أحمد هزاع

Highlights:
• Successfully increased company’s leadership in the assigned brands. Increased market share of Tank cartridges by 11% (from 27% in 2016 to 38% at the end of Q3 2018) and increased overall revenues by 40% in 2017 against 2016. Projected to achieve 50% increase by end-2018 compared to 2017 revenues.
• Collaborated with R&D to provide vital inputs and feedback for innovations in product design and packaging of Tank cartridges.
• Increased the market share of Koldair water dispensers from 20% in 2017 to 25% in 2018. Grew revenue by 36% in 2016-2017 and by 57% in 2017-end 2018
• Led market-leading innovations in changes to product design of Koldair water dispensers.
• Currently leading a program for launching of air conditioners under the Koldair brand by 2019.
• Met the worldwide business plan objectives of sales, net income, gross profit and price on an annual basis, and received accolades for the same.
• Successfully managed expenses within budget under challenging and competitive market conditions.

Key Responsibilities:
• Manage 2 of the company’s flagship brands - Tank with a product range of cartridges for water purification and Koldair range of water dispensers.
• Develop the product marketing plan and create associated product roadmaps to achieve the marketing objectives of penetration and growth.
• Work closely with the Sales Manager, shoppers, and customers to develop business plans related to area of focus (i.e. business segment, product, region, etc). Collaborate with other key functional areas like Operations and Finance to execute the plan.
• Establish product launch plan aligned to the product strategy, positioning, market availability and visibility and online presence to deliver predefined initial sales volumes.
• Track and analyze inputs including retail audits, market research inputs and customer insights to identify new business opportunities including product innovation and product enhancements.
• Collaborate with the research and development (R&D) and technical application teams to transform innovative business ideas to saleable products.
• Develop product strategies and pricing strategies to achieve targeted sales volumes, revenues and margins based on key parameters of demand, supply, costs and competition.
• Formulate accurate sales forecasts and budgets and monitor marketing expenses against approved budgets to identify and correct variances.
• Produce analytical sales and marketing reports on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis to enabling the management in arriving at optimum business decisions.
• Prepare and track records of the brand sales performance including advertising and sales promotion spending against budgets.
• Manage the planning and execution of consumer and trade promotion programs and marketing events to create, build and sustain brand awareness and equity.
• Develop and implement plans to achieve P&L objectives for each product and channel to achieve and maintain overall category profitability targets.
• Evaluate competitor performance and market trends and formulate effective action plans with timelines and required spend to leverage opportunities and counter threats.
• Support better positioning and brand optimization of company products through improvements in pricing, distribution and point of sale materials (POSM).
• Utilize market research data provided by the 3rd party market research agency along with insights gained through ongoing visits to customers and non-customers for specifying market requirements for current and future penetration.
• Build competencies of sales, ushers and customer service teams by providing required product and commercial training.
• Track various market segments to identify and leverage opportunities channel development to achieve better product penetration and sales.

Highlights
• Increased revenue in the snacks category (Cracky brand) by 5% in 2014-2015 and by 40% in 2015-2016 and increased revenue in the biscuits category by 30% in 2015-2016
• Led the program for repackaging of the Cracky brand to improve visibility and drive sales across channels.
• Established the road-to-market plans for the snacks and biscuits categories.
• Created breakthrough branding communication that built brand equity and ensured long-term growth in the business.

Key Responsibilities:
• Developed, updated and monitored implementation of a tactical plan to deliver the company’s strategic product objectives.
• Managed external marketing partner, media and digital agencies in planning and executing below the table (BTL) activities to promote the brands and products across channels.
• Leveraged different strategies for branding and customer acquisition across various channels that included offline/online; ATL/BTL, and online content marketing.
• Established and executed a digital strategy for the brand to create, reinforce and sustain brand identity and equity among consumers, customers and other stakeholders.
• Optimized the brand and product portfolio by to analyze sales data of each product, segregate performing products from underperforming ones and eliminate underperforming products.
• Developed pricing strategies in coordination with the finance department by analyzing manufacturing and packaging costs of each product, determining profit margins and setting selling prices.
• Managed brand building activities including development of annual brand plans and coordinating execution with sales teams.
• Coordinated with 3rd party agency in crafting and creating programs for effective brand positioning and development of briefs.
• Participated in new product introductions through delivery of internal and external presentations, development of marketing materials and establishment of business objectives and communication strategy.
• Coordinated the development of marketing communication materials including catalogs, social media content, brochures, packaging and in-store displays.
• Planned and implemented direct marketing activities for the sweet, chocolate and ice cream categories ensuring effective messaging to target audiences.
• Supervised activation teams in key accounts and public platforms like malls and universities deploying tools like giveaways, special offers, product samplings and point of sale displays.
• Conducted blind product testing activities in various sectors to identify consumer preferences based on parameters like taste, smell and sugar volume for effective product differentiation.
• Administered the marketing and trade marketing budgets, monitored and controlled spends to achieve best ROI.

Provided consulting services to clients in the mid-size business and start-up categories on establishing market presence through pricing strategies, marketing activities and development of marketing materials. Contributed 5% to clients’ bottom line.