Experiential Marketing Manager

Experiential Marketing Manager

Lids Sports Group is the largest licensed sports retailer in North America, selling fan and fashion-oriented headwear and apparel across the US and abroad. Operating out of Indianapolis, IN, our retail stores offer officially licensed headwear and apparel from collegiate and professional sports teams, plus top brands like Nike, New Era, Lululemon, and Mitchell & Ness. In addition to our wide assortment, we are the industry leader in on demand customization.

We currently operate 1,300+ brick and mortar locations, including specialty concept stores for the NBA, NHL, Paris Saint-Germain, and the two largest MLB franchises, via our Yankees & Dodgers Clubhouse stores. Lids has built partnerships and collaborations with iconic global brands including Marvel / Disney, Playboy, Travis Scott's Cactus Jack, and Post Malone, creating a community where fans, fashion, and culture collide.

General Position Summary

We are seeking a motivated, creative & strategic thinking individual to join our team as an Experiential Marketing Manager! This role will be responsible for managing various scaled events across all marketing functions, including relationship management with key stakeholders, ideation, strategic planning, milestone tracking, budgeting, and facilitating effective communication among team members. This position will work closely with a variety of professional sports leagues and vendors to cultivate unique experiences for our customers. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in project management, excellent organizational and communication skills, the ability to coordinate multiple tasks efficiently and simultaneously and bring a unique and fresh mindset to test out new event tactics.

Principle Duties and Responsibilities

Event & Project Management

Execute a variety of scaled events, both small to large, domestically, and internationally (such as new store grand openings, collaboration launches, tradeshows, key sporting events, player appearances, pop-ups and more)

Ability to own and manage all necessary milestones for various projects while working cross functionally with marketing, buying, operations, IT, finance and more

Lead projects independently + brings a new set of ideas to diversify and refresh our events

Ideate & create new opportunities to engage with customers that support our business goals (increase traffic flow, conversion, and sales within brick & mortar stores)

Act as the on-site point of contact for events (when travel is necessary) to ensure event execution

Create go-to-market decks + recaps for events to track planning, direction, creative and sales / reporting

Communication Facilitation

Foster collaboration & effective communication among all levels of the organization to meet project objectives

Act as a central point of contact between sub-teams and Sr. Director, Go-To-Market

Facilitate regular updates on project statuses, challenges, and achievements

Calendar, Milestone & Budget Tracking

Own the Experiential Marketing Calendar, tracker & budget on a weekly basis

Communicate across marketing & finance tracking for annual budget and ensure we remain within our allotted by breaking out spend by event / quarter

Create P&L for Tier 1 events to understand ROI

Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and plan multiple events simultaneously

Leadership & Process Improvement

Oversee the Experiential Marketing Coordinator and work with external experiential agency to manage 100+ events annually

Encourage a culture of positivity, continuous improvement, and teamwork

Identify opportunities to enhance processes and workflows for increased efficiency

Job Required Knowledge & Skills

Strong organizational and communication skills.

Proven experience in project management, budgeting & strategic planning

Ability to coordinate and execute multiple tasks simultaneously in a fast-paced environment

Preferred Job Required Knowledge & Skills

5+ years of experience working in experiential marketing and / or event management

2-3+ years of managing direct reports

Reports To

Sr. Director, Go-To-Market