Senior Director, Influencer Marketing
Job Title
Team Name:
Senior Director, Influencer Marketing
Requisition ID
R016176
Job Description
About Activision Blizzard
Our mission, to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment, has never been more important. Through communities rooted in our video game franchises, we enable hundreds of millions of people to experience joy, thrill, and achievement. We enable social connections through the lens of fun, and we foster purpose and a sense of accomplishment through healthy competition. Like sport, but with greater accessibility, our players can find purpose and meaning through competitive gaming. Video games, unlike any other social or entertainment media, can break down the barriers that can inhibit tolerance and understanding. Celebrating differences is at the core of our culture and ensures we can create games for players of diverse backgrounds in the 190 countries our games are played.
Learn more information about Activision Blizzard and how we connect and engage the world through epic entertainment on the company's website, www.activisionblizzard.com. Description
The next couple of years will be explosive for Blizzard Entertainment, with an outstanding pipeline of releases across all our franchises. We will see innovations in curated player experiences, multi-platform gameplay, subscription-based content, mobile game development, and a move to always-on community and player connectivity.
And in this new era, this leader will help build pop culture ubiquity for all our tentpole franchises. They will extend our brands authentically in ways that engage core audiences and ignite and excite new ones; they will add cultural fuel to our marketing; and add meaning to marketing creative ideas.
As part of the global marketing team, the Senior Director, Influencer Marketing will lead all aspects of the activation for globally recognized and iconic off-platform influencers and on-platform creators who support Blizzard’s marketing efforts.
This role will help the company achieve perception and conversion goals through building and maintaining best-in-class influencer strategies and programming.
This leader will be focused on developing and fine-tuning influencer strategies that raise the profile of the company’s franchises in popular culture, fosters a deep sense of community among players, and grows both brand engagement and business growth. The role is extremely cross-collaborative, working closely with external agencies, partnerships, integrated marketing, content, and social to expand the role of the influencer as a key brand channel within national and international campaigns.
More Specifically, Responsibilities Include
- Define and lead Blizzard’s influencer marketing strategy that can work across geographic territories, audiences, and verticals. For example, streamers, content creators, social/cultural influencers, and high-profile celebrity ambassadors across the main crossover verticals of music, sports, fashion, film, and TV.
- Build and roll out influencer-based marketing playbooks and platforms which use the appeal, expertise, and networks of individual influencers: to connect to specific consumer audiences; build the pop culture resonance of Blizzard’s franchises, and amplify other marketing initiatives.
- Build out a high-performance team of 4 influencer marketing talent with expertise across a range of platforms and the main crossover verticals noted above.
- Manage and evaluate external influencer marketing agencies and other partners.
- Network with and truly partner high profile creative talent.
- Construct flexible and creative endorsement deals in collaboration with legal teams etc.
- Establish disciplined yet pragmatic processes for:
- Strategically identifying and evaluating potential influencers
- Establishing and cultivating meaningful relationships with influencers o Establishing formal relationships (when appropriate)
- Measuring and evaluating impact and effectiveness/ROI
- Testing, learning, applying, relearning.
- Report to the Global Head of Marketing for Blizzard.
Year 1 Success
- Define and develop a tiered ambassador program to support all Blizzard initiatives.
- Sign ~10 tier 1 ambassadors that are authentic to the brand and successfully deploy them to support major go-to-market beats throughout the year and beyond.
- Create a seeding strategy that engages ~50 tier 2 and tier 3 ambassadors.
- Partner with the Blizzcon team to activate ambassadors at a large-scale launch event in 2023.
- Win back lapsed players and build awareness with new players in culture.
- Drive the creative strategy behind influencer activities.
- Create incremental media value of ~$75M in PR, content, viral, sharing, etc.
Position Requirements
The ideal candidate will have unquestionable character and absolute integrity. They will be a proven influencer leader with creativity and a track record in improving consumer engagement levels in global brands. Additionally, they should possess exceptional attention to detail, strong initiative, and critical thinking skills, while serving as a hands-on leader and collaborator. Specific requirements include:
- Demonstrated success in influencer marketing within global consumer brand organizations and/or influencer marketing agencies.
- Expert level understanding of, and highly connected among, progressive pop-culture communities in one or most of the sports, entertainment, music, or fashion verticals.
- Being a natural media junkie, with an authentic passion for the leading social and digital marketing channels.
- Ability to clearly articulate how to curate and program influencer content with the most effective distribution platform.
- Proven ability to drive through influence in matrixed environments. Independent-minded yet open, direct, informative, and collaborative with the right level of diplomacy. Favorably influences cross-functional discussions.
- Outstanding leadership skills with a history of recruiting and developing best-in-class teams and a reputation as an inspiring and motivational leader.
- Outstanding communication skills – verbal and written, effective at Board and executive leadership levels, and the cultural sensitivity to work well with a diverse group of colleagues.
- Hands-on, entrepreneurial style with a strong bias for action and results; thrive in unstructured environments with a focus on innovation; collaborative and without ego.
