| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Marketing |
| Level | Senior management |
| Reports to | Chief Marketing Officer |
| Direct reports | Brand Manager, Marketing Communications Manager, Content Marketing Manager |
| Experience | 12 to 16 years in brand management or agency roles, including 4 years leading brand teams |
Head of Brand job description template
Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.
Job title: Head of Brand
Department: Marketing
Reports to: Chief Marketing Officer
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
A Head of Brand is responsible for what the brand stands for and how it looks, sounds and behaves wherever customers meet it. They own brand positioning, identity and guidelines, lead the big creative campaigns with agencies, and read brand health through research. The role sits under the CMO or Vice President Marketing in consumer, retail, financial services and technology companies, and works alongside the digital and growth teams without owning their channel targets.
Key responsibilities
- Define the brand's positioning, promise, personality and architecture, and get leadership agreement on them before creative work begins.
- Own the identity system, including logo use, colours, typography, tone of voice and photography style, and publish guidelines for every team and agency.
- Write and approve creative briefs for major campaigns, run creative reviews with the agency and decide which routes go to research or production.
- Plan the annual brand campaign calendar and above-the-line media priorities with the media agency, within the approved budget.
- Commission brand health tracking and pre-tests of key creatives, and turn the findings into changes in messaging or media weight.
- Check packaging, store branding, website design and sales material for brand consistency before they are released.
- Manage brand partnerships, sponsorships and celebrity or influencer associations, including contracts, usage rights and renewals.
- Watch competitor campaigns and category conversations, and brief the leadership team on threats to the brand's position.
- Handle brand risk with the corporate communications team, including controversies, misuse of the logo and trademark disputes.
- Coach and review the brand managers and communications team, and set the creative quality bar for the function.
Requirements
- MBA or PGDM in Marketing
- A degree in mass communication, design or advertising is an advantage
- Earlier experience at a creative or media agency is an advantage
- 12 to 16 years in brand management or agency roles, including 4 years leading brand teams
KRAs and KPIs for a Head of Brand
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Awareness and consideration | Aided awareness and consideration in the brand tracker up by the agreed points within the year |
| Creative effectiveness | Every major campaign pre-tested, with recall or persuasion scores at or above the research agency's norm |
| Share of voice | Category share of voice at or above the brand's target share of market |
| Brand consistency | At least 95 percent of audited touchpoints following the brand guidelines in each half year |
| Campaign delivery | Major campaigns released on the planned date and within the approved production budget |
| Brand safety | No brand controversy or trademark misuse case left unresolved for more than 30 days |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: Brand tracking study reports, TV ratings and media plan data, Social listening tool, Adobe Acrobat for creative review, MS PowerPoint, Digital asset library.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: Vice President Marketing, Chief Marketing Officer, Marketing Director
Interview questions for a Head of Brand
- Show us a brand you repositioned. What did the research say, and what changed in the creative?
- How do you write a creative brief that an agency can actually use?
- Your tracker shows awareness rising but consideration falling. What could explain it?
- How do you keep the brand consistent when regional teams produce their own material?
- A celebrity ambassador lands in a controversy on the day your campaign launches. What are your first steps?
- How do you choose between two creative routes when their research scores are close?
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What does a head of brand do?
A head of brand decides what the brand stands for and makes sure every campaign, pack, store and social post reflects it. They own positioning and identity guidelines, lead major creative campaigns with agencies, commission brand health research and protect the brand from misuse and controversy.
What is the difference between a head of brand and a head of marketing?
A head of marketing is responsible for the whole function, including demand generation, digital, sales support and the budget. A head of brand focuses on positioning, identity, creative campaigns and brand health, and in larger companies usually reports to the marketing head or the CMO.
What skills does a head of brand need?
The role needs sharp consumer understanding, strong creative judgement, the ability to write clear briefs and read research, and enough media knowledge to plan campaigns. Just as important is the ability to persuade senior leaders and hold a consistent brand line when business teams want quick changes.