Marketing Manager

Objectives of the Position:

• To develop and implement the country marketing strategy to achieve country growth targets and support company objectives. 
• To position BASF’s Crop Protection business as a trusted and respected leading player in the Philippine crop protection industry with a clear focus on adding value to channel partners and farmers.
• To lead, develop and form a strong team as a basis for long-term success and ensure appropriate deployment of resources to implement the strategy with close coordination with sales, development, and technical services, regulatory, supply chain and controlling.

Main Areas of Responsibilities and Key Activities:

• Strategy Development:

• Develop mid-term country marketing strategy for Agriculture business in the Philippines in line with Global and regional strategy. This includes 5-year strategies for key brands in focus crops.
• Develop effective life cycle management plans for strategic products and prioritize Life Cycle Management (LCM) projects.
• Improve the commercial result of product portfolio according to the strategies via product promotion/introduction, business plan proposal, sales/distribution channels analysis and proposal, pricing proposal and market analysis to support future product development strategies.
• Develop an operational business plan to implement the country marketing strategy and brand plans together with Sales.
• Identify and engage in strategic co-distribution alliances for defense of proprietary molecules.

• Operation Responsibility:

• Develop and penetrate markets with new or existing products/services/technologies by directing the implementation of the defined strategies, and application and evaluation of market intelligence on the analysis of competitors, the market development and own competitiveness.
• Initiate quantitative and qualitative market research studies and analyze market database and the processes to obtain, up-date, maintain and evaluate market trends including the application of product/technology, service needs, and competitor intelligence to identify business opportunities. This includes presentation of results to sales and technical people.
• Develop brand plans in focus crops in close coordination with Sales and Technical to deliver the budget and ensure implementation.
• Manage the marketing budget to create demand for the key brands to deliver the budget and prepare for new launches.
• Develop and implement effective communication plan to optimize, manage and control promotion and advertising budget.
• Coordinate with Technical Manager to support sales team on the technical knowledge transfer.
• Facilitate and optimize demand planning/forecasting with supply chain and sales.
• Lead the update of the 10-year market and sales forecast in marketing database and provide the appropriate market information including competitor and customers trends.
• Lead new product launch process with support of supply chain, sales, product development, technical services, and registration team.
• Drive the implementation of cross functional crop teams in the country.

• Profit and Loss Management:

• Prepare the budget and oversee the expenditure in the allocated area to ensure demand creation and maximization of gross profit, including pricing strategy and effectively managing expense allocation.
• Formulation of business plan to optimize profitability through product/customer mix analyses, e.g., consolidation and rationalization of cost control, sales volume, etc.

• People and function management:

• Foster a high-performance culture guided by a strong vision that focuses on channel partners and farmers
• Build, organize and develop a strong, ambitious, and self-sustaining team in line with business strategy
• Plan and control the function structure and manpower requirements, headcount, and budget, establish development measures and appraise the performance of the team. 
• Direct and prioritize the workload of team members. 
• Train and coach the direct reports and develop the succession planning.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree Agricultural Studies, Marketing, Business Management, and other related courses; Master’s in Business Administration an advantage.
• With 8-10 years of work experience in marketing, product management and brand manager in multinational or large local companies, and minimum of 5 years work experience in a managerial level. Experience Crop Protection or allied industry (fertilizer, seeds) is a definite advantage.
• Possess deep knowledge and application of marketing concepts, tools and techniques including conducting research and analyzing market trends, identifying target markets and how best to reach them, formulating appropriate with marketing strategies, planning campaigns, and managing budgets.
• Knowledgeable of crop protection market: technical, commercial, farming techniques, crop specific issues, etc., and crop protection/life market dynamics (retail/POS, distributors, competitors, etc.) and value chains in agriculture.
• With excellent problem solving and decision-making tools and techniques including data analytics.
• Possess very strong strategic planning, project management and negotiation skills.
• Knowledgeable of MS Office applications including MS Project software.
• With very good relationship building, interpersonal communication and personal presentation.
• With experience in managing a team of marketing professionals.
• Demonstrate leadership, professionalism, and integrity at work.
• Demonstrate high level of energy and maintain stable performance under pressure.

About us!

In the Philippines, BASF has been supporting manufacturers from various industries since 1963. Today, BASF is a leading supplier of chemicals for industries, including Construction and Coatings, Automotive, Nutrition & Health, Home & Personal Care, and Agriculture. BASF also operates an Agricultural Research Station in the country which conducts research, laboratory studies and field testing of novel technologies. In 2023, BASF posted sales to customers in the Philippines of approximately €96 million and employed 87 people as of the end of the year. Further information is available at www.basf.com/ph.