Careers at MGA Entertainment

Company Summary: MGA Entertainment, a consumer entertainment Products Company headquartered in Chatsworth, California, manufactures innovative lines of proprietary products for the toy and consumer electronics market.  The company also licenses its IP in such areas as apparel, home décor, stationery and sporting goods. The MGA family includes award-winning brands such as LOL Surprise, Little Tikes®, Project MC2, and Zapf Creation®. For more information please visit www.mgae.com.

Mission:The Retail Marketing Director  will be a driving force in developing go-to-market strategies and lifecycle management plans for all classes of trade. The ideal candidate will be a clear, confident communicator with deep marketing experience across retail channels. The candidate will drive the development of programs to market our brands to consumers at the account-specific level. He/She will also need to be able to develop both merchandising programs and execute unique retail-tainment events at retailers. This position is a conduit  between Accounts, Sales, Digital Sales, Product Management and Brand Marketing teams. The role also requires financial and analytical acumen to develop and manage the allocated trade spending budget by title by quarter and manage the return of investmentof trade spend, particularly regarding price-based promotions.

Position Requirements:

Education/Experience:

Skills/Knowledge/Ability:

• Working knowledge and experience creating and driving brand strategies at retail 
• Direct experience building and implementing cross product category marketing and promotions by brand by account
• Experience working with third parties in building retail promotion alliances
• Develop strategic plans with 3P retail service groups to maximize brand presence at retail for both Spring and Fall.
• Create metric based ROI analysis to track 3P service performance.
• Proven track record building business in partnership with buyers
• Experience driving promotions with youth & family entertainment brands
• Experience developing programs with major mass retailers in North America 
• Programs built with specialty, sporting goods, arts & crafts, electronics or grocery/drug a plus
• Promotional Effectiveness: evaluation of all account specific trade promotions and programs
• Strong computer based skill set across multiple platforms
• Exceptional presentation skills across varying audiences from internal teams, to Senior Leadership within MGAE and Retail customers
• Strong metrics-based approach to strategy and execution
• Success managing a team and a financial budget and understanding of channel marketing financials (i.e. P&Ls, budgets, forecasts
• 10+ years of Retail/Channel Marketing or Product Management or Digital Marketing and Sales experience at a leading consumer packaged goods. Toy/game manufacturer of entertainment company

Authority:

Key Result Areas and Activities: 

• Drive retail business development from the brand POV across multiple categories with targeted retailers to create incremental, sustainable growth. 
• Establish strategic relationships/partnerships with retail buyers & marketers across multiple product categories at the Top accounts annually, ensuring brand and account priorities are achieved.
• Provide updated information on key MGA brands to buyers across multiple product categories on a quarterly basis.
• Drive POS through the creation and implementation of innovative retail marketing initiatives.
• Lead and coordinate X-MGA retail synergy to deliver one-voice solutions at retail across toy sales, licensing team, licensees and promotional partners.
• Maintain brand integrity & positioning while delivering key account differentiation.
• Drive timelines and timely delivery of retail marketing plans.
• Guide the development of best in class retail display, signage, POP and in-store marketing vehicles that position MGA brands above the competition across all channels of trade. 
• Lead the coordination for sales and licensing teams key strategic meeting agendas / content:
  1. SS / FH Customer Sales Meetings
  2. Internal Regional Sales Meetings
  3. Cross Functional Strat Planning Meetings
  4. Licensee Summits  
• Drive operational synergies and best practice across the account teams. 
• Supervise the existing customer marketing / retail planning staff (Van Nuys / Hudson).
• Manage the financial budget approved to execute retail development programs.