- Job Type Full Time
- Qualification Bachelors
- Experience 8 years
- Location Western Cape
- City Cape Town
- Job Field Media / Advertising / Branding 
External and Brand Communications Lead at PepsiCo
External and Brand Communications Lead
Responsibilities
What we’re looking for:
- Design and deliver a fully integrated external communication plans and strategies for SA in its full scope by championing and executing an Annual Operating Plan (AOP) including, external, executive communication as well as Corporate & Social Impact.
- Actively managing relations with stakeholders (media, influencers, agencies, event owners, public figures) to ensure right corporate positioning of PepsiCo within the community and external stakeholders
- Build new communication platforms/ tactics and develop new opportunities for reach and engagement
- Monitoring the industry and external climate to advise on public relations strategy and positioning.
- Corporate Communications:
- Lead the strategic planning of corporate communication strategy
- Taking ownership of storytelling with new and creative ideas for PepsiCo’s corporate and Social impact initiatives through speeches, press releases, feature articles, social media posts, etc.
- Monitoring the industry and external climate to advise on public relations strategy and positioning.
- Actively manage relations with media to ensure right corporate positioning of PepsiCo within the community and external stakeholders
- Developing contacts with key public figures and influencers.
- Leading all on ground company owned events by liaising with the relevant agencies
- Build new communication platforms and develop new opportunities for reach and engagement
- Identify speaking opportunities to top management team. Create speeches, communication and briefing material for management team.
- Liaise and coordinate the work with EMEA COE and global team
- Closely monitoring and management of crisis communications (offline and online) while proactively developing communication plans to mitigate recurrent issues on media channels. Handling executive team alignment on urgent / negative news in the media, as well as relevant teams.
- Leading on direct media inquiries
- Handling legal contracts with third parties and external partners
- Onboarding new agencies to upgrade our communication strategy
- Managing the PR agency
- Managing daily interaction with our PR agency/main focal point
- Briefing agencies on all PepsiCo’s initiatives/campaigns/events
- Work closely with agency to develop annual communications plans and ongoing activities
- Managing daily/weekly/monthly reporting from agency
- Identifying and filtering speaking opportunities & interviews
- Working closely with the agency on developing all the PR statements, briefing documents, media plans, special reporting, etc.
- Leading PR agency pitches and briefs
- Managing and handling corporate strategic sponsorships:
- Identifying strategic sponsorships that serve our corporate communication agenda
- Negotiating and ceiling budget and benefits
- Handling the contract and sponsorships details
- Leading on ground execution and relevant activations
Budgeting & Financial Reporting:
- Budget for Communications annual expenditure (PR, events, sponsorships)
- Brand Communications Strategy & Execution
- Develop, lead, and execute strategic brand communications plans that are:
- Anchored in brand purpose and business objectives.
- Focused on strengthening brand positioning in alignment with consumer insights.
- Designed to craft relatable and relevant brand and corporate stories that resonate with consumers, key opinion leaders (KOLs), media, and other stakeholders.
- Built to protect and enhance brand and corporate reputation, ensuring alignment with corporate values and narrative.
- Translate global brand messaging into locally relevant narratives and activations, rooted in cultural insight and market dynamics.
- Capitalize on cultural moments and real-time opportunities that enhance brand relevance.
- Aligned with global and regional brand guidelines, while tailored to local market context.
- Contribute to brand AOPs (Annual Operating Plans) to ensure communication efforts reinforce the brand’s relevance and cultural fit within the Mexican market.
Reputation Management & Issues Preparedness
- Monitor the external environment—including socio-political trends, cultural conversations, and media sentiment—to:
- Identify opportunities for cultural relevance and real-time engagement that support brand storytelling.
- Prevent and manage potential crisis scenarios through proactive risk assessment and reputation management.
- Address sensitive issues early, mitigating risks through coordinated communication strategies and stakeholder alignment.
- Safeguard the long-term equity and trust of the brand by ensuring all communication is transparent, authentic, and consistent.
- Corporate Affairs Integration
- Align brand communications efforts with corporate communications, sustainability, and ESG strategies.
- Identify opportunities for corporate-brand storytelling that reflects PepsiCo’s values and contributions to society.
Stakeholder & Media Relations
Build and maintain strong relationships with:
- Media outlets, editors, and journalists to secure impactful earned coverage.
- Influencers, creators, and KOLs to amplify brand storytelling and reach diverse audiences authentically.
- Industry associations, NGOs, and community leaders, where relevant, to deepen brand credibility and advocacy.
- Ensure accurate, timely, and positive coverage that aligns with strategic brand priorities.
- Ensure at least 70% positive/ neutral tonality of coverage annually
- Serve as a strategic advisor to internal stakeholders:
- Collaborate cross-functionally with brand marketing, corporate affairs, legal, commercial, and insights teams.
- Keep the organization informed of communication plans and serve as a proactive advisor on potential opportunities or risks.
- Embed a communications lens into broader business initiatives to elevate the brand’s presence and impact.
Team & Agency Leadership
- Lead and coordinate the Brand Communications team in SA, ensuring:
- Effective management of PR agencies and communication partners for timely, high-quality execution.
- All messaging is aligned with global brand narratives and PepsiCo’s corporate messaging.
- Achievement of communications KPIs such as earned media reach, sentiment, brand engagement, and share of voice.
- Efficient budget allocation and ROI tracking of communication activities.
- Foster a culture of creativity, agility, and accountability within the communications function.
- Measurement & Continuous Improvement
- Track and analyze communications performance, providing regular updates to brand and business leadership.
- Apply learnings to continuously optimize future strategies and storytelling approaches.
- Benchmark against industry best practices to ensure communication efforts are innovative and competitive.
- Define and track KPIs (e.g., media reach, sentiment, SOV, brand affinity, issue responsiveness).
- Evaluate campaign and media impact; share insights and recommendations with internal stakeholders.
- Governance, Compliance & Brand Safety
- Ensure all communications comply with local regulations, brand guidelines, and internal governance policies.
- Work with Legal and Public Policy to mitigate risk in messaging and partnerships.
- Maintain crisis communication protocols and spokesperson training processes.
Qualifications
What will qualify you for the role:
- Bachelor’s degree in mass communication or marketing
- Backgrounds preferred are marketing, public relations and communications. At least 8 years of experience.
- Strong communication, event management and public relations track-record
- Strategic thinking
- Strong communicator and storyteller/maker.
- Excellent knowledge of media landscape and various media channels and platforms.
- Ability to interact with variety of stakeholders
- Teamwork spirit
- Time management and ability to prioritize
- English, both spoken and written
- Strong experience in crisis prevention and management
- Communication strategist, with consumer brands, marketing, brands with purpose and corporate experience
- Great networking and corporate relations building and management
- Required experience in developing and leading impactful PR and communications campaigns, in core entertainment, lifestyle, sports, gaming, celebrity, sustainability, technology, corporate communications, among other.
- Bachelor’s degree in communications or related field.
- Excellent coordination, collaboration, leadership, communication and decision-making skills; ability to balance business priorities, communication strategy and execution facing segmented audiences
- Outstanding public relations skills, including the experience and confidence to drive coverage and pop-culture relevance
- Knowledge of SA’s digital media and social media spheres, with the capacity to identify opinion leaders, influencers, and relevant messaging
- Creative skills to develop original, innovative and impactful ideas, concepts and communication strategies
- Proven track record in developing and executing earned media campaigns, handling sensitive issues, and building brand reputation.
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and agencies in a fast-paced environment.
Method of Application
Interested and qualified? Go to PepsiCo on www.pepsicojobs.com to apply

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