Role & responsibilities
The Earned Media Manager leads the strategic development and execution of the earned media agenda for the brand spanning influencer marketing, editorial storytelling, advocacy, affiliate, and social amplification. This role partners closely with brand, marketing, and online teams to translate brand priorities into culturally relevant, commercially impactful earned programs. They are responsible for shaping long-term influencer and media strategies, managing key external relationships, driving measurement and ROI frameworks, and mentoring junior talent within the function. As a subject matter expert, the Earned Media Manager also contributes to capability building, cross-brand collaboration, and the ongoing evolution of the earned media function within the affiliate.
Influencer & Advocacy Strategy
- Lead the end-to-end development of influencer and advocacy strategies aligned to brand priorities, launches, and commercial goals
- Identify and nurture high-impact influencer and creator relationships across tiers (macro, micro, UGC, affiliate), ensuring relevance, diversity, and long-term brand fit
- Act as the primary liaison with influencers and creator communitiesensuring clear communication, alignment on brand tone, and consistency in experience
- Negotiate and manage contractual partnerships for paid talent, securing strong value through deliverables, usage rights, and cost-efficiency
- Proactively evolve the influencer database based on campaign needs, audience shifts, platform trends, and brand evolution
- Translate campaign objectives into insight-led influencer briefs with clear KPIs, including EMV, engagement rate, and ROI
- Collaborate with consumer marketing and online teams to define performance targets per program and assess impact using data-led ROI proxies
- Leverage influencer storytelling to drive cultural relevance, editorial traction, and brand authoritybalancing visibility with meaningful value creation
- Monitor industry shifts, platform updates, and emerging voices to identify new opportunities for brand visibility and advocacy
- Co-create compelling brand narratives in collaboration with creators, rooted in product truths and aligned with earned and owned media objectives
- Partner with regional and global teams to ensure influencer strategies are consistent with brand guardrails and adaptable to local needs
Media & Editorial Relations
- Lead the end-to-end development of influencer and advocacy strategies aligned to brand priorities, launches, and commercial goals
- Identify and nurture high-impact influencer and creator relationships across tiers (macro, micro, UGC, affiliate), ensuring relevance, diversity, and long-term brand fit
- Act as the primary liaison with influencers and creator communitiesensuring clear communication, alignment on brand tone, and consistency in experience
- Negotiate and manage contractual partnerships for paid talent, securing strong value through deliverables, usage rights, and cost-efficiency
- Proactively evolve the influencer database based on campaign needs, audience shifts, platform trends, and brand evolution
- Translate campaign objectives into insight-led influencer briefs with clear KPIs, including EMV, engagement rate, and ROI
- Collaborate with consumer marketing and online teams to define performance targets per program and assess impact using data-led ROI proxies
- Leverage influencer storytelling to drive cultural relevance, editorial traction, and brand authoritybalancing visibility with meaningful value creation
- Monitor industry shifts, platform updates, and emerging voices to identify new opportunities for brand visibility and advocacy
- Co-create compelling brand narratives in collaboration with creators, rooted in product truths and aligned with earned and owned media objectives
- Partner with regional and global teams to ensure influencer strategies are consistent with brand guardrails and adaptable to local needs
Communications & Event Strategy
- Design and lead strategic communications plans that support brand moments, product launches, advocacy campaigns, and reputation-building objectives
- Conceptualize and execute high-impact events (online/offline/hybrid) that build brand salience and deepen influencer and media engagement
- Oversee creative briefing, asset production, run-of-show planning, and on-ground execution for earned media events
- Identify brand-appropriate partners (venues, stylists, chefs, moderators, etc.) to elevate event experiences
- Optimize budget and resource allocation for experiential activations, ensuring cost-efficiency and high return
- Evaluate all activations post-launch using EMV, engagement, earned ROI, media quality, and creator resonance
- Serve as the lead contact for PR/social/event agencies, managing day-to-day operations, annual scopes, and performance reviews
- Track and report market and competitor event activity to continuously elevate the brands earned approach
Earned Social & Digital Content
- Lead the strategy for earned-first content across social platformsprioritizing relevance, authenticity, and alignment to consumer behaviors
- Oversee influencer-generated content and UGC curation, ensuring brand guidelines, storytelling integrity, and content usability
- Guide the tone, narrative, and creative execution of content co-created with influencers, creators, or brand advocates
- Collaborate with brand teams to map out earned/owned media synergyensuring seamless amplification of key campaigns
- Track performance against platform benchmarks (ER%, saves, shares, sentiment), and recommend shifts in creative or audience targeting
- Identify and activate affiliate and creator commerce partners to build revenue-driving earned content ecosystems
- Drive new content formats and platform experimentation in line with brand strategy and cultural relevance
- Work with social teams to ensure brand channels reflect and amplify key earned voices and stories
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Act as a strategic partner to brand marketing, online, training, and sales teamsaligning earned priorities to broader brand plans
- Ensure earned campaigns integrate seamlessly across functions and complement paid and owned media efforts
- Co-create campaign toolkits with local and global teams, ensuring clarity of messaging, creative intent, and performance KPIs
- Provide regular campaign recaps and insights that inform future planning across teams
- Represent the earned voice in internal brand reviews, seasonal planning meetings, and creative discussions
- Foster knowledge-sharing across brands and functions to elevate earned as a growth-driving discipline
Budgeting & Commercial Accountability
- Lead the development, tracking, and optimization of earned media budgets in alignment with campaign priorities and fiscal targets
- Evaluate partner proposals and influencer costs with a commercial lensensuring strong ROI, not just visibility
- Identify opportunities to reduce paid reliance through value-based negotiations, relationship leverage, and barters
- Establish internal ROI frameworks to track EMV, engagement, cost-per-result, and conversion proxies
- Partner with finance teams on forecasting, quarterly planning, and monthly tracking
- Ensure full compliance with procurement processes, contracts, legal guidelines, and reporting timelines
Team & Capability Building
- Coach and guide junior team members on execution, content strategy, performance tracking, and influencer management
- Foster a team culture rooted in collaboration, trust, and high standards
- Share learning and best practices across brands to strengthen the overall function
- Champion cross-brand support when neededhelping scale high-performing earned ideas across the affiliate
- Model calm, solutions-oriented leadership during high-pressure moments and campaign pivots Contribute to training, onboarding, and upskilling efforts to grow internal earned media capability