Rahul Jayawardena

FMCG brand marketer with strong experience across brand strategy, campaign development, shopper marketing, trade marketing, packaging, budget management and agency coordination. Recognised for translating market, shopper, competitor and brand health insight into clear brand plans, commercially relevant campaigns and disciplined execution across multiple Premier FMCG brands. Gained broad accountability across campaign planning, brand delivery and the management of an overall R18m annual marketing budget.

Assistant Brand Manager at Premier FMCG (Pty) Ltd, South Africa (2025-04 – 2026-06)

• Developed the Super Sun brand strategy, using market, shopper, competitor, pricing, distribution and brand health insights to define positioning, clarify premium versus flanker brand roles, reduce portfolio cannibalisation risk and guide future brand execution.
• Delivered three annual Super Sun brand planning cycles, reviewing year-end and channel performance, proposing quarterly activity plans and presenting recommendations to the Marketing Executive for approval.
• Built and led consumer campaigns across Super Sun and Iwisa No.1, including Feel Super Everyday, Fills Good, Live the Super Life and Be Super Together, with Be Super Together driving a 9.8% year-on-year improvement in sales volume, R8 million in PR value and 3.7 million reach.
• Led and executed the Iwisa No.1 Designer Search, a national youth-focused campaign that invited South Africans to reinterpret the brand in a modern context and translate the concept into apparel, with rollout across major universities including UJ, Wits and Nelson Mandela University, academic adoption by Inscape Design College, and coverage in GQ and Glamour South Africa.
• Managed weekly visibility of an overall R18m annual marketing budget across three FMCG brands, tracking campaign estimates, purchase orders and invoices to support budget control and clear spend reporting.
• Delivered major brand activations including Big Save Braai and SPAR Women's Race Pretoria, coordinating agency briefs, branded assets, sampling, supplier delivery and on-site execution for events with 4,000+ and 17,000+ attendees respectively.
• Led the export-ready Sunblest Pasta packaging refresh, adding French and Portuguese translations for Mozambique, Mauritius and Eswatini, while improving shelf appeal, supporting line efficiencies and preparing the updated pack for planned release.
• Coordinated R&D, legal, agency, packaging and print stakeholders on Sunblest Pasta artwork, nutritional information, claims, logo registration and print feasibility to ensure packaging was on-brand, compliant and production-ready.
• Worked cross-functionally with sales, key account managers, operations, product, R&D, packaging, IT and site teams to deliver campaigns, packaging updates, QR code work, website activity and NPD-related discussions.

Marketing Assistant at Premier FMCG (Pty) Ltd, South Africa (2024-04 – 2025-03)

• Supported national marketing campaigns across Premier milling brands, especially Super Sun and Iwisa No.1, coordinating agency inputs, creative assets, supplier follow-ups, reporting and campaign administration across digital, shopper, promotional, trade and traditional channels.
• Contributed to post-campaign analysis by reviewing store-level sales, USSD results, social media KPIs, consumer sentiment, channel performance, activation results and distribution issues, using findings to inform later campaigns and sharper product basket choices.
• Supported in-store activations, sampling and SPAR Women's Race Pretoria activity, while assisting with Super Sun social media content and campaign amplification to grow brand engagement year on year.
• Developed the refreshed Super Sun corporate identity, securing business approval and supporting rollout across brand touchpoints to create a more modern, distinctive look and improve differentiation from sister brands and competitors.
• Developed the annual Super Sun social media content strategy, using the refreshed corporate identity, qualitative and quantitative consumer insights, competitor activity and social media trends to guide agency briefs, monthly content development and on-brand campaign amplification.

Marketing Assistant at Premier FMCG (Pty) Ltd, South Africa (2024-04 – 2025-03)

• Coordinated marketing operations across sales, operations, agencies and suppliers, supporting invoices, budget tracking, reporting, competitor reviews and senior marketing inputs.
• Worked closely with Sales and Operations to develop consumer campaigns that were commercially relevant and executable at regional and store level, aligning campaign mechanics with consumer appeal, customer needs and retailer requirements.
• Conducted trade visits with Sales to understand specific customers, stores and store clusters, using insights to improve in-store execution and liaising with Operations to ensure point-of-sale material was implemented correctly.
• Managed and collaborated with external partners across media, digital, social, PR, influencer, activations, events, print and promotions to ensure consistent campaign delivery across all relevant brand touchpoints.

Honours in Marketing Management – University of Johannesburg (2022 – 2022)

Bachelor in Entrepreneurial Management – University of Johannesburg (2018 – 2021)