Jobs

External and Brand Communications Lead at PepsiCo

  • Job Type Full Time
  • Qualification Bachelors
  • Experience 8 years
  • Location Western Cape
  • City Cape Town
  • Job Field Media / Advertising / Branding&nbsp

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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