Learning - Actively identifies new areas for learning; regularly creates and takes advantage of learning opportunities; uses newly gained knowledge and skill on the job and learns through their application.
• Technical Acumen – Expertly understands and utilizes professional skills and knowledge in a specific functional area to conduct and manage everyday business operations, generate innovative solutions to approach function-specific work challenges, and function as a thought leader in his or her area of expertise.
  • Brand positioning
  • Annual brand planning and budget management
  • Lead guest experience development projects
  • Understanding of luxury consumer and ability to interpret luxury consumer insights
• Business Acumen - Understands and utilizes business information to manage everyday operations and generate innovative solutions to approach business and administrative challenges.
• Basic Competencies - Fundamental competencies required for accomplishing basic work activities.
  • Basic Computer Skills - Uses basic computer hardware and software (e.g., personal computers, word processing software, Internet browsers, etc.).
  • Mathematical Reasoning - Adds, subtracts, multiplies, or divides quickly, correctly, and in a way that allows one to solve work-related issues.
  • Oral Comprehension - Listens to and understands information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Reading Comprehension - Understands written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
  • Writing - Communicates effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

California Applicants Only: The salary range for this position is $110,550.00 to $245,238.00 annually.

Colorado Applicants Only: The salary range for this position is $110,550.00 to $222,943.00 annually.

Hawaii Applicants Only: The salary range for this position is $133,766.00 to $245,238.00 annually.

New York Applicants Only: The salary range for this position is $110,550.00 to $245,238.00 annually.

Washington Applicants Only: The salary range for this position is $110,550.00 to $245,238.00 annually. In addition to the annual salary, the position will be eligible to receive an annual bonus and restricted stock units/stock grants. Employees will accrue 0.04616 PTO balance for every hour worked and eligible to receive minimum of 7 holidays annually.

All locations offer coverage for medical, dental, vision, health care flexible spending account, dependent care flexible spending account, life insurance, disability insurance, accident insurance, adoption expense reimbursements, paid parental leave, educational assistance, 401(k) plan, stock purchase plan, discounts at Marriott properties, commuter benefits, employee assistance plan, and childcare discounts. Benefits are subject to terms and conditions, which may include rules regarding eligibility, enrollment, waiting period, contribution, benefit limits, election changes, benefit exclusions, and others.

Marriott HQ is committed to a hybrid work environment that enables associates to Be connected. Headquarters-based positions are considered hybrid, for candidates within a commuting distance to Bethesda, MD; candidates outside of commuting distance to Bethesda, MD will be considered for Remote positions.

The application deadline for this position is 5 days after the date of this posting, 5/9/2024.