Event Director

**Company Description**

We organise over 500 large-scale branded and transaction-oriented events in 14 specialist markets. These are typically not-to-be-missed annual events where buyers and sellers build relationships, see and show products and do business.

We also provide year-round online platforms where companies showcase their businesses and products and buyers conduct research, generating valuable leads, and we provide data and digital content that supports the flow of knowledge and transactions in markets.

The Role

The Event (Brand) Director overarching remit is to manage a group of event brands and constituent products so that they meet the needs of a defined set of customer communities and markets

The role comprises of four key components: strategy and growth; excellence and innovation; operational leadership and building communities & eminence. Aligned with these areas of focus, the Brand Director will have responsibility for and be performance managedagainst the financial, operational and customer performance and outlook of the brand.

Job Summary / Responsibilities

We are seeking an experienced, confident, and inspiring brand / event leader to drive growth & innovation for the Food Ingredients (Fi) events within Food EMEA portfolio of Informa Markets.

The role plays an important part of the cross-functional senior leadership team, playing a crucial role in the management and development of the Fi events brands experiences, both online and in-person.

This will require to make decisions to deliver a commercially successful, financially viable brand group one built for the customer with a growing market presence, engaged community and outstanding customer experience.

Familiar and comfortable working in matrix structures where functional and commercial leadership and responsibility are shared.

Strategy and growth
- The custodian of the brand they lead; the figurehead both within the business unit and in the marketplace
- Set, articulate, and deliver on the brands rolling three-year strategy, and the objectives contained within, supported by brand managers and executives
- Deliver on financial, operational and customer oriented
- brand objectives (e.g. brand profitability, new business and customer retention, brand eminence, customer satisfaction)
- Lead to shape Brand strategies which look to seize new market opportunities, or grow the brand into adjacent sectors or customer segments (across geographies, platforms, and verticals)
- Lead on the development of brand (event/product) pricing strategies, based on strategic layout of an event space, product bundling options and commercial drivers
- Support the development of key strategic partnerships (e.g. IJV partners, Media and/or Data & Insights Partners) and management of association relationships

Excellence and innovation:

- Support on the design and delivery of outstanding customer experience, working with relevant teams to create innovative and interactive experiences at events, both online and in-person
- Collaborate with the EMEA Product Management team to enhance our online event offering and engagement
- Work with the event teams to come up with creative and new ideas to engage customers at and around an event. Prototyping new ideas and innovative approaches with an agile approach
- Support on the longer-term planning of event design to maintain relevance and increase engagement of an event for the customer through interpretation of customer insights conversations and data, supported by Marketing and Customer Insights to evolve eventrelevance and value

Operational leadership:

- Manage the brand P&L in collaboration with global partners, JVs and Finance
- Provide accurate and timely reporting of brand KPIs and forecasts
- Manage the weekly collaboration across the Business Unit functions with Sales, Marketing, Event & Digital Operations, Customer services, and Finance
- Collaborate with the commercial team to build out the define the annual financial plan, revenue forecasts and shape initial brand growth targets
- Manage the day-to-day relationships with relevant brand joint venture, ensuring the overall brand is represented, connected, and being managed globally across geographies
- Responsible for the overall customer experience, both online & in-person
- Line management of Brand Executive
- Support where necessary in the annual financial planning and quarterly forecasting meetings reviews
- Support in negotiations of venue and supplier contracts which support an event, collaborating with Event Operations and regional/global procurement teams

Building community and eminence:

- Build relationships with the brands most strategically important existing and prospective customers and the broader customer community: understanding market trends and sentiments and play these insights back into other business teams to inform how theysell, market or design the brand (product/event)
- Co-ordinate the dissemination of knowledge and market insight to relevant colleagues, while retaining responsibility for converting this knowledge into measurable actions and results
- Understand and shape market dialogue: offering comment, leading the commissioning of thought pieces and pushing the portfolio agenda to build eminence
- Represent the brands by being an industry figure: attending and hosting events, meetings, and conferences

**Qualifications**

Qualities needed for the role
- Attention to detail and time management
- Ability to clearly and succinctly present to partners, customers, and internal stakeholders.
- Curious, self-starter mentality who is resourceful and a natural collaborator.