Head Of Sponsorship And PR – Vanarama
Vanarama

About the job

Who we are

Vanarama is the UK’s leading online vehicle leasing and insurance business recently acquired by AutoTrader PLC subject to regulatory approval.

We are a disruptive force in the automotive sector, always one step ahead of the competition and intent on helping our customers find their New Lease Of Life. Our focus is on drivers and getting them into brand-new vehicles using cutting-edge technology and our comprehensive product range.

We’ve been made famous through our award-winning title sponsorship of The National League. It enables us to reach millions of people nationwide every week using our shared passion for football to speak to fans about our core product offering. We’ve leveraged our sponsorship to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for good causes and executed standout PR and marketing campaigns which have won both Sport Industry and Football Business awards.

We’ve also started to build out an extensive digital PR outreach strategy and launched hero campaigns such as the Apple Car Outreach Campaign to influence our organic search and drive customers to our ecommerce platform.

Overview of the role

We’re looking for someone to take on the challenge of helping activate our brand across Sponsorship and PR as we move into the most exciting period in Vanarama’s history as we become part of the AutoTrader family. We need a creative, strategic, and highly organised person with a passion for football, content, and brand activation. This role sits across both football and automotive so will offer great variety. You’ll be tasked with growing our authority in electric vehicle leasing for organic search by building a strong digital PR strategy. We’ll also give you the creative freedom to execute standout PR and marketing campaigns across our football sponsorship to increase fan engagement with our brand. This role will also work closely with our Internal Comms team to champion our sponsorship and PR campaigns to help encourage our people to become advocates for the brand.

You’ll join our team of experienced marketing leaders determined to produce fantastic results daily. You’ll also get to manage agencies and rights holders independently to help deliver against our wider strategic and tactical objectives.

Duties And Responsibilities

• Reporting to the CMO, you’ll be responsible for creating and implementing a sponsorship and PR strategy which will contribute to driving interest in Vanarama’s core product offering.
• Manage, coach and develop two direct reports through strong leadership and strong personal development plans.
• Working with our SEO/Digital PR agency you’ll help design and implement a digital PR strategy that earns us sustained coverage across high domain authority websites.
• Manage relationship with journalists and help control our brand messaging across PR and social channels.
• Identify opportunities to amplify Vanarama’s sponsorship of The National League by immersing yourself within the football news cycle and understanding the day-to-day goings on at National League level.
• Working with the National League and agency partners you’ll be the guardian of our brand across all sponsorship channels including stadiums, events, social media and in PR.
• Manage the key tentpole events of the National League football calendar including the end of season ceremonies and Promotion Final at Wembley Stadium.
• Manage the editorial execution of both our PR and football content across the relevant social media channels.

About you

• Previous experience of managing a sponsorship and/or senior experience in PR essential
• A strong interest in football
• Preferably you’ll have good knowledge of PR and its impact on SEO
• Excellent project management skills.
• A keen eye for detail with extra focus on branding and written comms
• Experience managing and coaching a team.
• Experience in automotive would be beneficial but not vital.
• Hugely organised and able to prioritise your own workload.
• Collaborative and a team player, but also comfortable working autonomously.
• Experience with presenting would be a nice to have but not essential for the role.

If you would like to join our ever-growing team, please email your CV, along with a covering letter to recruitment@vanarama.com.

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