Associate Director of Marketing, Global M&M’S Stores

Mars•Chicago, IL

12d•$134,400 - $184,800•Onsite

About The Position

M&M’S is embarking on a transformative growth phase with a vision to double its business through a unified 'One M&M’S' team approach. This strategy aims to leverage the unique ecosystem across its core CPG Brand and Retail business. The Associate Director of Marketing, Global M&M’S Stores, is crucial in establishing the retail stores as central to the M&M’S brand experience. This role will translate global and regional brand strategies, campaigns, and product launches into impactful, store-first activations that create immersive and engaging brand experiences. By utilizing consumer and shopper insights, along with data-driven media plans, the position will ensure M&M’S Stores effectively reach target audiences with the right message at the opportune moment. The primary goals are to drive consistent traffic, enhance consumer brand connections, increase shareability and impact, and position M&M’S stores as essential destinations for both local patrons and international visitors.

Requirements

6–10+ years of marketing experience, with a primary focus on experiential retail, flagship environments, or branded destination retail.
Proven track record of in-store activation & programming: Demonstrated experience conceptualizing and executing immersive, store-first experiences, character/IP activations, and interactive consumer touchpoints that drive foot traffic, dwell time, and basket size.
IP & Partnership Integration: Experience translating high-profile entertainment properties, character franchises, or licensed brand partnerships (e.g., Disney, Marvel, Star Wars) into physical retail activations and merchandising storylines.
Foot-Traffic & Commercial Growth: Proven success in designing data-driven traffic-driving campaigns (local media, earned PR, influencer, geo-targeted digital) with measurable ROI and conversion impact.
Matrixed Stakeholder Management: Strong ability to collaborate seamlessly across visual merchandising, retail operations, store design, global brand teams, licensing partners, and external agencies.
Budget & Commercial Ownership: Hands-on experience managing annual marketing budgets, agency partners, and ROI tracking for multi-location or flagship retail footprints.

Nice To Haves

Global Flagship & High-Footprint Retail: Direct experience managing marketing for high-profile global flagships or tourist-destination retail locations.
Omnichannel & Physical-to-Digital (Phygital) Journeys: Proven capability in connecting in-store experiences with digital platforms (e.g., MMS.com, app integrations, AR/interactive store elements, loyalty, social content generation).
Earned Media & Content Engine Strategy: Experience turning retail stores into dynamic social content hubs that organically generate press coverage and viral consumer reach.
CPG-to-Retail Synergy: Experience navigating the intersection between global CPG brand management and brick-and-mortar retail execution.

Responsibilities

Lead Activation Planning: Develop and own a forward-looking (1-3 year) retail marketing activation plan and roadmap, in partnership with Global / Regional Brand teams and Retail Merchandise team.
Retail Innovation & Strategy: Lead the retail store innovation strategy and pipeline (anchored in data/insights, in partnership with Merchandise and R&D), bringing the M&M’S global brand strategy to life through compelling, store-first immersive experiences.
Flagship Experience Translation: Drive briefs to translate brand campaigns and product launches into integrated, store-first marketing plans that elevate the in-store experience in partnership with Visual Merchandising and the Experience Team.
Omnichannel Marketing Integration: Collaborate with MMS.com, regional brand teams, and social teams to build and execute integrated marketing plans that create seamless online-to-offline consumer journeys.
Traffic-Driving Media Strategy: Partner with media agencies to design and deploy data-driven paid media strategies that efficiently drive foot traffic and conversion, establishing clear KPIs and attribution models.
Performance Management & Insights: Monitor and analyze campaign and traffic performance, translating insights into actionable recommendations to continuously optimize marketing effectiveness.
Budget Management: Own and manage the annual advertising and marketing budget, partnering with Finance to track spending and optimize allocation for maximum business impact.
Innovation and Test-and-Learn: Champion a culture of experimentation by piloting new, brand-cohesive, traffic-driving tactics, including limited-time experiences, partnerships, and emerging media channels.
Experiential & Content Platform Development: Position and drive stores as dynamic content engines by creating shareable, culturally relevant moments that fuel earned media and social amplification.
Stakeholder Influence & Alignment: Clearly communicate strategies, results, and learnings to build alignment across senior leadership and cross-functional partners globally.