Brand Manager – Emerging Markets

Company: SaffronStays

Department: Brand & Marketing

Reporting To: Senior Brand Manager

Markets: North India, Rajasthan, South India, Goa and all emerging markets outside Maharashtra

Location: Mumbai

About SaffronStays

SaffronStays is one of India's leading managed holiday home brands, with a portfolio of 500+ private homes across the country. Built around the belief that meaningful connections are created when people spend quality time together, SaffronStays brings families and groups together through thoughtfully curated private holiday homes and experiences.

As we expand into new destinations and strengthen our presence across India, we are looking for a Brand Manager who can take ownership of our Emerging Markets portfolio and build strong, sustainable demand across these geographies.

About the Role

We are looking for a dynamic, entrepreneurial and growth-oriented Brand Manager – Emerging Markets to lead the end-to-end marketing strategy and execution for SaffronStays across North India, Rajasthan, South India, Goa and all other markets outside Maharashtra.

This is a 360-degree marketing ownership role, requiring a strong combination of strategic thinking, creativity, commercial acumen and execution excellence.

The ideal candidate will think beyond campaigns and communication to understand how brands, destinations and businesses are built. They will be responsible for driving regional brand visibility, creating demand, strengthening destination positioning, supporting property launches and contributing directly to business growth.

The role requires someone who can operate independently, identify opportunities, take informed decisions and translate market insights into measurable marketing outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

1. Regional Marketing Strategy & Business Growth

- Own the overall marketing strategy, planning and execution for all assigned emerging markets.
- Develop geography-specific marketing plans aligned with regional business goals, revenue targets, occupancy requirements and seasonal demand.
- Identify growth opportunities across existing and upcoming destinations, including opportunities to build new travel markets.
- Work closely with regional business, sales, revenue and operations teams to understand commercial priorities and translate them into actionable marketing initiatives.
- Build quarterly and annual marketing roadmaps for each geography, balancing long-term brand building with immediate demand generation.
- Identify underperforming markets or properties and develop targeted marketing interventions to improve performance.
- Drive destination-level demand, property visibility, qualified enquiries and booking conversions.

2. Market Intelligence & Geography Development

- Develop a strong understanding of the travel and hospitality landscape across assigned geographies.
- Conduct ongoing research on travel trends, customer behaviour, emerging destinations, competitor activity, pricing, seasonality and source markets.
- Identify potential customer segments, feeder markets and travel occasions relevant to each destination.
- Build destination-specific insights around what drives travel decisions, including accessibility, experiences, occasions, seasonality and customer preferences.
- Identify opportunities to establish SaffronStays in new geographies through focused awareness campaigns, partnerships and market-entry initiatives.
- Track competitor positioning, destination marketing trends and emerging hospitality concepts to identify opportunities for differentiation.
- Use data, customer insights and on-ground market understanding to inform marketing strategy and investment decisions.

3. 360-Degree Marketing Ownership Take end-to-end responsibility for planning, coordinating and delivering marketing initiatives across channels, including:

Brand & Content Marketing

- Build strong destination and property-level positioning, narratives and communication strategies.
- Work with content, design and social media teams to develop compelling, differentiated and conversion-oriented campaigns.
- Ensure consistent brand communication while adapting messaging to regional audiences and travel motivations.
- Identify opportunities for storytelling around destinations, properties, experiences and guest occasions.

Digital & Performance Marketing

- Work closely with performance marketing teams to plan and optimise Meta, Google and other digital campaigns.
- Define regional campaign objectives, audience segments, creative direction and budget allocation.
- Monitor lead generation, booking conversions, return on ad spend and other relevant performance indicators.
- Identify opportunities to improve marketing efficiency and scale high-performing campaigns.





Social Media & Influencer Marketing

- Build robust visibility for emerging destinations across SaffronStays' social platforms.
- Identify relevant creators, influencers and content collaborations aligned with target audiences.
- Drive region-specific social media initiatives that create aspiration, engagement and demand.
- Ensure consistent amplification of launches, campaigns, destination stories and key brand initiatives.

PR, Partnerships & Collaborations

- Identify meaningful opportunities for regional PR, media visibility and destination storytelling.
- Build strategic collaborations with complementary brands, tourism ecosystems, communities and relevant partners.
- Conceptualise partnerships that strengthen brand credibility, expand audience reach and create business opportunities.
- Evaluate collaborations based on strategic relevance, audience fit and measurable outcomes.

CRM, Retention & Owned Channels

- Leverage email, WhatsApp, website content, blogs and other owned channels to drive destination awareness and repeat business.
- Identify opportunities to reactivate existing customers and introduce them to new destinations.
- Work with central teams to develop targeted campaigns based on customer segments, travel occasions and booking behaviour.

4. New Property Launches & Market Entry

- Own the marketing rollout for new property launches across assigned geographies.
- Develop comprehensive launch plans covering positioning, audience identification, content readiness, digital campaigns, PR, influencer collaborations and distribution visibility.
- Work closely with internal stakeholders to ensure property listings, imagery, communication and marketing assets are launch-ready.
- Create differentiated positioning for each property based on its architecture, location, experiences, target audience and commercial potential.
- Plan pre-launch, launch and post-launch marketing initiatives to build awareness and accelerate booking traction.
- Track launch performance and continuously optimise marketing efforts based on results.
- Develop repeatable frameworks for entering new markets and scaling regional marketing initiatives.

5. Creative Thinking & Campaign Development

- Conceptualise original, insight-led marketing campaigns that help SaffronStays stand out in a competitive hospitality landscape.
- Translate business challenges into compelling creative briefs and actionable campaign ideas.
- Think beyond conventional hospitality marketing to identify fresh narratives, collaborations and audience engagement opportunities.
- Lead campaign ideation from concept through execution, ensuring creative quality and commercial relevance.
- Work with designers, content creators, agencies and internal teams to deliver high-quality marketing output.
- Bring a strong creative perspective to property positioning, destination marketing, communication and brand experiences.

6. Marketing Budget Ownership & ROI

- Own marketing budgets for assigned regions, including annual and quarterly planning, allocation and utilisation.
- Allocate spends strategically across destinations, campaigns and channels based on business priorities and expected returns.
- Track marketing expenditure against approved budgets and revenue objectives.
- Evaluate campaign performance through relevant metrics, including cost per lead, cost per acquisition, conversion rates, ROAS and marketing contribution to revenue.
- Identify opportunities to optimise spends and improve marketing efficiency.
- Prepare regular budget utilisation and performance reports, with clear recommendations on future investments.
- Maintain a strong balance between brand-building initiatives and measurable business outcomes.

7. Cross-Functional Leadership & Stakeholder Management

- Act as the primary marketing point of contact for assigned geographies.
- Work closely with Regional Heads, Area Managers, Sales, Revenue, Operations and central marketing functions.
- Build strong working relationships with internal stakeholders to understand business challenges, align priorities and deliver marketing solutions.
- Coordinate with creative, social media, performance marketing, PR, content, design and external agency partners to ensure timely execution.
- Take complete ownership of deliverables, timelines, approvals and follow-through.
- Manage multiple markets and projects simultaneously,



prioritising initiatives based on business impact.
- Present clear marketing plans, performance updates, insights and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
- Demonstrate the ability to influence outcomes and drive execution even when working with shared resources and cross-functional teams.

8. Performance Tracking, Reporting & Accountability

- Define clear KPIs and success metrics for each market, campaign and key initiative.
- Maintain regional marketing dashboards covering campaign performance, demand generation, lead quality, conversions, revenue contribution and budget utilisation.
- Conduct regular reviews of geography-wise marketing performance.
- Identify gaps, diagnose challenges and proactively recommend corrective actions.
- Track performance of newly launched properties and strategic regional initiatives.
- Ensure marketing efforts are continuously evaluated and refined based on data and business outcomes.
- Take accountability not just for marketing activity, but for the impact of that activity on regional growth.

What We're Looking For

Experience & Qualifications

- 4–7 years of relevant experience in brand management, integrated marketing, growth marketing or destination marketing.
- Prior experience in hospitality, travel, leisure, premium lifestyle or consumer-facing brands is strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated experience in managing integrated marketing campaigns across digital and offline channels.
- Exposure to performance marketing, social media, influencer marketing, partnerships, PR and content strategy.
- Experience managing marketing budgets and evaluating campaign effectiveness.
- Strong understanding of consumer behaviour, brand positioning and demand generation.
- Experience working with multiple stakeholders, markets or business units will be an advantage.
- MBA or postgraduate qualification in Marketing or a related field is preferred but not mandatory.

Key Skills & Competencies

Ownership & Accountability: A self-driven professional who takes responsibility for outcomes, proactively solves problems and sees initiatives through to completion.

Strategic & Commercial Thinking: Ability to connect marketing decisions with business priorities, revenue potential and growth opportunities.

Creative Acumen: Strong instinct for storytelling, brand positioning, campaign ideas and differentiated marketing approaches.

Growth Mindset: Curiosity to explore new markets, test ideas, learn quickly and continuously identify opportunities for improvement.

Analytical & Data-Driven: Comfortable interpreting marketing performance, consumer insights and commercial data to make informed decisions.

Execution Excellence: Strong planning, project management and prioritisation skills, with the ability to deliver high-quality work at pace.

Hospitality & Consumer Understanding: Appreciation of travel motivations, guest experiences, destination dynamics and the nuances of marketing premium holiday homes.

Stakeholder Management: Ability to collaborate effectively, influence teams and drive alignment across multiple functions.

Entrepreneurial Approach: Willingness to roll up their sleeves, build processes where required and operate effectively in a fast-growing organisation.

What Success Looks Like The Brand Manager – Emerging Markets will be evaluated on:

1. Regional Business Growth: Contribution of marketing initiatives to demand generation, bookings and revenue across assigned markets.
2. Brand Visibility: Improved awareness, consideration and market presence across priority destinations.
3. Marketing Efficiency: Effective budget utilisation, campaign performance and return on marketing investments.
4. New Market Development: Successful launch and marketing scale-up of new properties and destinations.
5. Campaign & Creative Impact: Quality, originality and effectiveness of integrated marketing initiatives.
6. Execution & Ownership: Timely delivery, cross-functional coordination, proactive problem-solving and accountability.
7. Market Intelligence: Ability to generate actionable insights and identify new opportunities for sustainable regional growth.

Why Join SaffronStays?

This is an opportunity to play a meaningful role in shaping the next phase of SaffronStays' growth across India.

You will have the opportunity to work across diverse destinations, build emerging markets, influence brand strategy and take ownership of marketing initiatives that directly impact business performance.

We are looking for someone who is excited by the challenge of building markets, growing a brand and creating measurable business impact — someone who brings together the creativity of a marketer, the commercial thinking of a business owner and the execution mindset of an entrepreneur.

📌 Brand Manager (Mumbai)
🏢 SaffronStays
📍 Mumbai