The Whole Foods Market Demo Program is part of the larger Retail Marketing Team and supports all stores in US and Canada. The demo team works in partnership with a third party, Daymon Interactions, to provide scheduling, reporting and staffing opportunities to suppliers and our stores as well as coordination of scheduling for sampling through online orders
The Demo Program Managers provide internal and external support for the purchasing teams, stores and suppliers to help with alignment of the program. They help support a program and project strategies based on financial expectations, customer and product trends, competitive landscape, and Whole Foods Market differentiators in partnership with key global teams. There are two Program Manager roles on the team with the daily roles split between operations and purchasing support. The posted role is for the Operations role.

Responsibilities:

• Acts as Program Manager for Operational side of Demo and Sampling programs.
• Develops project and communication plans for program improvements to establish, enhance, or distinguish WFM versus the competition.
• Assist in creating and maintaining standard operating procedures for the supplier funded and Team Member based sampling programs. Partner with Change Enablement team, Food Safety team and regional teams to ensure proper team member training and policy enforcement for all Brand Ambassadors
• Participates in promotional coordination meetings to help develop project schedules, including timelines and expected deliverables.
• Works closely with Daymon Interactions to ensure successful execution of the program in store with strategic scheduling, equipment needs, feedback capture, reporting follow up and supplier needs.
• Engages with store and regional representatives to understand category and promotional objectives, timing, target audience, and budget / cost constraints.
• Assists in the development, production, and execution of product / category-specific marketing collateral and programs; provides support in areas such as:
  • Writing briefs,
  • Contributing to timeline and budget development,
  • Managing the relationship with internal PR, creative, printing, regional marketing, and related teams and stakeholders,
  • Maintaining mailing lists.

• Develops relationships with regions, stores and global stakeholders to ensure demo and sampling supports their business objectives.
• Builds knowledge in designated areas, monitoring competitive activity and identifying emerging customer trends, expectations, and needs.
• Analyzes and evaluates key market statistics and customer metrics to help define marketing strategies and identify opportunities to expand coverage and take-up.
• Assists with development of compelling and scalable category / awareness demand programs and customer-facing assets.
• Assist in creating and maintaining reporting metrics needed to continue to grow program and provide analysis for both operational and purchasing teams at the Global and Regional level.
• Works with analytics Team Members to gather and analyze campaign effectiveness.

Skills:

• Ability to connect marketing efforts to business objectives.
• Working knowledge of how marketing and related communications strategies and tactics are adapted to varied and diverse media platforms.
• Proficient with Microsoft Office applications.
• Excellent communication skills, including written, verbal, and listening.
• Presents information and responds to questions with guidance, one-on-one, and with internal and external customers.
• Able to communicate technical information effectively to non-technical audiences and stakeholders.
• Supports team projects within defined area of responsibility.
• Impacts the quality of own work and that of the team.
• Works as a fully competent Team Member.
• Maintains positive working relationships with cross-functional stakeholders and with third-party vendors and service providers.
• Ability to plan, estimate, organize, and monitor projects.
• Ability to keep projects on track financially, creatively, and in accordance with stakeholder objectives and deadlines.
• Understands store and regional marketing goals and objectives.
• Able to identify alignment / misalignment of team project goals with larger organizational strategy, goals, and objectives.
• Understands the WFM product mix, supply base, and retail operations.

Education & Experience:

• BA/BS degree and 2-4 years’ relevant experience OR equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.

At Whole Foods Market, we provide a fair and equal employment opportunity for all Team Members and candidates regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, marital status, disability, or any other legally protected characteristic. Whole Foods Market hires and promotes individuals solely based on qualifications for the position to be filled and business needs.