Director, Consumer & Brand Insights

Denny’s Restaurants headquartered in Spartanburg, South Carolina is seeking a Director, Consumer & Brand Insights. This position is responsible for identifying brand, consumer and business insights and providing strategic recommendations to key decision makers based on in-depth knowledge of consumers and business trends. This position stretches beyond research to provide strategic insights to shape the organizational direction by representing the voice of the consumer and the brand actively within project teams, the Concept Innovation and Marketing Departments, and the organization leadership.

Duties, Responsibilities and Contributions:Overseeing multiple consumer insights and strategic marketing projects to meet critical timelines, including questionnaire design, vendor management, writing analyses of marketing/consumer insights data, and consumer feedback.Acting as the primary day-to-day liaison with marketing to support and be fully integrated into the test market and national windows, helping to proactively shape product offerings, marketing communications with the consumer voice, as well as responding and proactively identifying specific insights needs.Leading identification of consumer and customer research needs and determining the most appropriate methodology to meet these needs.Identifying strategic and tactical issues, and designing/analyzing research to address them; designing market research methods and seeking to actively improve research methods. Identifying and developing data collection sources and monitoring and improving quality of data sources. Ensuring high quality deliverables are met in a timely manner.Conducting strategic research studies as assigned by the Senior Director, including: segmentation, A&U’s, buyer reaction studies, test market consumer intercepts, customer satisfaction, communications copy testing and tracking, brand image studies, brand perception, brand profiles, switching and loyalty studies, consumer wants and needs, attitudes and behavior studies, etc.Communicating strategic findings and implications to management via presentations, reports, etc.Using research findings to provide assistance to marketing and operations in the development of strategic marketing and product development plans.Managing multiple suppliers toward the accomplishment of meaningful and timely results within budget.Identifying, articulating and championing consumer and brand insights to all levels of organization.



Knowledge, Skills and Attributes:

 Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline such as Marketing, Marketing Research, Business Administration, Psychology, or Sociology.  Master's level degree preferred, but not required.Minimum 5-7 years related experience in a corporation or agency environment.Experience in designing consumer research with emphasis on marketing and/or product development.Experience with both qualitative and quantitative research techniques.Retail and/or restaurant industry experience a strong plus.Experience in other related disciplines (e.g. product marketing, brand marketing, or finance).Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Qualified candidates should submit a cover letter (stating salary requirements) and resume to jboykin@dennys.com .  Please mention job code: 07-077M. No telephone calls please.Due to the anticipated volume of resumes only qualified candidates will be contacted.  Additional information about our company can be found at www.dennys.com.  Relocation benefits are available.  Denny’s is an equal opportunity employer.