Membership Product Marketing Management, Executive

Membership Product Management Executive

Background

AAA is the unsurpassed leader in the “Peace of Mind” business.  Serving over 4.3MM in California, Nevada and Utah for over 100 years, AAA has extremely high brand awareness (+98%) and retains almost 9 out of 10 members every year.  As an industry leader, AAA is continually looking to improve its products and services to increase relevance and to differentiate itself from a growing sea of competitors.  An opportunity exists to leverage the strong Brand Equity & member loyalty to build a stronger product portfolio.

The Opportunity

The Membership Product Executive opportunity with AAA is a chance to leverage the equity in this well known brand to significant new levels of membership and sales in a very competitive market.  While AAA is primarily known for its flagship Emergency Road Service, Maps, In-Branch DMV and Discounts, Membership benefits also include a number of lesser known services with tremendous potential to drive growth; these include financial products, automotive maintenance and repair offerings and Lifestyle product solutions. 

Senior management believes that with the right focus & product management expertise, the product portfolio has significant potential to deliver substantial revenue & profit growth, to increase membership retention and to attract new members to AAA.

The Membership Product Strategy Executive is responsible for developing a compelling value proposition for segments critical to AAA’s future, integrating products and services from AAA business lines, partnerships, and service channels into a coherent product portfolio that will create, develop, and sustain lifetime relationships with members.  This position develops the strategic direction to deliver against the corporate membership goals and identifies and analyzes market opportunities, and helps coordinate member product development efforts across major functional areas, including other business lines and service channels.  This role collaborates closely with the Membership Product Operations Executive to deliver the business goals.  Accountabilities include:

1. General management of the current products: this includes leadership of the $265MM P&L, strategies/business plans and tactics to deliver 89.0% retention and other business goals.






2. Longer range strategy for Membership.  This includes developing an innovation road map that will allow AAA to increase relevance and differentiate membership to remain competitive.  A key focus area will be to revitalize the Membership business, extend the reach of the brand to a younger audience & build a defensible plan in response to growing competition.  In addition, there is significant opportunity to increase the linkage between Membership and our Insurance products; this leader will be responsible to develop cross-sell strategies that help improve the overall growth of the enterprise. 






3. People Management: this role leads a department with 11 staff members.  There is significant opportunity to contribute to the training and development of the team with both consumer and general management skills.






4. Provides leadership to the Membership product strategy including product features and benefits, product pricing and positioning.  Leads strategic planning activity for the Membership product and provides direction to Membership Product Operations for development of strategies and tactics.  Recommend/ approve pricing structure and price changes.






5. Provides thought leadership to Membership product development efforts.  Researches, analyzes, and makes recommendations on products and services responding to market opportunity and member needs. Key contributor to the development of product improvements, line extensions, partnerships and segment offerings. Provides strategic recommendations for improvements to future products and programs to senior management.

Many of the products are in place, the resources are available, and AAA can take the necessary time to “get it right” before going to market. What it requires now is the expertise to leverage what exists and add the strategic thinking and execution that will take AAA to the next level.

FUNCTIONAL PROFILE

Functional responsibilities for the Membership Product Executive will include the following:

• Strategic Vision: This Membership Product Executive will be responsible for developing and launching new services for AAA. S/he will proactively determine what consumer needs are not being met with current services and then work to develop services that address these needs on a cost appropriate basis. What services/products should be in the AAA portfolio, how they will be marketed and what the target audiences should be, will all be the responsibility of this individual. A consumer-centric approach to new service offerings is critical.

• Current Product Revitalization:  The Membership Product Executive will evaluate the current strengths and weaknesses of the Product Portfolio and determine how that can be enhanced and leveraged to increase its revenues. It is expected that this individual will field appropriate consumer research to learn what “holes” may exist in the current offering and how the service can be modified to generate significant revenue increases.

• Consumer Acumen: The Membership Product Executive will be responsible for the development and understanding of consumer insights that will drive business decision making.  It is expected that this individual will be able to translate insights into useable content for a wide range of constituents.

• Management:  S/he will be responsible for the management, training and career growth of the individuals within their group.  The Membership Product Executive will be charged with mentoring the team in order to leverage their current knowledge, as well as training and preparing them to take on additional responsibilities within the department.

KEY SELECTION CRITERIA

The ideal candidate will possess the following skill set and attributes:

1.       Experience:

This person should have a minimum of 10-15 years of general management experience in managing consumer products and/or services.  S/he should have a proven track record of successfully developing and executing business plans from conception to implementation.  The ideal candidate will have been classically trained in product management and marketing.  The must demonstrate the ability to work successfully in a collaborative environment. The Membership Product Executive should know how to get the best solution using the available resources.

2. Strategic Thinking:

The successful candidate must be a strategic thinker, able to develop and communicate a compelling vision and direction for the product management team while aligning with the rest of the Company.  S/he will be a strategic problem solver and have the confidence to lead decision-making and execution to the appropriate levels of the organization.  This individual should be data driven and knowledgeable with regard to the fielding and evaluation of market research, and the ability to interpret the results in order to enhance current products as well as in the development and launch of new products/services.

3.  Leadership/Presence:

The Membership Product Executive must be someone who has managed and mentored a product management team.  This individual must be someone who has successfully demonstrated the ability to command the respect of others and display the leadership qualities to influence senior management, peers and subordinates. S/he should have a history of developing subordinates, helping them advance their careers within an organization and should enjoy working in a team environment.

4.  Creativity:

It is essential that this Membership Product Executive be someone who has demonstrated the ability to think and act in a creative manner.  AAA is looking for a person with a creative spark, able to think outside the box and willing to balance the tried-and-true with the “truly new”.

5. Communications:  The Membership Product Executive will need to be an excellent communicator in both written and oral formats.  Strong writing skills and the ability to provide strong rationales for courses of action will be required. S/he will need to exercise effective skills in working cross-functionally.

6.       Personality:

This person should be inherently smart, pro-active, collaborative, creative, energetic, a strong communicator (verbally and written), and passionate about the potential of the opportunity.  They should take ownership of their projects and be able to work effectively as part of a cross-functional team. S/he should combine the ability to be strategic with the understanding that they will also be a “do-er”, responsible for projects being completed on time and on budget. A personality type that is eager to try new things will be required in this role.