Position: Product Associate Job Type: Full-time Location: Wood Dale, IL (Local candidates only)

Job Description: The Product Marketing Associate will be responsible for assisting in the coordination and execution of all activities related to a product’s life cycle. The main function of this position will be to contribute the Discovery & Innovation, New Product Planning and Development and Introduction phases of the product life cycle. These activities will be heavily weighted toward understanding and anticipating consumer, industry, and competitive trends, developing product-level strategic plans to take advantage of those trends, collaborating with the Senior Product Manager and other teams to assist in ensuring that products are developed in accordance with strategic plans, managing the launch of products and enhancements into the marketplace, and providing support to the team for products that are in the market and available in the channel.

Key Responsibilities: Discovery & Innovation • Supports the defining of goals and assists those involved in creating and executing a market research plan if needed. • Seeks out consumer, industry, and competitive data and uses it to develop a keen market awareness and insights to drive product line strategic and tactical planning. • Defines target segmentation based on common consumer motivations, preferences, or needs. • Develops the competitive analysis and insights based on understanding each competitor’s strengths and weaknesses, the products/services they sell, how they are positioned, the segments in which they concentrate. • Documents and regularly shares market information, insights and implications with other team members to ensure a common understanding and the impact on the product line. • Assists in developing a strategic baseline and a documented "vision" or "end-state" for the product or product line that helps shape realistic, achievable goals. • Continuously gathers and analyzes market, financial and other performance indicators to uncover new opportunities for products and product lines. • Supports product objectives that can be measured or tracked over time to determine how well the product's results contribute to the company’s success. • Supports the long-term product/service portfolio and roadmap. • Communicates the product line vision and strategy widely, and conducts periodic strategic reviews to ensure cross-functional stakeholders are aligned.

New Product Planning and Development • Assists in the creation new opportunities and projects, including writing creative briefs. • Provides input to evaluate and prioritize new opportunities based on strategic and other criteria. • Responsible to ensure the product is aligned with the defined market opportunity. • Accountable for defining and articulating consumer and market driven requirements. • Provides input on functional resource requirements necessary to support product development. • Creates the value proposition and to ensure that products are differentiated from the competition. • Accountable to define the marketing mix model (product, price, promotion, and place) by working closely with other teams. • Provides management and leadership to drive product development to launch, for example, building and executing PD timelines, packaging, manual creation • Provides direction to product testing requirements if applicable. • Defines the ideal market window for launch. • Contributes to the preparation and execution of the launch plan

New Product Introduction • Supports development projects to facilitate feature, cost and schedule trade-off decisions to ensure product goals and launch timings are met. • Assists in the management of the risks associated with the development and launch of the product. • Recommends GO/NO GO decisions at appropriate points in the NPD process to ensure that only those projects that are fit with the and opportunity proceed. • Manage and execute the Launch Plan and carry out the work required for a successful on-time launch by doing or engaging third parties and other teams. • Ensures that content for marketing materials, sales guides and sales training are prepared. • Ensures that all launch deliverables are met and are in place and ready for launch. • Assists in the final launch decision and provides training to appropriate teams.

Post-Launch • Gathers information on consumer satisfaction, competitor actions, sales and channel performance, impact of promotional programs, and other marketing mix elements, and responsible to analyze these performance factors. • Tracks the life cycle state of the product and recommends adjustments to the marketing mix as needed. • Conducts regular product reviews with cross-functional teams to review product performance against stated objectives and goals. • Rationalizes the product line portfolio and makes recommendations to discontinue products or enhance the existing product line up. • Supports trade show planning and activity to ensure product portfolio and are properly represented, and performs other trade show related duties as needed.

Desired Skills: • High level of attention to accuracy and detail • Analytical thought process with problem-solving mindset • Clear and effective communications (both written and verbal) • Work cooperatively and professionally with others with all levels within the organization, customers, and vendors • Ability to multitask and prioritize workload • Team player and self-starter • Works well in a fast-paced environment and adapts easily to change • Proficient with all Microsoft Office products, especially Excel • Knowledge of digital marketing space and analytics • Knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite a plus Experience and Educational Requirements: • Bachelor’s degree, preferably in Marketing • 1-3 years related experience, preferably in a Product Development or Marketing environment in consumer products

If you would like to be considered for the MCA Corporation team of professionals, please email your resume and contact information to [email protected].