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Ruth Kabau

@ruthkabau

Award-winning Marketing Manager & Brand Strategist with 8+ years growing FMCG, luxury beauty and premium liquor brands across African markets.

South Africa

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What I'm looking for

With a background in FMCG, luxury beauty and premium liquor, I’m adaptable and open to any industry. I’m drawn to challenging, complex, varied roles that stretch me, ideally with regional or global scope. I thrive moving between high-level brand strategy, hands-on execution and cross-team collaboration. Seeking my next creative and strategic challenge.

Award-winning Marketing Manager and Senior Brand Strategist with 8+ years of experience building and leading high-growth brands across FMCG, luxury beauty, fragrance, skincare and premium liquor in Africa. I combine strategic brand leadership with hands-on commercial rigour, with strengths in end-to-end brand management, brand architecture, competitive strategy and commercial growth.

I’ve managed multi-million-rand budgets and led 360° integrated campaigns from brief through to post-campaign analysis. Results include triple-digit e-commerce growth, R4.5M+ in earned media and a top 10 Share of Voice in competitive luxury categories.

Bilingual in English and French, I’ve worked across 7+ African markets and collaborate easily with distributors, retailers, and regional and international stakeholders. My expertise spans omnichannel execution, digital-first transformation, and cross-functional leadership across ATL, BTL, digital, PR, retail and e-commerce.

Consumer-centric and data-driven, I’m comfortable owning multiple brands and priorities at once, leading a team through a project or owning it solo from end-to-end.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Marketing Manager

YSL Beauty | L'Oréal South Africa

Jun 2025 - Nov 2025 (5 months)

Owned end-to-end brand strategy and full P&L for YSL Beauty South Africa, managing a R48M A&P budget and leading integrated 360° go-to-market campaigns. Held the brand in the Top 10 luxury fragrance brands by Share of Voice and built a performance-led digital and e-commerce strategy.

Brand Strategy P&L management Budget Management ATL BTL Digital Marketing Ecommerce SEO SEM Paid Social Share Of Voice Cross functional Leadership Stakeholder Management

Brand Manager

Moët & Chandon · Armand de Brignac | Moët Hennessy SA / The

Sep 2023 - Mar 2025 (1 year 6 months)

Owned brand strategy, budget and full marketing execution for Moët & Chandon and Armand de Brignac in South Africa, protecting luxury brand equity while driving commercial growth. Produced Africa's largest Champagne Day activation for two consecutive years, generating ~R4M AVE per event and 25M+ reach, and delivered R4.5M+ AVE within six weeks on the Champagne Day campaign.

Brand Strategy Budget Management Experiential Marketing PR Earned Media Influencer Management Cross functional Leadership Luxury Branding Event Production

Brand Manager

ELEMIS London · Jack Black | The Prestige Cosmetics Group

Sep 2022 - Aug 2023 (11 months)

Owned brand strategy, omnichannel execution and P&L for ELEMIS London and Jack Black across retail, e-commerce and professional/B2B channels. Pioneered ELEMIS's first brand.com e-commerce platform in Africa, delivering triple-digit year-on-year e-commerce growth and reaching 109% of annual sales target by Q1 2023.

Brand Strategy Omnichannel Ecommerce P&L management Retail B2B DTC New Product Launches Pricing Promotion

Brand Manager

King Food & Lion Pulses | Tiger Brands

Jan 2022 - Aug 2022 (7 months)

Promoted from Assistant Brand Manager to Brand Manager within four months. Successfully led a 360° brand, product and packaging relaunch across in-store, ATL, digital, radio and influencer channels, exceeding campaign KPIs and earning 4 Bookmark Award nominations.

Brand Management 360° Brand Campaigns ATL Digital Radio Influencer Marketing Budget Management Forecasting Team Management

Assistant Brand Manager

Male Fragrances (Brut SA) & Gifting | Unilever

May 2019 - May 2021 (2 years)

Led the Brut Virtual Elevator Pitch campaign, a first-of-its-kind campaign injecting R550,000 into small businesses during COVID-19, winning a SABRE Award for Cause-Related Marketing and named Top 20 Assistant Brand Manager, Africa/Middle East, by The Loeries (2021). Owned in-year P&L and 24-month rolling forecasts across multi-year integrated plans.

Brand Management P L Ownership Forecasting ATL Digital Ecommerce PR Influencer Partnerships NPD Innovation Pipeline

Regional Assistant Brand Development Manager

Skin Cleanse Africa | Unilever

Jan 2018 - Mar 2019 (1 year 2 months)

Led regional brand development across 7+ African markets, managing innovation and renovation execution and building communication strategies from consumer insight and market analysis, tracked against financials, market share and sales growth.