Associate Manager, Brand Strategy & Activation - Hot Wheels

CREATIVITY IS OUR SUPERPOWER. It’s our heritage and it’s also our future. Because we don’t just make toys. We create innovative products and experiences that inspire fans, entertain audiences and develop children through play. Mattel is at its best when every member of our team feels respected, included, and heard—when everyone can show up as themselves and do their best work every day. We value and share an infinite range of ideas and voices that evolve and broaden our perspectives with a reach that extends into all our brands, partners, and suppliers

The Opportunity: We have multiple openings for Associate Marketing Managers across the Hot Wheels Core and Hot Wheels Adult teams. In these roles, you will drive day-to-day brand activations in partnership with internal cross-functional teams and external agencies. Depending on the team placement, you will help shape strategies that expand brand awareness, support key launches, and grow the full franchise. For our Hot Wheels Adult team, this includes developing and executing initiatives specifically designed to engage and accelerate the rapidly growing adult fan business.

What Your Impact Will Be:

• Brand StrategyPartner with Toy and Franchise Marketing to ensure brand consistency across product, experiences and retailDevelops Content in partnership with Mattel Studios to ensure brand objectives and alignmentServe as the cross-functional integrator between content, product, experiences, retail, and marketing
  
• Brand ActivationWith leadership, plan brand “moments” (anniversaries, entertainment launches, retail programs) that supports all businesses at retail and work with commercial partners to ensure flawless executionTranslate brand strategy into campaigns, content, and activationsWith leadership, plan integrated marketing plans (digital, retail, social, influencer, events, PR) and work with commercial partners to executeEnsure media strategy is executed well across regions, and manage day-to-day creative productionEnsure creative execution stays consistent with brand positioning (via brand guardrails) and product highlightsEnsure brand stories are executed well to drive demand generation, brand love, and consumer loyaltyManage day-to-day execution of agency scope in partnership with brand creativeTrack & report on campaign performance (awareness, engagement, conversion)Track & report on franchise health through consumer engagement, sales performance, and cultural impact.

What We’re Looking For:

• 5+ years (3 years with MBA) experience in brand marketing (on brand or agency side), franchise management/marketing, content marketing, or purpose-driven strategy/marketing.
• Experience managing a portfolio spanning multiple categories (toys, apparel, publishing, etc.).
• Self-starter who is detail oriented, driven, focused, pro-active and collaborative
• Strategic thinking: Ability to define brand vision and multi-year roadmaps.
• Consumer insights & research: Strong understanding of consumer psychology, brand equity drivers, and cultural trends. Ability to synthesize data and pull insights to create recommendations
• Thorough understanding of marketing mix and KPIs
• Portfolio management: Balancing toys and non-toy CP categories under a unified brand.
• Cross-functional leadership: Skilled at influencing Design, Product, Marketing, and Franchise teams without direct authority.
• Financial acumen: Experience with P&L at the brand or category level.
• Communication skills: Excellent at storytelling, presentations, and influencing senior leadership. Strong PowerPoint creation and presentation skills, proficiency in Outlook, Word and Excel
  

*The pay range is indicative of projected hiring range, however base pay will be determined based on a candidate’s work location, skills and experience. Mattel offers competitive total pay programs, comprehensive benefits, and resources to help empower a culture where every employee can reach their full potential.

Don’t meet every single requirement? At Mattel, we are dedicated to an inclusive workplace and a culture of belonging. If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles. Join Mattel's Talent Community and start receiving exciting updates about our company, our employees, and our culture. Also, interested in signing up for job alerts? Do so here!

How We Work:
We are a purpose driven company aiming to empower generations to explore the wonder of childhood and reach their full potential. We live up to our purpose employing the following behaviors:

• We collaborate: Being a part of Mattel means being part of one team with shared values and common goals. Every person counts and working closely together always brings better results. Partnership is our process and our collective capabilities is our superpower.
• We innovate: At Mattel we always aim to find new and better ways to create innovative products and experiences. No matter where you work in the organization, you can always make a difference and have real impact. We welcome new ideas and value new initiatives that challenge conventional thinking.
• We execute: We are a performance-driven company. We strive for excellence and are focused on pursuing best-in-class outcomes. We believe in accountability and ownership and know that our people are at their best when they are empowered to create and deliver results.