Background

Tropical Heat was established in 1973 as a small ethnic snack cottage industry. Today, we are one of the leading manufacturers of spices and snacks in the East African region and our brand Tropical Heat is a household name in Kenya. With our very strong and expert technical team, we manufacture a vast range of spices and snacks. The spices include pure sp...

High-Level Role Summary

The Brand & Communications Lead is the driving force behind our brand's voice and market presence in the competitive FMCG landscape. This pivotal role is responsible for spearheading comprehensive brand strategies, executing integrated 360-degree marketing campaigns, and overseeing all digital communications and creative asset development. By managing external agency partnerships and fostering cross-functional alignment, the role ensures a cohesive and compelling brand identity that engages consumers, elevates brand equity, and drives business growth.

Key Responsibilities

Brand Strategy & Integrated Campaigns

• Lead comprehensive brand strategy development to strengthen market positioning and brand equity within the highly competitive FMCG landscape.
• Drive integrated campaigns planning, ensuring cohesive messaging across all consumer touchpoints (ATL, BTL, and Digital).
• Media selection and strategic channel mapping to maximize audience engagement and ROI.
• Identify, negotiate, and manage strategic brand partnerships to expand market reach and brand affinity.
• Track and analyse brand health metrics and market trends to ensure the brand remains relevant to consumer attitudes and behaviours.

Digital Marketing & Communications

• Serve as the internal and external communications coordinator, ensuring a unified and compelling brand voice across all corporate and consumer communications.
• Direct social media content management and execute targeted social media advertising strategies to drive engagement and conversion.
• Drive the communications strategy and creation of marketing collateral to professionally resolve customer complaints, safeguard brand integrity, educate customers, and effectively address key pain points.
• Oversee Public Relations (PR) initiatives, media relations, and crisis communication strategies.
• Oversee the creation and advise on the distribution of all internal communications.

E-commerce Administration

• Storefront Management: Maintain product listings across company-owned e-commerce platforms and retail partner sites, ensuring accurate titles, descriptions, pricing, and high-quality imagery.
• Promotional Execution: Liaise with retail partners to upload, schedule, and test on-site promotional banners, discount codes, and/or other seasonal campaign assets.

Creative Direction & Asset Management

• Oversee all design and creative projects from conceptualization to final delivery.
• Lead creative assets planning and branding management to maintain strict adherence to brand guidelines.
• Manage the end-to-end process of brand assets development, including directing the production of videos, photography, and other multimedia collateral.
• Ensure rigorous brand assets management, organizing and archiving materials for cross-functional use.
• Act as the primary marketing liaison for product innovation and packaging design, ensuring new products align with consumer insights and brand identity.

Agency Liaison & Cross-Functional Leadership

• Act as the central liaison for external agencies and consultancies (creative, PR, digital, strategy), setting KPIs, negotiating contracts, and evaluating performance.
• Develop comprehensive brand coaching material for internal teams to foster brand advocacy and alignment across the organization.
• Compile and present executive reporting on campaign ROI, digital performance, brand growth, and overal marketing initiatives.
• Assist in team building by overseeing job board management for relevant departmental roles.
• Lead the creation of business development materials, including client proposals, capability decks, and tailored communication for prospective clients.
• Draft business development emails to support sales initiatives and outreach efforts.

People & Project Management

• Lead the execution of strategic and executive projects to achieve key business objectives.
• Lead weekly team meetings to review project reports, align workflows, and optimize team productivity.
• Oversee the planning and execution of the annual marketing calendar.
• Drive team performance management, setting clear goals, conducting regular reviews, and fostering continuous professional development.
• Lead the integration and transition to AI-powered workflows and tools to enhance operational efficiency and creative output.

Qualifications and Requirements

Required Competencies of the Ideal Candidate

• 4 - 7 years of progressive experience in marketing; experience with FMCG brands is an advantage.
• A bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Corporate Communications, Public Relations, Business Administration, or other related fields.
• Proven track record in brand strategy development, positioning, and end-to-end 360-degree campaign planning across traditional (ATL/BTL) and digital channels.
• Expertise in market trend analysis, tracking brand health metrics, and translating consumer insights into actionable growth initiatives.
• Strong strategic channel mapping and media selection capabilities to optimize marketing ROI.
• Proficiency in omni-channel content management, social media advertising strategies, PR, and crisis communications management.
• Adept at managing external brand narrative, internal communication strategies, and customer-facing problem-resolution communications.
• Solid creative vision with experience directing design, video production, photography, packaging design, and multimedia marketing collateral.
• Strict governance of brand guidelines and structured digital asset management systems.
• Experience with storefront administration, digital asset optimization, pricing management, and promotional execution across e-commerce platforms and retail partner channels.
• Strong leadership in overseeing third-party agency partnerships, negotiating terms, and evaluating KPI performance.
• Ability to create impactful business development collateral, pitch decks, and prospective client communication materials.
• Demonstrated success in team leadership, goal setting, cross-functional project management, and annual marketing calendar planning.
• Forward-thinking mindset with experience integrating modern AI-powered tools and digital workflows to improve team efficiency and output.

Requirements

• Do you have a bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Corporate Communications, Public Relations, Business Administration, or other related fields?
• Do you have at least 4 - 7 years of progressive experience in marketing preferably with FMCG brands?
• Do you have Proven track record in brand strategy development, positioning, and end-to-end 360-degree campaign planning across traditional (ATL/BTL) and digital channels?

• Lead comprehensive brand strategy development to strengthen market positioning and brand equity within the highly competitive FMCG landscape.
• Drive integrated campaigns planning, ensuring cohesive messaging across all consumer touchpoints (ATL, BTL, and Digital).
• Media selection and strategic channel mapping to maximize audience engagement and ROI.
• Identify, negotiate, and manage strategic brand partnerships to expand market reach and brand affinity.
• Track and analyse brand health metrics and market trends to ensure the brand remains relevant to consumer attitudes and behaviours.
• Serve as the internal and external communications coordinator, ensuring a unified and compelling brand voice across all corporate and consumer communications.
• Direct social media content management and execute targeted social media advertising strategies to drive engagement and conversion.
• Drive the communications strategy and creation of marketing collateral to professionally resolve customer complaints, safeguard brand integrity, educate customers, and effectively address key pain points.
• Oversee Public Relations (PR) initiatives, media relations, and crisis communication strategies.
• Oversee the creation and advise on the distribution of all internal communications.
• Maintain product listings across company-owned e-commerce platforms and retail partner sites, ensuring accurate titles, descriptions, pricing, and high-quality imagery.
• Liaise with retail partners to upload, schedule, and test on-site promotional banners, discount codes, and/or other seasonal campaign assets.
• Oversee all design and creative projects from conceptualization to final delivery.
• Lead creative assets planning and branding management to maintain strict adherence to brand guidelines.
• Manage the end-to-end process of brand assets development, including directing the production of videos, photography, and other multimedia collateral.
• Ensure rigorous brand assets management, organizing and archiving materials for cross-functional use.
• Act as the primary marketing liaison for product innovation and packaging design, ensuring new products align with consumer insights and brand identity.
• Act as the central liaison for external agencies and consultancies (creative, PR, digital, strategy), setting KPIs, negotiating contracts, and evaluating performance.
• Develop comprehensive brand coaching material for internal teams to foster brand advocacy and alignment across the organization.
• Compile and present executive reporting on campaign ROI, digital performance, brand growth, and overal marketing initiatives.
• Assist in team building by overseeing job board management for relevant departmental roles.
• Lead the creation of business development materials, including client proposals, capability decks, and tailored communication for prospective clients.
• Draft business development emails to support sales initiatives and outreach efforts.
• Lead the execution of strategic and executive projects to achieve key business objectives.
• Lead weekly team meetings to review project reports, align workflows, and optimize team productivity.
• Oversee the planning and execution of the annual marketing calendar.
• Drive team performance management, setting clear goals, conducting regular reviews, and fostering continuous professional development.
• Lead the integration and transition to AI-powered workflows and tools to enhance operational efficiency and creative output.

• Brand strategy development
• Market positioning
• Brand equity
• Integrated campaigns planning
• 360-degree marketing campaigns
• Media selection
• Strategic channel mapping
• Brand partnerships
• Brand health metrics analysis
• Market trend analysis
• Consumer insights
• Digital marketing
• Social media content management
• Social media advertising
• Public Relations (PR)
• Media relations
• Crisis communication
• Internal communications
• E-commerce administration
• Storefront management
• Promotional execution
• Creative direction
• Asset management
• Brand guidelines adherence
• Video production
• Photography
• Multimedia collateral development
• Agency management
• KPI negotiation
• Business development materials creation
• Client proposals
• Capability decks
• Sales initiatives support
• Project management
• Team leadership
• Goal setting
• Cross-functional alignment
• AI-powered workflows integration

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Corporate Communications, Public Relations, Business Administration, or other related fields.
• 4 - 7 years of progressive experience in marketing; experience with FMCG brands is an advantage.
• Proven track record in brand strategy development, positioning, and end-to-end 360-degree campaign planning across traditional (ATL/BTL) and digital channels.
• Expertise in market trend analysis, tracking brand health metrics, and translating consumer insights into actionable growth initiatives.
• Strong strategic channel mapping and media selection capabilities to optimize marketing ROI.
• Proficiency in omni-channel content management, social media advertising strategies, PR, and crisis communications management.
• Adept at managing external brand narrative, internal communication strategies, and customer-facing problem-resolution communications.
• Solid creative vision with experience directing design, video production, photography, packaging design, and multimedia marketing collateral.
• Strict governance of brand guidelines and structured digital asset management systems.
• Experience with storefront administration, digital asset optimization, pricing management, and promotional execution across e-commerce platforms and retail partner channels.
• Strong leadership in overseeing third-party agency partnerships, negotiating terms, and evaluating KPI performance.
• Ability to create impactful business development collateral, pitch decks, and prospective client communication materials.
• Demonstrated success in team leadership, goal setting, cross-functional project management, and annual marketing calendar planning.
• Forward-thinking mindset with experience integrating modern AI-powered tools and digital workflows to improve team efficiency and output.