The Opportunity
The customer is the focus of everything we do, and millions of end users rely on our products daily. We believe in the value of empowering a Brand Manager with the resources to solve critical problems for the future of our business, which is why we need you.
Role Summary
Reporting to the Brand Director, this role is a member of the Brand, Content, Design, and Proposition team under Manulife Japan (MLJ)’s Marketing department. It is expected to work closely with other teams, including growth marketing, customer experience, advanced analytics, and corporate communications. Collaboration beyond marketing functions is also key to ensure MLJ delivers the brand promise with contributions from internal and external stakeholders.
Additionally, this role will collaborate with regional and global brand teams across business units to ensure alignment between global/Asia branding strategy and local branding strategy, co-create regional branding activities, and share best practices across business units.
Brand Purpose & Longevity Context
Manulife’s ambition is to be the #1 choice for customers by helping them live longer, healthier, more financially resilient, and more connected lives. In Japan, this positioning is expressed through the intersection of healthspan, financial resilience, and human & environmental connection.
Our proprietary Manulife Longevity Institute plays an important role in research, insights, and thought leadership that support our overall brand positioning. For the Brand team, longevity operates as a strategic platform that helps us build meaning, differentiation, and relevance in the market.
As part of the Brand, Content, Design, and Proposition team, this role will help ensure that, where relevant to the brand strategy and campaign objectives, our longevity platform is reflected clearly and consistently in brand expression, storytelling, and customer-facing experiences—always in service of strengthening awareness, consideration, and demand power for the Manulife brand.
Job Description
Brand Strategy Implementation:
- Support the Brand Director in executing MLJ's unique brand value propositions for the Japanese business and key stakeholders in line with Manulife's global brand strategy and associated guidelines and frameworks.
- Implement visual identity embodying MLJ’s brand value propositions by working together with internal creative teams and external vendors.
- Determine appropriate KPIs for MLJ’s brand penetration, monitor and analyze progress with those KPIs, and manage the feedback loop with the deployment plan.
- Identify actions for MLJ’s brand deployment, including internal branding activities, marketing activities, and stakeholder touchpoint improvement activities.
- Ensure MLJ’s longevity brand platform is appropriately reflected in strategy execution—where relevant to building brand meaning, differentiation, awareness, and consideration in the Japan market.
Brand Campaign and Content Planning/Management:
- Support campaign management efforts, ensuring alignment with brand strategy and objectives.
- Utilize customer insights to develop targeted campaigns that resonate with the intended audience.
- Collaborate with creative teams to develop compelling campaign assets.
- Work with media planning and buying teams to ensure optimal placement and reach of campaign.
- Track and analyze campaign performance, providing reports and recommendations for optimization.
- Support the amplification of thought leadership, advocacy, and community stories that reinforce MLJ’s brand platform, including longevity where relevant to campaign objectives.
Internal Branding & Amplification
- Lead internal communications for Brand team-led initiatives, ensuring timely and clear dissemination of campaign updates, brand initiatives, messaging guidelines, and key assets across all internal departments.
- Craft compelling internal storytelling that helps employees understand the “why” behind each brand campaign, driving internal engagement and strengthening alignment with MLJ’s brand values and strategic direction.
- Coordinate and manage internal launch processes for new brand campaigns, including preparing briefing materials, intranet articles, email newsletters, and presentation decks for leadership and cross-functional teams.
- Develop and enhance internal brand advocacy tools, such as brand playbooks, internal campaign guidelines, and share-out templates, to facilitate easier adoption and amplification of brand initiatives across the organization.
- Lead the planning and execution of Internal Brand Engagement activities.
Vendor and Project Management:
- Oversee and manage relationships with internal cross-functional teams and external vendors to ensure timely and effective execution of branding and proposition activities.
- Ensure project milestones are met, manage project budgets, and report on project progress to stakeholders. Handle PO and invoicing process in accordance to the company process.
- Develop governance processes to monitor adherence to brand guidelines across all touchpoints and activities.
Maintain Brand Consistency and Governance:
- Implement and enforce brand guidelines to ensure consistency across all marketing and communication materials.
- Conduct regular audits and reviews to ensure all departments adhere to branding standards.
- Provide training and resources to internal teams to maintain brand consistency.
- Serve as the brand guardian, ensuring all activities and communications align with the brand’s values and identity.
Promote Brand Values Cross-Functionally:
- Embed brand strategy in marketing activities such as Thought Leadership/ Advocacy /community partnerships, content strategy, SNS marketing, digital lead generation, and digital customer engagement by translating local brand value into appropriate customer targeting, messages, creatives, etc.
- Develop and provide branding training, materials, and tools to support distribution channels and agents in their sales and customer engagement efforts, ensuring brand consistency and monitoring effectiveness.
- Collaborate with the Corporate Communication team to ensure internal and external communications reflect local brand values.
- Where relevant, reflect MLJ’s longevity platform in cross-functional branding activities to ensure consistency in how we articulate the brand’s meaning, difference, and value to customers.
Skills & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree.
- Native Japanese speaker, with fluency in English preferred. Excellent writing skills in Japanese.
- At least 10+ years of experience in brand marketing.
- Proven track record in managing vendor relationships and executing integrated marketing campaigns with knowledge in both traditional (above-the-line, outdoor) and digital channels.
- Able to supervise the quality of creative development, media planning, and buying.
- Able to track and articulate the return on investment of branding activities with relevant marketing and business data.
- Proven experience in executing brand strategies in alignment with global brand governance.
- Experience with purpose-led or value-based brand storytelling is an advantage.
- The ability to work effectively within a matrix organization. Collaborative, with the ability to work across different lines of business by listening, consulting, and taking into account the needs of multiple groups before forming a decision.
- Excellent organization and prioritization skills.
- Ability to work with ambiguity and manage change effectively.
Position Dimensions (Organizational Impact)
- Report to Brand Director.
- Work as an independent contributor.
About Manulife and John Hancock
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. To learn more about us, visit https://www.manulife.com/en/about/our-story.html.
Manulife is an Equal Opportunity Employer
At Manulife/John Hancock, we embrace our diversity. We strive to attract, develop and retain a workforce that is as diverse as the customers we serve and to foster an inclusive work environment that embraces the strength of cultures and individuals. We are committed to fair recruitment, retention, advancement and compensation, and we administer all of our practices and programs without discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, religion or religious beliefs, creed, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), sexual orientation, genetic characteristics, veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, or any other ground protected by applicable law.
It is our priority to remove barriers to provide equal access to employment. A Human Resources representative will work with applicants who request a reasonable accommodation during the application process. All information shared during the accommodation request process will be stored and used in a manner that is consistent with applicable laws and Manulife/John Hancock policies. To request a reasonable accommodation in the application process, contact hr@manulife.com.
Hybrid