STRATEGY

• Formulate an event, CSR & sponsorship strategy at strategic, creative and implementation levels.
• Establish and implement an end-to-end event calendar of events and sponsorship assets that includes: (1) Owned events and event IPs (2) Sponsored events; (3) Exhibitor at events; (4) Community Events and Outreach Programmes (5) Ambassadors; (4) Sponsored clubs. The strategy will cross performance (running, cycling inc gravel, triathlon and boutique fitness) and lifestyle verticals, aligning with the needs and goals of the brands:
• Strategically plan and manage the annual Event and Sponsorship budgets, including end of season reconciliation.
• Actively work to build cost and resource efficient ways to deliver the Events and Sponsorships, including building relationships with rightsholders, vendors and suppliers; identifying cross marketing relationships; negotiating vendor costs; identifying opportunities to share resource or activations across multiple assets.
• Identify, prioritize, and report key performance indicators, such as brand awareness, traffic generation, community engagement and product sales, to support business growth and optimise return on investment for each Event or Sponsorship.

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ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT

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Day-to-day client management including:

• Planning and leading weekly meetings
• Presenting concepts and ideas for approvals
• Preparing weekly status reports – identifying delays or challenges
• Providing brand feedback gained from the community / ambassadors
• Ongoing input into each Brand Manager’s management of brand HQs including:
• Ongoing collection of data, strategy and insights from brand HQ, to shape the regional strategy
• Inputting into weekly meetings with brand HQs
• Reporting and analysis of brand activations, events and sponsorships
• Create processes and procedures to streamline the planning, logistics and production of all events and sponsorships – automating procedures where possible.
• Develop strong relationships with internal teams to ensure company-wide buy in for event activations, and manage individual departments’ delivery of key aspects of event activations.
• Direct line management of junior event executives, and (where necessary) external agencies

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SPONSORSHIP, SPONSORED EVENTS AND EXPOS

• Develop and implement a strategic sponsorship criteria and procedure for each brand, to assess all incoming sponsorship requests, as well as actively seek out potentially relevant sponsorship assets.
• Contract negotiation and completion, including control of contract compliance for all sponsored assets.
• Track rights and benefits across all assets, including regular reporting to management.
• Activate the rights and benefits across all assets ensuring that maximum ROI is achieved and that the correct brand messaging and visuals are being utilized across all platforms (digital, traditional, experiential etc.) – working closely with internal teams to activate rights across other departments.
• Provide post-event feedback on all assets, along with recommendation on whether to renew at the end of the contract period, and how to improve the contract offering.

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OWNED EVENTS

• Identify the needs/benefit for developing ‘owned’ events – either developing a new local IP and/or localizing a brand-owned IP.
• Develop sales decks and lead meetings with government entities to gain buy in and secure hosting rights funding.
• Develop a project plan and staffing plan to deliver owned events.
• Hire and manage the delivery team (internally or via external freelancers / agencies depending on scale of event).
• Support Retail Marketing team with the strategy and implementation of in-store retail activations, inline with brand and/or product launches.
• Provide post-event feedback on all assets, along with recommendation on whether to renew at the end of the contract period, and how to improve the contract offering

AMBASSADOR AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH

• Analyse the need for community, ambassador and/or sponsored club programmes for all brands. Those brands that are identified as having a need for an programme, strategize and implement.
• Track the market and competitors for trends and opportunities within the local community.
• Promote community events and activations via ambassadors and community groups

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Requirements (Experience and Training):

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience working in the events industry – preferably with experience working across large-scale, international events (sports/lifestyle), and community events.
• Educated to Bachelors degree in relevant subject, or equivalent transferable experience.
• Experience with end-to-end sponsorship management (identification of asset, negotiating and contracting, activation strategy and implementation, rights and benefits tracking, analysis and reporting) – either from a rightsholder or sponsor perspective.
• A track record of driving brand and business growth through Events and Sponsorships.
• Experience managing a team across omni-channels and departments.
• Experience working in the Middle East, preferably with experience across multiple countries within the region. Ability to travel across the region.
• Account management experience at an in-house or traditional agency.

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Requirements (Skills):

• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to manage day-to-day relationships with internal stakeholders (senior, junior and peer), external agencies and suppliers, GCC government entities, clients/stakeholders and global brand HQ teams.
• Fluent written and spoken English. Arabic is a bonus but not necessary.
• Working knowledge of MS Office software, including Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and/or Keynote. Adobe is a nice-to-have.
• Ability to think strategically and creatively, and to communicate such thoughts proactively, efficiently and effectively.
• Strong work ethic with the flexibility to navigate change in a fast-paced environment.
• Flexible working hours with understanding that some weekend work will be required
• Solutions orientated - ability to problem-solve independently and collaboratively, and work towards clearly defined KPIs.
• Collaborative worker – ability to work with wider team to deliver the highest possible outcome for the client.
• Organized – upholding the high standards and attention to detail required – and able to manage multiple projects in parallel.
• Team player – the ability to work cross-functionally in a highly iterative, collaborative and positive way.

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