Senior Manager, Creative

Stellenbeschreibung:

The Senior Manager, Creative (Shopper) Germany is responsible for developing, localizing and executing shopper‑focused content and in‑store activation assets that bring Coca‑Cola brands to life across the retail and away‑from‑home landscape. This new local role enhances local relevance, commercial integration, and end‑to‑end creative excellence from sell‑in to shelf. The position ensures that local brand plans translate into breakthrough, insight‑driven shopper assets optimized for POS, retail media, grocery multiples, convenience, forecourts, and foodservice outlets. Working within the German IMX team, this Senior Manager collaborates closely with local brand teams, Commercial, Shopper, RGM, bottler partners, and external agencies to deliver shopper‑ready creative that converts demand into purchase, while strengthening brand equity at the point of choice. The role is hands‑on, executional, and requires a strong understanding of shopper communication principles, design know‑how, creative judgment, channel and retail understanding, familiarity with bottler dynamics, and the ability to work autonomously without central support.

Responsibilities

Shopper Strategy & Development

Develop shopper‑focused creative ideas and activation concepts that connect brand strategy to retail execution across customers and channels.
Translate brand narratives, global creative ideas, and IMX plans into channel‑specific simple and breakthrough shopper creative that drives conversion and visibility.
Ensure creative solutions reflect shopper insights and principles, category triggers, customer needs, and consumption occasions.
Work and collaborate with the central Shopper team to scale and deploy best‑in‑class shopper toolkits.

POS, Retail & Customer Specific Creative

Lead creation or adaptation of in‑store and POS assets including shelf strips, gondola ends, wobblers, barkers, display units, digital commerce assets, retail media assets, and promotional material.
Work with bottlers to localize central shopper material to local realities, mastering Coca‑Cola Tech tools such as ShopX.
Implement local campaigns leveraging a 360‑integrated activation ecosystem when applicable.
Adapt master creative assets into contextually relevant, retailer‑specific executions that respect customer guidelines while maintaining brand integrity.
Develop or adapt creative for sell‑in materials (customer decks, visuals, mockups, display concepts) while working closely with Commercial and Shopper teams.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

Partner with local brand teams to ensure end‑to‑end integration of creative across brand, shopper, and commercial plans.
Work closely with Commercial & Channel, RGM, Shopper Marketing, Insights, and bottler partners to optimize creative impact at the point of choice.
Ensure creative assets ladder up to IMX and Total Connections plans.
Partner and align with the central Shopper team to ensure local plans utilize best practice and latest insights.
Deploy the latest shopper tools to streamline and increase efficiencies and speed.

Agency & Partner Management

Manage external creative, design, and production agencies to execute high‑quality shopper assets efficiently and on‑time.
Provide clear briefs, feedback loops, and creative direction to ensure output meets strategic and executional standards.
When needed, produce or adapt lightweight creative content using design tools such as Illustrator and Photoshop.

Creative Excellence & Performance

Ensure all shopper creative adheres to brand guidelines, design systems, VIS, and packaging principles outlined by the central OU Shopper team.
Evaluate creative effectiveness through A/B testing, AI testing tools, and shopper behavioural studies.
Identify opportunities to innovate with new shopper formats, retail technologies, digital signage, and retail media platforms.

Ways of Working & Leadership Behaviours

Operate independently as a hands‑on shopper expert within the local network model (no central support).
Collaborate, share and act as a key community member with the Central OU Shopper/IMX team.
Bring curiosity, problem‑solving, and a startup mindset to unlock shopper impact with limited budgets.
Influence without authority, partnering with cross‑functional teams and bottlers to champion creative excellence at shelves.

Qualifications & Requirements

Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in Creative Design, Graphic Design, Marketing, Communications, or a related field.
5+ years of creative experience in agency or client‑side roles with shopper, retail, or POS content development.
German language essential.
Demonstrated experience creating shopper, retailer, digital, social, and experiential creative assets.
Strong conceptual and design skills, with the ability to both ideate and execute.
Understanding of print and production guidelines and confidence with Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign).
Experience working with agencies, printers, production partners, and cross‑functional teams.
Strong understanding of bottlers’ dynamics in retail environments, shopper behaviour, and customer‑specific creative requirements.
Excellent collaboration, communication, and stakeholder influencing skills.
Ability to manage multiple creative projects simultaneously under tight deadlines.
Comfortable working in a fast‑paced, multicultural, highly networked environment.

What we can do for you

Shopper Impact: drive how consumers experience Coca‑Cola brands at the most critical moment ‑ the point of purchase.
Creative Playground: opportunity to experiment with shopper formats, retail innovation, and new creative technologies.
Local Empowerment: full ownership of GB shopper creative – a new, high‑visibility capability in a Top 9 market.
Creative Culture: work alongside best‑in‑class brand leaders, agencies, and designers in a creative, innovative environment.