BRAND ACTIVATIONS MANAGER: FMCG SPORTS, HEALTH & WELLNESS PRODUCTS
Events Manager – Marketing, Activations Specialist – Marketing
Southern Suburbs – Western Cape
Own the moment.
We have a healthy in-office opportunity for a hungry, Mid-weight Brand Activations Manager at an innovative, fast-growing health food & wellness brand based in Cape Town’s Southern Suburbs.
This is a hands-on, high-energy role for someone who lives and breathes sport and wellness and understands how brands show up where it matters most; at races, run clubs, gyms, expos, wellness days and in-store. From event partnerships and branded stands to collateral, sampling and shelf presence, you’ll lead how customers experience the brand in real life, turning first-time interactions into loyal customers.
Working across a growing portfolio with exciting new product launches in the pipeline, you’ll need to be highly organised, creatively sharp, commercially aware and confident taking ideas from concept to execution in a fast-moving environment.
Ready to swing into action? Apply today!
Responsibilities
- Design and execute on-the-ground brand experiences that meet customers where they already are – races, run clubs, gyms, sports clubs, expos, corporate wellness days, lifestyle events, festivals
- Create the moment, not just the presence – sampling that converts, interactions people remember, content people share
- Own the annual activation calendar across all brands and deliver it end-to-end
- Build and nurture relationships with race organisers, run clubs, gym chains, sport clubs, university sport bodies, event partners and corporate wellness teams
- Be on the ground at flagship activations – set up, run, capture insights, follow up
- Identify and book expo presence, race partnerships, run club series, gym partnerships, festival activations, corporate wellness days
- Negotiate partnership terms, booth costs, sampling rights, branding rights, exclusivity where it makes sense
- Manage event logistics – stock, branding, transport, setup, teardown
- Capture ROI per activation (sales lift, samples distributed, leads captured, content created) and feed back to the business
- Brief, manage and quality-control external tasting teams and promoter agencies
- Build, train and manage the in-house promoter team
- Set quality standards and audit delivery – every activation should feel on-brand and like the brand cares
- Build a bench of trusted promoters to scale up for peak season (Feb expo + race season)
- Build the activation plan for every new product launch: where, when, who, how
- Coordinate samples, demo equipment, branded assets, launch events
- Plan the live moments where customers first meet the product
- Coordinate POS material for new product listings and existing range: shelf-talkers, wobblers, displays
- Work with sales and partners to make sure stores supporting key events and customer journeys have material on shelf
- Brief POS suppliers and printers; manage delivery timelines
- Own the activations and brand experience budget
- Track spend by activity, brand and channel
- Monthly spend report and quarterly ROI review to CRO and CEO
- Brief and manage external activation agencies, POS suppliers, signage suppliers, promoter agencies
- Negotiate rates, manage delivery quality, hold vendors to deadlines
- Tight loop with the Digital Marketing Coordinator – every activation should fuel digital content and every digital push should support live activations
- Coordinate with sales on activations that drive listings and reorders
- Feed market insights and customer reactions back to leadership and NPD.
Requirements
The successful candidate must have/be:
- 3-5 years in brand activations, experiential marketing, event marketing or brand management with a strong activations component
- Food, beverage or lifestyle brand background strongly preferred (sport, health, fitness or wellness adjacent a plus)
- Proven track record running on-the-ground brand experiences end-to-end
- Demonstrated budget ownership – concrete examples of size and complexity
- Established network in the South African events, sport, fitness and activations space a strong plus
- Instinct for what makes a great brand moment: modern, memorable, on-brand, worth sharing
- Strong organisational skills: multiple events, partnerships and launches running at once
- Comfortable on the ground: early starts, weekend events, setup and teardown
- Ability to take an idea or blank page and run it through to execution with minimal hand-holding
- Natural networker: building relationships with event organisers, partners, clubs and venues
- Budget discipline
- Strong vendor and agency management
- Collaborative with sales, digital and leadership
If you don’t have the relevant experience required for this role, please consider your application unsuccessful.
City: Cape Town, Southern Suburbs
Level of Expertise: Mid
Remuneration: Negotiable
Consultant: Tamara
Reference Number: #Tam918