Chiara Molena
Verified Expert in Marketing
Marketing Expert
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Toptal member since January 9, 2023
With over 12 years of international marketing experience, Chiara helps brands unleash growth across European markets through a brand and commercial marketing strategy and execution. She was part of leadership teams in more than two successful acquisitions, including Summergate by Woolworth in 2014 and Champion by Mars in 2022. Chiara has a successful track record of hacking fast growth in European markets for US and Canadian companies.
Project Highlights
Expertise
Work Experience
Associate Professor of Start-up and Scale-up Marketing
IE University
- Received a Teaching Excellence Award for a Start-up and Scale-up Marketing course taught at MBA programs in 2022 while working for IE Business School, recognized as a number one for entrepreneurship in Europe by the Financial Times.
- Taught a Start-up and Scale-up Marketing course at global, executive, tech, and international MBA programs.
- Supported entrepreneurs in developing their plans within venture and start-up programs at IE Business School.
Co-founder | International Brand Strategy Expert
Digital Trails
- Received the Best Digital PR Campaign award at the European Search Awards in 2022.
- Co-founded the agency and managed a multi-market strategy for key clients, focusing on key European markets.
- Managed operations of the company and clients' brand and strategy scope of work.
EMEA Director of Marketing
Champion Petfoods (acquired by Mars in 2022)
- Set up and built an EMEA business unit for Champion Petfoods, creating a marketing strategy, capabilities, and best practices for 33 markets across the region that led to a 25% growth compound annual growth rate (CAGR) across three years.
- Re-framed a market prioritization strategy in Western Europe, delivering triple-digit growth in key markets in Germany, France, and the UK. Launched over 50 new products, improved product mix, and set up digital marketing teams.
- Hired, trained, and coached digital, advocacy, and customer marketing teams to unlock new marketing channels and enable key accounts across retail and eCommerce.
International Marketing Director for EMEA, APAC, and LATAM Regions
Stoli Group
- Re-framed an international marketing strategy by setting a market growth prioritization strategy and new product launches, and entering high-growth new segments to unlock incremental opportunities.
- Created a product growth strategy for key markets in the UK, France, Germany, China, Mexico, and Israel, developing omnichannel experiences across eCommerce, including Amazon, retail, and digital marketing channels.
- Led a team of five regional marketing managers and four managers specialized in advocacy, digital, and customer marketing.
Project History
Hacking Regional Multi-market Relaunch for a US player | Strategy for Champion Petfoods Europe
Drove a 40% leap in top-line revenue in the entire region and over 100% growth in key markets for Champion Petfoods by re-structuring a regional brand strategy with a strong acceleration of eCommerce after launching an EMEA business unit.
After an effective and fast situation analysis, I relaunched a growth strategy for the region with an increased focus on high-potential markets boosting their eCommerce channel. During the 18-month growth phase, I:
• Launched consumer marketing across social media channels, reaching over five million relevant shoppers monthly with a targeted advertising strategy.
• Created in-language websites for key markets and accelerated eCommerce players through targeted campaigns by over 100% across all key markets.
• Generated first-ever insights into European consumers utilizing growth marketing techniques and sentiment analysis.
• Launched a digitization project for e-training that was later adopted globally through the Miyagi platform.
The region grew successfully with a CAGR of 25-27%, outperforming the market by 20%. In October 2022, the company was acquired by a global giant, Mars.
Internationalization of a Communication Strategy across Europe | Bravo Campaign
Built a communication strategy and localized messaging relevance by the market for a Bravo Savings Network pan-European campaign that was awarded the Best Digital PR Campaign at the European Search Awards in 2022.
The client's goal was to accelerate organic search traffic by boosting their backlink profile with high-quality earned links. The brief asked to ideate and execute a relevant and effective international news-led content marketing campaign across the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Poland, and the US.
My objective was to create impactful pan-European and US campaigns to drive high-value editorial links and traffic. Working with digital marketers from Digital Trails, I led a communication and messaging strategy in a creative phase, ensuring international reach for the campaign and driving maximum impact with locally relevant messages.
Champion Petfoods | Regional Product Innovation Strategy
https://www.petfoodprocessing.net/articles/16292-champion-petfoods-acana-brand-enters-wet-cat-food-marketDeveloped and launched a new product line across 13 EMEA markets from ideation to launch in an industry segment previously underdeveloped in the region, leading to adding millions of incremental sales to a top line within 18 months.
To further the creation of the business unit and redefine the strategy, I identified a white space opportunity in key markets in a segment previously untapped by the company – wet cat food. The team I led to conduct the consumer and competitive research seized a revenue opportunity, built the P&L, and finally developed, positioned, and localized the product and product launch for the key markets.
Within the year of launch (2022) across 13 key markets, the product added several million incremental sales to the region. It supported the 'cat' segment's overall growth, increasing consumers' awareness in the UK, France, Italy, Sweden, Germany, and Poland, among others.
Education
Master's Degree in Global Business Administration (MBA)
IE Business School - Madrid, Spain
Certifications
Marketing Management Certification
Marketing Week
Skills
Core
Brand Strategists, Public Relations (PR), Marketing Communications (MarCom), Brand Marketing, Branding, Digital Marketing, Google SEO, Digital Campaigns, Social Media Strategy, Content Strategy
Other
Innovation Strategy, International Marketing, Pricing Strategy, Startups, Scaling, Management, Brand Management, Growth Strategy, Pricing, New Product Development, Launch Strategy, Product Launch, Promotion, Business Cases, Business Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Channel Management, Product Growth, Innovation, Innovation Management, Communication Strategy, Commercial Strategy, eCommerce
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