Crafting Legends, pouring memories.

Our mission at Round 2 Spirits is to develop innovative, disruptive, and iconic spirits brands that capture consumers’ imagination and create memorable, shared experiences.

As our name implies, we’ve done this before. We were founded by a small group of seasoned executives – all close friends – who previously worked together to create and lead prominent global spirits brands. With Round 2 Spirits, we recognized a tremendous opportunity to leverage our collective experience to identify scalable consumer opportunities for innovative products that aren’t being addressed by today’s brands.

Bringing together a team of top industry talent who all share a commitment to building high-quality, world-class artisanal spirits, and have launched our first brand nationally this past year.

Job Description

The Brand Development Manager is responsible for building consumer and trade awareness, enthusiasm and demand for the first brand released from Round 2 Spirits - Weber Ranch 1902 Vodka - through a range of activities that support our brand across a dedicated territory. These activities and deliverables will be varied, with an emphasis on developing trade relationships in the on and off premise and executing local consumer events that directly engage our target audience to drive product trial.

The BDM will report to the Region Vice President and will serve as an ambassador and brand advisor to consumers, wholesalers, and trade. The BDM will also represent the brand at regional and local industry and consumer events and will serve as an important social media liaison for the brand in the local market, creating hyper-local content in real time, and providing that to the marketing team for syndication.

Core Responsibilities and Activities

Brand Representation. Be the face of our brand within the dedicated market and instill brand story and knowledge in multiple avenues each day.
Industry Education. Promote our brand within the targeted consumer audience, including trade and wholesalers.
Distributor Leadership. Drive weekly priorities with Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits (SGWS) through ride-withs, surveys, incentives, and programming; influence KPIs and secure distributor mindshare.
Key Account Development. Open, grow, and sustain relationships with priority on-premise accounts, securing menu placements and driving reorder velocity.
Identify, Execute and Recap Local Events. Own consumer-facing events and activations; ensure thorough recaps and ROI-focused reporting on outcomes.
Social Media Presence. Utilize all social platforms to support brand and company initiatives. All social media activities must follow company polices.
Secure New Opportunities. Seek and secure new brand and consumer opportunities within the assigned market to increase awareness and consumer engagement.
Maintain Brand Placements. Promote and extend all brand relationships within the dedicated market.
Market Mentorship. Share best practices and help lift newer BDMs through coaching moments, weekly wins, and collaborative planning.
Reporting & Insights. Submit clear weekly recaps highlighting placements, velocity moves, wins/learns, and next-week plans.
Legal and Compliance Accountability. Maintain all industry legal guidelines and maintain compliance with all company policies.
In Field Activities and Travel. May be required to travel within an assigned territory of the dedicated market. This travel may be up to 50% of your time.
Travel/Entertainment and Promotion Budget Management. Complete timely expense reporting in compliance with company polices.

What Does Success Looks Like?

Growing brand awareness and trial within a dedicated market.
Identifying hyper-local opportunities to activate the brand and drive sampling and brand engagement.
Being active on social media platforms to drive engagement with the target audience, including trade and consumers.
Securing new and maintaining existing brand placements within a dedicated market.
Sharing of weekly successes and best practices across company internal communication tools.

What Does this Role Require?

Dynamic, outgoing personality, and the courage to drive a new brand with the trade and consumers.
Strong, competitive spirit, and a passion for building a new, national brand, and being part of a winning team that shares in its success.
Frequent moving of product cases, event materials and barware, up to 50 pounds.
Regular night and weekend activities typically outside of standard business hours.

The information listed above is not a comprehensive listing of all day-to-day activity. Similar activities to those listed above may be required from time to time.

Qualifications

3–5+ years of beverage alcohol sales with a strong on-premise focus (distributor or supplier side).
Demonstrated success working with or within Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits (SGWS), ideally in the Chicago market.
Proven track record of opening accounts and driving reorder velocity in competitive urban markets.
Comfortable working independently in the field, owning a calendar, and hitting aggressive placement/velocity goals.
Strong communicator with excellent recap, planning, and cross-functional follow-through skills.
Strong social media influence and ability to create local content aligned with brand standards.
Ability to work remotely with significant travel; must be available for nights and weekends as required.
Ability to manage an ad hoc schedule and adapt quickly to market demands.
A valid driver’s license and automobile or other form of transportation (travel within territory).
Outgoing, competitive personality with superior presentation skills.
Excellent budget management skills.
Must be able to thrive in a team setting.
Proficient in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Brand Development Manager - Chicago

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