Marketing & Communications Manager

underdog & company is a marketing and brand experiences agency – delivering consulting, strategic partnership, experiential and integrated marketing work across the sports, culture and entertainment.

We’re looking for a Marketing & Communications Manager to own the connective work that describes who we are and coordinates how we communicate that value proposition internally and externally – from press moments to partnerships to events to awards.

This is a highly cross-functional role that requires proactive work, creativity, strong writing, and the ability to build alignment across leadership and independent teams. It is a full-time role that reports to the COO/CSO.

Key Responsibilities

Vision and Value Proposition

● Partner with senior leadership to continuously refine the company’s vision and value proposition

● Ensure our messaging is consistent and clear across all levels of the organization and external

● Collaborate with our creative strategy and design teams to pull core messaging into external-facing materials, including the company website, socials and capabilities collateral

Digital and Social Strategy

● Own the corporate website and digital/social presence, ensuring consistency in voice, tone, and positioning

● Develop the company’s social media strategy (LinkedIn and Instagram) – posting cadence, content ideas, copywriting, posting and internal communications to ensure alignment;
creative will help build templates for posting

● Build and manage a proactive public relations and communications calendar;
identifying opportunities tied to industry moments and milestones

● Develop process for internal communications ahead of external announcements or releases (e.G., new clients, work spotlights, events, awards etc.)

Events: Client/Prospect Hosting & Executive Thought Leadership

● Develop and manage underdog’s client & prospect hosting calendar (e.G., how does underdog show up at WNBA All-Star, Cannes, Art Basel, Super Bowl, NWSL Championship etc.);
identify the key moments we should have a presence at and own the event planning and communications (internal coordination, invites, creative, budget and programming) in collaboration with senior leadership

● Identify thought leadership themes and opportunities that strengthen the company’s external reputation and visibility (e.G., women’s sports, college etc.)

● Develop an external leadership speaking plan (e.G. outline where our leaders should represent us at events and on panels to improve our visibility and authority in key areas);
lead outreach on behalfof senior leadership, help secure their placements on panels & guide panel coordination/prep (if needed)

● Begin to cultivate media and industry relationships to support placement, coverage, and distribution of thought leadership content (Note: underdog has senior leadership to help with this outreach and begin establishing connections for you)

Strategic Partnerships (Media & Other)

● Manage the company’s portfolio of strategic and media partnerships, including scope, terms, and asset delivery (e.G., Sports Business Journal partnership)

● Identify and evaluate new partnership opportunities that support goals of increasing underdog visibility and reputation in the industry

● As applicable, support client-based PR work (e.G. emerging sports league launch)

Awards

● Develop and lead an awards strategy across the organization – identifying opportunities for both collective and individual recognition

● Own the end-to-end awards submission process, including submission writing, deadline management and cross-team coordination

Podcast

● Develop and launch an underdog podcast (to be hosted by Founder/CEO Dan Mannix);
in collaboration with Dan, outline the podcast’s focus, guest list and amplification strategy

Qualifications

We are looking for candidates with 4-5+ years of experience in marketing, communications, PR, or brand management — agency or multi-brand/multi-business environment strongly preferred.

● Excellent writing skills, with the ability to distill and tighten messaging for executive audiences

● Strong project management skills;
comfortable owning a calendar of moving parts across multiple stakeholders

● Proven ability to build alignment and drive process across teams

● Familiarity with media relations and PR planning

● Comfortable presenting recommendations directly to senior leadership

● Highly organized and self-directed

Salary: $75,000 – $125,000 dependent on experience

Tagged as: Project Management