P A R I T Y Brand Strategy & Storytelling Manager Baltimore, MD · Full time

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Summary

Parity is seeking a full-time, salaried Director of Brand Strategy & Storytelling to craft the living persona of the company, form Parity into a multi-modal lifestyle brand, and develop a content production house.

This role has an anticipated start date of January 2023, and applications will be accepted until the role is filled. This role is best suited for a mid-career professional with a strong marketing, ad agency, production house and/or creative director background, that has overseen and executed media campaigns across a range of media types and platforms, particularly video. As the Director of Brand Strategy & Storytelling, you will be a catalytic force for the company, allowing us to capture national mindshare, and shifting the narrative about the inherent value of Black spaces and Black neighborhoods.

Reports To: CEO, Bree Jones

About Parity

Parity innovatively unlocks gridlocked housing markets by leveraging the social capital of existing neighbors and those most harmed by institutional racism. We create upfront demand for affordable homeownership opportunities in neighborhoods experiencing hyper-vacancy by creating pathways for existing residents, families, and other social collectives to purchase homes together block by block as a means of community-building and wealth-building. Parity removes systemic barriers to neighborhood revitalization by using innovative methods to acquire and renovate decades-abandoned properties and sells the homes at deeply affordable price points, which unlocks the supply-demand quandary that keeps neighborhoods depressed.

Parity leads with racial equity, intersectionality, and Development without Displacement at the core of our work to ensure that those who have been historically disinvested of wealth and agency are able to direct the outcomes of and benefit from reinvestment into their communities. Parity was born from the notion that we can rebuild historically redlined communities through the redistribution of power and ownership. We see our impact as broader than just the homes we sell – we are shifting ideology and practice of how Black neighborhoods are valued. Watch our TED Talk to learn more about us. http://go.ted.com/breejones

Parity is at a catalytic inflection point in our journey. The Director of Brand Strategy & Storytelling will be one of the most crucial hires for the company and will significantly influence our strategic direction.

Our Guiding Principles

1. We understand and undo oppressive systems within us and around us
2. We strive to create an unparalleled experience for our customers, stakeholders, communities, and audiences across all our touchpoints and interactions
3. We craft rich and engaging storytelling that deeply resonates
4. We don’t follow markets or trends, we create them

About The Role

The primary function of the Director of Brand Strategy & Storytelling is to create the vision for our brand and manifest that vision through multi-modal campaigns including digital, print and video. You are responsible for crafting and overseeing Parity’s public identity and how it interfaces with customers, stakeholders, and the greater public. 

The role is equal parts creative and strategic – while we aim to produce interest-capturing content, we are also strategic in using our voice to reframe how society values Black spaces, Black homes, and Black neighborhoods. The Director of Brand Strategy & Storytelling must have a nuanced understanding of customer segments, their interests and drivers, their wants and needs, and formulate appropriate content and calls-to-action to reach them and engage them.

The Director of Brand Strategy & Storytelling will work closely with the CEO on key strategic value additive initiatives like securing sponsorships with national brands, launching a content monetization arm for the company, assisting with the roll out of Parity’s geographic expansion from a branding perspective, and incubating other internal revenue-generating ideas in stealth mode.

We are not interested in conducting marketing to sell homes. Instead, we are focused on bringing forth a living, breathing lifestyle brand that invites folks to engage and join. As the Director of Brand Strategy & Storytelling, you will:

1. Foundation & Fundamentals – you will build out the baseline operations of Parity’s brand strategy including persona analysis of our key audiences, a brand book of design guidelines, building a marketing pipeline including establishment of a CRM system, building out web and marketing analytics, and setting up and overseeing our various communications platforms (social media, email, newsletter, blog, website).
2. Narrative Building for Power – you will oversee the creative production of multi-modal media campaigns designed to effectively tell Parity’s stories and further our strategic goals through narrative.

⭐️ Foundation & Fundamentals

• Develop and be responsible for the vision and strategy around Parity’s brand and living identity
• Create brand guidelines that define our company’s voice both online and offline
• Define the profile of Parity’s target customer and conduct in-depth market research
• Identify the channels, mediums, and modes of reaching Parity’s audiences including future homebuyers, donors, investors, sponsors, and strategic partners
• Craft and execute our media differentiation strategy
• Define and execute a social media strategy, and create social media content
• Manage our communications across social media, email, newsletter, blog, website, press, and other platforms
• Establish analytics and performance measurement of the effectiveness of our storytelling efforts across mediums

⭐️ Narrative Building for Power

• Ideate, design, and execute a series of campaigns across several mediums to introduce Parity to the public
• Supervise a cross-functional team of graphic designers, copywriters, social media experts, photographers, videographers, and project managers in the strategic development of messages and deliverables
• Direct, oversee, and sign off on creative elements to ensure that materials are in line with the current brand strategy
• Produce fresh, innovative work that translates complex ideas into compelling print materials and digital experiences for diverse audiences
• Launch a content monetization strategy
• Secure sponsorships with national brands that are well-aligned and complimentary to Parity’s brand
• Assist with physical placemaking strategy to cultivate engagement in Parity’s neighborhood
• Work closely with CEO to launch new neighborhoods, and new strategic revenue generating concepts

Requirements

• You have managed visual projects or produced artistic campaigns that included storyboarding, location scouting, videography, photography, editing, audio, and publication
• You can assemble and direct a cross-functional production team including graphic designers, photographers, video, and audio production and editing teams, artists, content creators, and copywriters in the strategic development of messages and deliverables
• You have a very strong grasp of branding tools and strategies, and you’re able to lead the roll-out of these strategies from concept to execution
• You have significant experience with lifting up compelling stories and creating engaging content across a variety of mediums, with a heavy emphasis on social media content and video
• You have successfully led and executed storytelling, marketing, branding, social media strategizing, movement building, and/or digital strategy campaigns
• You have native experience running social media accounts
• You have a native comfortability with at least 8 of the following and can get up to speed quickly on the others: Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, web, email, blog, press, earned media, paid media, podcasts, speaking engagements
• You have experience with human centered design, persona creation, and customer segmentation
• You have excellent communications and written skills and can pen newsletters and other written broadcasts to a large digital audience
• You are very comfortable with basic graphic design such as Canva or Illustrator, and you possess basic web development skills (Wix, SquareSpace, etc.)
• You have experience with web analytics and A/B testing
• The project(s) you led resulted in an increase in following, engagement, conversion, retention, awareness, or outcomes

About You

• You are entrepreneurial and creative
• You enjoy creating spaces, either physically or digitally for people to come together in community
• You are interested in or have experience working in a start-up environment
• You are a strategic thinker and you can maneuver between high-level goals and very specific tasks to execute those goals
• You are comfortable with public speaking and presenting to groups
• You have a sense for how to inspire people around a common mission or set of powerful ideas
• You are a self-starter, comfortable with working autonomously, and able to hold yourself to self-appointed deliverables

Team Dynamic

You will work closely alongside our founder, Bree. Where she will focus on the tactical day-to-day operations like construction management, finance and capital, legal, and accounting, you will focus on the creative elements of the business by engaging and captivating audiences with rich and nuanced storytelling.

This role is both visionary and tactically rooted in implementation. You will have wide autonomy and creative license to dream up and then execute on your ideas. I will look to you to bring forward your creative vision and expertise. This is an opportunity to learn how high-potential startups are grown, and scaled across all business functions.

Salary & Location

• $65K-$85K commensurate with experience
• Generous benefits package including health, dental, vision and life insurance
• Unlimited personal time off and paid sick leave
• Must be located in the Baltimore metropolitan area (within 1 hour commute)
• 2 days in the office, and the remainder of the week remotely