Consumer Insights Manager – Spirits

ROLE OVERVIEW

The Consumer Insights Manager will drive strategic consumer insights to inform the company’s brand, portfolio, and innovation strategy within the South African spirits market. This role is deeply consumer-centric, focusing on understanding consumer needs, preferences, and behaviours. In partnership with the Head of Strategy and Insights, this individual will lead brand health tracking studies, manage the rollout of a new consumer segmentation study, identify white spaces in the portfolio, and contribute to the development of the long-term portfolio and innovation strategy. They will also play a crucial role in ad-hoc consumer research, brand development, and media insights, working closely with marketing team and the media buying agency.

 

QUALIFICATION

Relevant tertiary qualification

 

EXPERIENCE AND MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

5 years’ experience in consumer insights with strong knowledge of consumer behaviour, trends, and attitudes

 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic

• Oversee the rollout and embedding of a new consumer segmentation study, ensuring its integration into strategic planning and marketing activities.
• Identify white spaces in the spirits portfolio by analysing market gaps and consumer needs, supporting the development of a differentiated, future-focused portfolio.
• Collaborate on the development and execution of the portfolio and innovation strategy, providing insights on consumer trends and market dynamics.
• Leverage shopper intelligence to understand how consumer behaviour translates into purchasing decisions at key retail touchpoints, ensuring insights drive brand, portfolio, and channel strategies.

 Operational

• Lead brand health tracking studies to monitor and assess the performance of the brand portfolio over time, identifying areas for growth and improvement.
• Conduct ad-hoc consumer research in partnership with research agencies, including focus groups, communication/ creative testing, media effectiveness studies, and testing of innovations such as pack designs and concepts.
• Ensure research projects are conducted with rigor, managing timelines and budgets effectively to deliver actionable insights.
• Utilize shopper insights to evaluate path-to-purchase dynamics, in-store behaviour, and category drivers that influence brand selection, ensuring insights inform trade marketing, retail activation, and omnichannel engagement strategies
• Work closely with the media buying agency to provide media insights that support the effectiveness of media plans and optimize media spend.

 Innovation

• Collaborate with innovation teams to track emerging consumer trends and use insights to drive the development of new product offerings and support team on innovation business cases.
• Monitor competitive dynamics and consumer responses to innovation, providing feedback to adjust strategies and optimize product launches.

 People

• Contribute to the training and development of team members by sharing knowledge on consumer insights methodologies, tools, and best practices.
• Build strong relationships with internal teams, fostering a collaborative approach to integrating consumer insights into brand, portfolio, innovation and channel strategies.
• Develop strong partnerships with external partners to ensure high-quality research execution and data analysis.

 

SKILLS AND ATTRIBUTES

• Expertise in conducting strategic consumer research, brand health tracking, and segmentation studies.
• Ability to lead and manage both long-term strategic projects and ad-hoc research studies.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to present insights clearly.
• Strong collaboration skills, working with cross-functional teams and external partners.
• Highly analytical, with the ability to turn data into actionable insights that drive decision-making.

 

This role is open to individuals from all backgrounds, however preference will be given to equity candidates.