Director, Public Relations Job Opening at Pernod Ricard USA in New York, NY

Location: New York, NY - Headquarters

Position Summary:

The Director, Public Relations will act as a strategic counselor/project lead to the brand management teams in the spirits division of Pernod Ricard USA to undertake brand communications programming. The candidate will work alongside the brand teams to craft and implement impactful, measurable and noteworthy campaigns to drive awareness/engagement and support business goals for the company's award-winning portfolio. Further, they will integrate all planning and programming with constituent teams such as media buying, digital, social media, sales and division marketing (among others). The candidate will manage external agency partners, from public relations agencies to influencer marketing agencies and social media partners. Within the organization, the candidate will coordinate activities and plans with the event marketing team and the lifestyle marketing team to ensure an integrated approach.

Major Responsibilities / Accountabilities:

* Create and implement business-supporting, impactful, measurable brand communications plans that generate significant consumer and trade media awareness/engagement/following. Coordinate measurement of programs across the portfolio, ensuring continuity of approach. Merchandise results of plans/programs across the company, utilizing a variety of company apertures for maximum impact. Coordinate all efforts with Internal Communications team for best-practices sharing within the organization. Support global brand owner structure in all planning efforts to ensure consistency of approach. Integrate programming details with appropriate global partners to ensure consistent brand identity and approach. Consistently evaluate potential agency partners and audit current agency partners for compliance to Pernod Ricard and brand policies. Negotiate and secure spokesperson partnerships across the brand portfolio.

* Act as strategic counselor to spirits brand team portfolio - from day-to-day program counseling to creating positioning documents, media strategies, competitive recaps, and white papers. Utilize industry and consumer marketing knowledge to provide insights on competition, pop culture, trends, consumer engagement and potential crisis/issues management. Showcase best practices among spirits portfolio brand team for ongoing education and brainstorming.

* Support in-house events/meetings with communications outreach to employees and distributor/sales partners to ensure cohesive and coordinated delivery of messaging. Coordinate efforts with Internal Communications department and constituent departments.

* Manage internal communications program for Marketing department, in concert with Internal Communications team, focusing on furthering CMO's messaging/department plan. Utilize in-house apertures to deliver messaging and merchandise plans/results.

Nature & Scope:

Position typically works with external agencies, influencer groups, social marketing outlets/sites, legal, sales, marketing, digital, multicultural, media buying, ecrm/CRM, global brand owners, finance and customer service personnel as well as distributor; POS account representatives, advertising agency, and supplier personnel. Communication can include sensitive information, requiring confidentiality and discretion in dealings with contacts. Candidate plans activities for this position on an ongoing basis with individual initiatives in daily routine.

Key Competencies:

* Education: BA or BS required (preferably in journalism, communications, or related backgrounds).

* Experience / Background: Minimum 10 years public relations/media relations/account management experience in consumer goods/services, primarily at a manager level is required. Relevant corporate experience is beneficial and agency experience is a critical success factor in this position as the fundamental underpinning of this functional role is contingent upon understanding "client service" and serving in a senior counselor capacity. An understanding of the alcohol beverage industry is a plus, though not required.

* Required Skills/Competencies: Strong critical thinking and strategy formulation coupled with solid business writing skills. Demonstrated ability to manage partner relationships to maximize impact of spending. Strong interpersonal skills (listening, verbal and written communication). Solid organizational skills; ability to multi-task and meet deadlines with a calm and measured approach. Ability to engage and motivate teams and lead integrated planning approaches. Solid negotiation skills.

Working Conditions:

* Position is based in Pernod Ricard USA's New York City office, which is an open environment designed to further creativity and collaboration.

* Travel varies - up to 20-25 percent possible travel within the US and possible 5-10 percent overseas travel (related to media events, media familiarization trips, global planning meetings, launch events, marketing meetings, etc.).