Diageo is a world-class leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands across spirits and beer! Diageo has over 200 outstanding brands - old and new, large and small, global and local, with brands sold in 180 countries at almost every price point, in every category to meet consumer demand.
Diageo is the leading spirit player in every region of the world, highlighting a broad portfolio of both international and local brands. Diageo leads the top two largest spirit brands in the world, Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff, and 20 of the world's top 100 spirit brands. Its portfolio includes Crown Royal, Cîroc and Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Buchanans, Don Julio, Casamigo's, Tanqueray, Baileys and Guinness!
Purpose:
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The Manager, Customer Collaboration will lead and support the day-to-day activities of Diageo's Collaboration Center (DCC), a 17,000 square foot state-of-the-art, inspirational collaboration space with 8 unique experiential rooms. The manager of the DCC will help enable higher level engagement and joint business planning (JBPs) with customers, distributors, other external partners, and internal partners, to ultimately strengthen relationships and help define a successful path for the future of the category and for our partners.
This role will have high exposure to key decision makers and leaders throughout both Diageo and the industry, and therefore ideal candidates will thrive in relationship-building situations and working with others.
Primary responsibilities will be to implement and complete the vision for the facility, track measurable performance metrics, deliver an unparalleled experience for all attendees, and assist with future-forward thinking to ensure long term relevancy of the space. Additionally, this person will need to have a pulse on both the consumer and customer journey, and be able to creatively apply internal programming and new ideas within the DCC to influence guests in Off Premise, On Premise, and Non Premise spaces.
The ideal candidate will have experience working with large scale retailers in the CPG space across all channels of trade (Grocery, Club, Mass, Drug, Liquor Chains, Large Independents and Military) and understanding a 3-Tier distribution model. In addition to overseeing session logistics and operations, the successful candidate will also be expected to raise internal awareness about developments within the DCC, track trends and insights within the CPG industry for inclusion in future sessions, and manage internal events occurring within the space. Experience in sales, marketing, strategy and/or event management is preferred.
From a leadership perspective, it is highly encouraged that the candidate can work cross functionally and successfully influence across all functions and levels within Diageo and our customers' organizations.
Management Responsibility:
- Support day-to-day activities within a 3-person team at the DCC, and lead the extended facility, catering, and mixology teams to implement as needed. Oversee, implement, and train extended teams on DCC Standards.
- Partner with Diageo internal teams (Sales, Brand, Category Development, and Customer Marketing), our distributors and other external partners to help deliver the desired outcome for each session
- Lead project execution, agency oversight, content deployment, and development of experiential solutions on demos, programs, and content throughout the facility
- Lead all Key Performance Indicators and budget tracking
- Support Diageo in the on-going development of its culture and values
Complexity of Role:
- Lead and build relationships and influence decision making at large and small retailers, distributors and internal partners
- An interest in technology solutions in the communication and presentation space, with the ability to quickly learn and apply as needed
- Strong understanding of future trends and closely dialed into ongoing Diageo initiviates, with the ability to recommend DCC application and how to bring them to life in an experiential environment
- Position is based in Stamford, CT and requires onsite management 4 days/week
Key Outputs :
- Curate/create relevant content for each experiential room in-line with brand and category strategies
- Support all sessions flawlessly and ensure desired outcomes are achieved; for example, by aligning the agenda and presentation materials to the visitor's strategic priorities, educating account teams on how to operate within the Center, handling all session catering, help create curated customer displays and demos, and helping lead through dress rehearsals.
- Interact with all agency resources (technology, mixology, etc) as required to realize vision
- Ongoing oversight of catering vision and analytics around execution to help manage DCC costs and forecast accurately
- Identify future opportunities with grounded financial analytics and critical thinking that inspire guests to think differently about the future of shopping and consumption
Experience :
College graduate with 5-8 years relevant experience that should include:
- Event Management, Sales, Marketing, Strategy and/or Customer experience preferred
- Experience in major CPG and/or beverage categories
- Strong project management, communication, and people skills
- Track record of success in:
- Customer engagement and category development
- Creative diagnostics/problem solving
- Insight generation and strategy development
- Joined up business planning with large and small retailers
- Positive, proactive attitude with strong attention to detail and a drive to flawlessly implement with speed. Able to pivot quickly, work with a wide array of different types of partners, maintain confidentiality, juggle multiple projects at once and have a curiousity for what's next in the industry. Passion in the culinary space and excellent at event management.