Senior Brand Manager at Mars
Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom
- Current
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- Senior Brand Manager at Mars
- Past
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- Global Brand Manager - Strepsils at Reckitt Benckiser
- Assistant Brand Manager For the Knorr Brand covering Africa, Middle East and Turkey. at Unilever
- Senior Assistant Brand Manager for the Lux Brand at Unilever
- Assistant Brand Manager for The Axe Brand at Unilever
- Technician at University of Witwatersrand
- Marketing / PR Executive Member at Muslim Students Organisation
- Education
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- University of South Africa/Universiteit van Suid-Afrika
- University of the Witwatersrand
- Recommended
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4 people have recommended Muhammad - Connections
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- Industry
- Marketing and Advertising
- Websites
Muhammad Karim’s Summary
Brand Manager with 5+ years experience in the FMCG industry. I have worked on many well known brands including Axe Deodorant, Lux, Knorr and Strepsils. Within these brands I have managed various innovation and communication projects often with virtual teams across several countries.
Muhammad Karim’s Specialties:
* P&L Statements and Business Case Development
* Marketing Planning and Implementation (Brand Activation, Mix Development, Strategy Development, etc.)
* Communication Development (Advertising Layout, Design & Copy on Print, TV, Radio, Internet)
* On-line/Digital Marketing including Social Networking and SEO
* Project & Innovation Management (Locally and Virtually)
* Extremely adept at a variety of IT Applications (MS Office, MS Project, SAP, AC Nielsen Nitro, etc.)
Muhammad Karim’s Experience
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Senior Brand Manager
Mars
(Privately Held; Food Production industry)
October 2009 — Present (2 months)
Senior Brand Manager (Innovation) on Twix and Maltesers.
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Global Brand Manager - Strepsils
Reckitt Benckiser
(Public Company; RB; Consumer Goods industry)
January 2009 — March 2009 (3 months)
Dealing with Brand Equity and Innovation on the Strepsils brand, Globally.
Countries : Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East
Brand Value: £180m
Marketing Budget: +/- £20m
* Gained understanding of European market especially the UK Market through trade visits and consumer research.
* Initiated briefings of cross-functional project team members on design, packaging and innovation projects in the innovation pipeline.
* Analysed current TV Ad effectiveness for the UK and Europe. -
Assistant Brand Manager For the Knorr Brand covering Africa, Middle East and Turkey.
Unilever
(Public Company; UL; Consumer Goods industry)
May 2008 — October 2008 (6 months)
Working with the Knorr Brand across the Africa, Middle East and Turkey Region. Involved in brand repositioning and line extensions on local jewel brands in South Africa as well as Marketing the Knorr brand (specifically focusing on Bouillon and Seasonings) across the region.
Countries : Focus on South Africa and Central Africa (Lead Country - Nigeria)
Brand Value: €300m
Marketing Budget: +/- € 30m
* Instituting a premium extension to the Aromat Flavouring Brand. (South Africa)
* Finalised the P&L statement and Business Case Analysis which showed that the new range provides R1 million net year-on-year.
* Finalised Packaging through focus groups and liaising with Agency.
* Liaised with R&D on best variants to launch for the range
* Development of Stock Cubes innovation for Central Africa to increase nutrients in their stock cubes and combat Maggi, the current market leader.
* Identified various packaging elements with the packaging team.
* Worked with R&D to research the correct amount of nutrients to include in the product without compromising the P&L and ensuring efficacy.
* Worked with Cross-functional team on the Value Chain Analysis of the Food Category. Offered my expertise in marketing to optimise the value chain of the Soup and Stock Cube Category. -
Senior Assistant Brand Manager for the Lux Brand
Unilever
(Public Company; UL; Consumer Goods industry)
January 2006 — May 2008 (2 years 5 months)
Countries: Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, UAE, Maghreb Region, Mauritius, South Africa and Egypt
Brand Value: €300m
Brand Budget: +/- € 30m
Significant Achievements in Role:
* Launched the Liquid Handwash format across the Africa, Middle East and Turkey Region. A project contributing €7.3m Turnover and €3.9m Margin over 3 years to the brand. Created structural packaging and artwork which is most suitable for consumers in AMET as well as provide best standout on shelf with brand enhancing attributes. This was accomplished liaising with Packaging R&D and Local Brand Teams. Aligned Liquid Handwash with complete marketing mix with Lux’s new brand identity (Project Diva).
* Joint responsibility for the complete alignment of new Lux Brand Identity with artwork and Variants across the Region (Project Diva), second Largest Project in the region for Unilever €125m Turnover/€66m GP.
* Responsible for implementing and delivering artwork on all formats across the region, keeping costs to a minimum and maintaining the profitability of the P&L.
* Formats: Showergel, Soap Bars, Liquid Handwash, Lotions (including varying packsizes across countries)
Other Activities on the Brand:
* Copy development and advertising adaptation for the Globally developed Lux ‘Balloons’ Advertising campaign. The Campaign was a great success (incremental share growth (+/- 8%) and enhanced brand attributes) with particular successes in Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
* Assisted Local Brand Teams in implementation and Activation of the Lux ‘Balloons’ Concept across TV, Outdoor and Trade by utilising Global Best Practice.
* Pro-actively organised a workshop for the entire team where I provided reading material & knowledge on how to understand the Middle-Eastern consumer and thus improve our ability to market to them. -
Assistant Brand Manager for The Axe Brand
Unilever
(Public Company; UL; Consumer Goods industry)
January 2004 — December 2005 (2 years )
Country: South Africa
Brand Value: R 110m (+/- £11m)
Brand Budget: R30m (+/- £3m)
Significant Achievements in Role:
* Increased Axe’s Turnover from R80m to R110m during my tenure on the brand as well as sustaining a double-digit market value growth of +/- 20% month-on-month.
* My implementations of ‘Limited Editions’ on new variant launches (+/- 7 variants) for the Axe brand in South Africa were used as Global Best Practice by the Axe Global Team and implemented world-wide.
* Secured the largest Youth Database within 3 months of launch and increased favourable brand attributes for Axe (confirmed by Millward Brown) as well as contributing to Axe’s increasing market share growth.
Other Activities on the Brand:
* Initiated a Brand Insight Day in which various brands with the same target market as Axe were gathered (British American Tobacco, Levis, FHM magazine, YFM (youth radio station)) and insight was garnered from these brands activities.
* Launched a Line Extension for Axe – ‘Axe Dry’, the first anti-perspirant range in South Africa.
* Managed Student Brand Managers (SBM) for the SBM Program on various University campuses in which Well-connected and active students on campus were chosen to represent and magnify the brand on campus through their activities. This helped expand the brands presence and increase favourable brand attributes amongst its core target market without heavily stressing the brand budget.
* Developed the entire Axe website from idea to conception
* Brainstormed with Agency new ideas to take the brand forwards using Mobile and other new media.
* Ensured the newly launched website was incorporated in all Brand Communication as well as on the packaging itself.
* Innovated with On-line Media using Axe’s variants (especially Axe Touch and Axe Unlimited) and gaining insight from launches in other countries. -
Technician
University of Witwatersrand
(Marketing and Advertising industry)
2001 — 2003 (2 years )
Worked Part-time providing IT support to all of the University staff.
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Marketing / PR Executive Member
Muslim Students Organisation
(Non-Profit; 1-10 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)
January 2001 — December 2003 (3 years )
Handling the Marketing and Public Relations of the Muslim Students Organisation and the causes it represents. Marketing and Advertising the organisations activities on campuses in the Gauteng Area - University of Johannesburg, University of the Witwatersrand and University of Pretoria.
Muhammad Karim’s Education
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University of South Africa/Universiteit van Suid-Afrika
Bcom (Honours) , Marketing , 2004 — 2005
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University of the Witwatersrand
Bcom , Marketing, Information Systems , 2000 — 2003
Was the Media/PR and Marketing Executive of the Muslim Students Association for 3 years, as well as holding the same position at the governing body the Union of Muslim Students Associations.
- Activities and Societies:
- Muslim Students Association
Additional Information
Muhammad Karim’s Websites:
Muhammad Karim’s Honors:
Unilever Oscar for work done on Lux Brand (2006)
Best Activation Award for Axe Brand (2005)
'Get a Girlfriend' Campaign on Axe won Gold, Silver and Bronze at Cannes for TV, Radio and Print Advertising
