The Opportunity:
The Associate Manager, Brand Strategy & Activation will be at the forefront of in-house social content creation. This is a highly hands-on role focused on concepting, shooting, editing and posting best-in-class social content for a brand. The ideal candidate has strong experience creating content in fast-paced environments, with a deep understanding of social platforms, trends, and what drives engagement. This role requires a creator-first mindset, nimble execution, and a strong commitment to producing content that resonates with audiences.
This role plays an important part in bringing Hot Wheels’ social presence to life on a daily basis, helping shape how the brand shows up across platforms, communities, and culture through consistent, high-quality content. This role partners closely with the Brand Strategy team to translate direction into content, with a focus on speed, relevance, and performance.
The Associate Manager’s top priority will be to shoot, edit and post a regular stream of content to Hot Wheels’ social channels. They will assess performance and quickly revise content based on engagement, trends and opportunities. They will collaborate with Mattel’s Inter Agency Team (IAT) and ensure cohesion and maximum impact with creator partnerships and creator content.
A collaborative and proactive team player, this individual is highly hands-on, comfortable owning content creation from start to finish while contributing ideas in a fast-paced environment.
What Your Impact Will Be:
Social & Brand Strategy Support
- Support the execution of a social-first brand strategy, ensuring consistency across platforms
- Monitor cultural trends, social behaviors, and creator/influencer content to inform day-to-day content creation
- Apply the brand’s voice, tone, and storytelling approach across social channels
- Partner with agencies and internal teams to ensure content aligns with broader campaign objectives
- Support cross-functional alignment to ensure social content is integrated into broader marketing efforts
Social Activation & Execution
- On the ground social creator; responsible for concepting, shooting, editing, posting and iterating in real-time
- Produce a high volume of social-first content, balancing speed with quality
- Execute end-to-end content production including pre-production planning, on-set capture, and post-production editing using mobile and/or professional camera equipment
- Capture high-quality video and audio using smartphones and/or mirrorless cameras, with working knowledge of lighting setups (natural and artificial) and sound recording equipment (e.g., lavalier and shotgun microphones)
- Edit content using industry-standard and platform-native tools (e.g., Edits, Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, TikTok/Instagram native editors), applying best practices for pacing, hooks, and audience retention
- Select and integrate music to enhance storytelling and engagement, with strong instincts for trending audio, timing, and sound design
- Utilize commercial music libraries and licensed audio platforms (e.g., Adobe Stock, META Commercial Library, TikTok Commercial Library) to source and apply music in compliance with brand and legal guidelines
- Publish and schedule content natively across social platforms or through CMS tools (e.g., Dash Social, Sprout Social), ensuring proper formatting, tagging, metadata, and optimization for each platform’s best practice
- Optimize content for platform-specific formats, ensuring proper framing, resolution, aspect ratios, captions, and use of trending audio
- Manage and organize digital assets, including footage, project files, music licenses, and final exports, following consistent file naming and storage practices
- For campaigns, support end-to-end social execution, from concept through launch and optimization
- Assist in the development and execution of always-on and tentpole social strategies, including key cultural moments and launches
- Partner with Influencer team to support creator and influencer programs
- Execute platform-native content designed to drive engagement and participation
- For 3rd party content, collaborate with creative and production teams to deliver high-quality, social-first assets
- Coordinate with regional teams to help ensure global strategies are effectively localized
Performance & Optimization
- Track social KPIs (engagement, reach, views, sentiment, creator performance) and compile performance reports
- Analyze content performance and provide insights to support ongoing optimization
- Utilize platform analytics tools (e.g., TikTok Analytics, Instagram Insights, Dash Social insights) to evaluate performance
- Monitor brand health through social listening and community engagement
- Identify opportunities to improve content effectiveness and platform performance