Key Skills for Brand Managers

Introduction

• Discusses the main skills required to become a brand manager.
• Shares personal experience joining P&G as a brand manager in 2020 without prior experience.
• Focus on technical skills frequently used in day-to-day operations.
• Addresses both technical and soft skills necessary for brand management success.
• Resources and software recommendations will be provided.

Technical Skills

1. Commercial Sense

• Objective: Manage brand's P&L and yearly budgets, aim for brand growth and profit targets.
• Importance: Understanding fundamental business concepts is crucial.
  • Recommended resource: "How I Built This" podcast.
• Key Questions:
  • Optimal spending for best returns.
  • Market gaps and competitive positioning.
  • Product performance analysis.
• Strategy: Develop commercial thinking through questioning and strategic decision-making.

2. Business Analysis and Management

• Internal Analysis: Focus on brand health metrics like market share, sales, and consumer opinion.
• External Analysis: Focus on market trends and competition.
• Tools: Excel, Word, and PowerPoint as primary tools.
  • Excel functions: Pivot tables, VLOOKUPs, SUMIFs.
  • Recommended learning method: Practice over tutorials.
• Presentation: Use top-down formatting in documents and presentations.

3. Creative Branding Skills

• Responsibilities: Develop brand story, values, and oversee marketing material creation.
• Skills to Develop:
  • Writing: Business and creative writing for various formats.
  • Graphic Design: Basic skills in Canva or Adobe Creative Suite.
  • Mood Boards: Creating visual representations for campaigns.

Soft Skills

1. Listening

• Importance of listening to consumers and colleagues.
• Ability to respond to feedback and challenges effectively.

2. Communication

• Effective conversational skills, being respectful and well-rounded.
• Relating to consumers as people.

3. Initiative

• Setting and achieving ambitious targets.
• Encouraged to think creatively and outside the box.

Conclusion

• Encourages feedback on other topics to cover in future content.
• Promotes ongoing learning and skill development in brand management.