Vice President of Marketing, Kobo
+ Performance based annual bonuses & Stock options
Digital bookseller
Posted today
Digital bookseller
501-1000 employees
Posted today
+ Performance based annual bonuses & Stock options
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To bring the power of reading to the world.
Role
Who you are
- If you’re looking for a company that inspires passion, personal, and professional growth – join Kobo and come help us on our mission of making reading lives better
- Experience integrating 360 marketing and communications plans with experience depth in one or more functional practice area
- Ability to influence, lead change and partner across teams
- Bachelor's Degree and/or relevant Post-graduate Diploma
- 15+ years of experience in senior brand and/or marketing communications roles, preferably within ecommerce, consumer electronics and/or media/content industries
- A proven track record in building and establishing brands, setting strategy, and turning customer insights into compelling creative and campaigns
- Appetite and aptitude to work at pace and scale in a fast-evolving environment
- Ability to attract talent, build and motivate teams, and cultivate effective relationships with agency partners
- Exceptional leadership, communication, and presentation skills
- Ability to balance vision and passion with streamlined processes, execution and budget management
- A skilled collaborator that can convey complex ideas and plans clearly and persuasively
- Expertise in using analytics, KPIs, and market research to drive priorities and inform decisions
- Both B2C and B2B experience ideal
- International experience an asset
What the job involves
- Reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer, the Vice President, Marketing will lead the development and execution of brand and communications strategies to promote Rakuten Kobo’s vision, engage deeply with our customers, reach new audiences, and drive business growth in over 30 countries
- This requires a balance of strategic vision and operational excellence, with a passion for customers who put reading at the centre of their lives
- The VP, Marketing will lead a talented team of professionals in PR, Social, Content Marketing, Creative Services, Product Marketing and Integrated Marketing Strategy and identify opportunities to build a best in class, centre of excellence for brand marketing and communications, ensuring quality and efficiency
- An inspirational leader and collaborator, the VP will model a learning-hungry culture, understanding customer needs and crafting solutions to grow brand awareness, familiarity, consideration, reputation and NPS
- They will elevate an international challenger brand and create competitive product positioning, plan integrated marketing campaigns, and engage audiences through product lifecycle communications to support customer acquisition, retention and sales objectives
- Set the optimal team and external resource support structure and way of working to deliver on the brand and business targets
- Foster a culture of creativity, collaboration, and accountability, ensuring team members have clear roles, goals and development paths
- Manage a global budget to deliver on territory-specific targets
- Optimize resource allocation and production investments to maximize ROI
- Manage the 360-marketing campaigns calendar, ensuring integrated plans have the right balance of investment relative to the brand and revenue growth objectives
- Increase brand awareness and consideration
- Develop a clear messaging hierarchy that aligns product/service benefits with core motivations of booklovers through the customer journey: from curiosity to conversion
- Use customer research and channel specific insights to create content that has measured impact on consumer intent and customer engagement
- Work closely with product, sales and marketing channel leads (B2B/B2C) to develop relevant and competitive positioning, integrated campaign planning and creative support throughout the product/customer lifecycle
- In partnership with regional leads, develop brand marketing strategies that resonate with local audiences but also connect to the global brand promise with creative consistency
- Monitor campaign performance, brand health, and competitor activities to identify growth opportunities
- Embrace an objective test and learn approach to ensure the right balance between what has worked in the past and new ways of marketing, using insights to educate and inspire teams
- Oversee media outreach, product PR and thought-leadership initiatives with agency partners around the world
- Create a cadence of storytelling that elevates employer brand, CEO and executive profile, product/services to enhance visibility, reputation and brand affinity
Our take
Long-form content is having a resurgence. That’s great news for the e-reader industry, of which Rakuten’s Kobo battles with Amazon’s Kindle for ownership.
The e-reader giant has changed tack in recent years to pursue growth via integrations and partnerships. A notable example is its native device integration with Pocket, a wishlist app loved by millions of readers.
The company is hoping that these partnerships and product improvements will allow it to finally break the US market where it most struggles for market share with Kindle.
Amazon has consistently shown its willingness to drop prices to protect its position in any market it plays in. That means that Kobo will have to demonstrate true product superiority to make a dent while protecting its margins.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Few candidates hear
back within 2 weeks
Company
Company benefits
- 4-day summer holiday weekends
- Competitive health benefits
- Commuting allowance
- Salary, bonus & stock options
- Global projects & opportunities
- Dog-friendly
- Happy Hour
- Casual dress
- Maternity/parental leave top-up
- Free eReader
- Fitness allowance & gym discount
- Recognition programs
- Buddy program
- Training & development opportunities
- Healthy snacks
- Open concept
- Kobo Café
- Sports teams
Company values
- Build trust & teamwork
- Share knowledge
- Demonstrate transparency
- Favour work/life balance
- Celebrate our achievements
- Show compassion
Company HQ
Liberty Village, Toronto, ON
Articles
Leadership
Michael Tamblyn
(CEO)Part of the founding team of Kobo, Michael previously held the role of Chief Content Officer. Michael has also been the founding CEO of the supply chain agency, BookNet Canada and co-founded Canada’s first online bookstore, Bookshelf.ca, purchased by Indigo Books & Music in 1998.
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