Brand Reputation Manager - KFC

Key Responsibilities

• Build KFC South Africa’s brand reputation and trust proactively through media and other stakeholder engagement by telling our story relating to Brand, Purpose, and Consumer engagement in a manner that positively builds and protects KFC’s reputation in South Africa.
• Leverage elements such as our Employer Brand, Our people promise, Sustainability, KFC Add Hope, KFC Ikusasa Lethu Scholarship & KFC Mini Cricket to engage proactively with external parties to build brand equity. A key focus is to build KFC South Africa’s brand reputation as a community builder, purpose-led brand, employer of choice, and industry leader across the “food, people and planet” pillars.
• Protecting KFC South Africa’s brand reputation through proactive media and industry monitoring, risk identification mitigation, issues and crisis identification and management in a manner that protects the brand and limits the impact on brand trust.

Strategise and Drive Proactive Reputation PR:

• Secure majority share of voice for KFC South Africa by executing proactive long and short-term Public Relations strategies and execution plans that promote a positive reputation for KFC across both traditional channels and LinkedIn, as well as other owned and identified communication channels.

• Building and executing a full calendar of communication activities through engaging content and experiences.
• Managing agency partners to enable delivery of the strategy and secure mass positive coverage for the brand.
• Build partnerships and dialogue with media, industry and external stakeholders by telling distinctive stories to build credibility for the brand
• Produce effective and high-quality written content for distribution to key stakeholders.
• Position approved brand spokespeople as subject matter experts, identify media and thought leadership engagement opportunities, and support the spokespeople in interviews including preparation.
• Collaborate with functions across the business by proactively identifying relevant news, events, initiatives, and opportunities for the brand.
• Delivering quality brand-building proactive media coverage – local and global across our “people, planet and food’ pillars to position KFC as a brand that cares.
• Create & lead the KFC South Africa newsroom as the first point of contact and develop craft, and approve the official brand responses.
• Support Franchise partners in an advisory role to guide and sign off proactive media opportunities
• Hands-on involvement in the development of engaging content and other materials for Add Hope on digital platforms.

Brand Management:

• Content Calendar Production: Oversee conceptualisation, creative design and production of always on content calendar for Done The Right Way strategy across all Owned, earned and paid platforms including podcast, purpose website, PR Activations and social media.

Reactive Reputation Management:

• Monitor industry, media, and social channels for brand reputation issues and crisis on a proactive level by identifying potential issues for the brand and business as well as developing mitigating strategies.
• Manage media crisis and issues: Support the KFC South Africa Business Unit on reputational risk matters and advise the CCT on key issues.
• Work cross-functionally to proactively manage reputational risk and develop response strategies for both traditional and social media.
• Support Franchise partners and the broader business to manage issues and crisis as the media relations lead to preserve the brand’s reputation.

Drive Sector PR Support:

• Steer and drive strategic direction with Brand Managers in building PR-led campaigns for calendar activity to build cultural relevance for the brand.
• Support the Marketing Team with PR recommendations and integrated ideas for the Marketing Calendar to drive media coverage and social media buzz.

Qualifications

• Communications-related Diploma or Bachelor of Arts in Communications/Marketing, preferably with an Honours degree or equivalent
• Degree in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism or a related field preferably with Honours (or equivalent) preferred

Experience

• 5+ years PR experience (corporate communications/public affairs), a minimum of 2 years in corporate would be advantageous

Competencies and Skills

• Excellent writing & storytelling skills with attention to detail
• Ability to think strategically, creatively, and innovatively and lead a team to execute on ideas
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Existing media skills an advantage
• Strong problem-solving skills
• Effective listening skills
• A collaborative team player
• Must be able to prioritize issues and opportunities
• Ability to influence and strong negotiation skills
• Strong attention to detail
• Ability to work under pressure and stress
• Comfortable making spontaneous decisions
• Adaptable and Resilient

Office/Travel Requirements

• Hybrid model (home and office) with business trips, mainly local. Weekend and after-hours work is often required during issues and crisis management.