Job Description - Marketing Director
Activate Games America
Reports to: VP of Marketing
Location: Warehouse
Type: Full-time / 40-50 Hours Weekly
About Activate Games
Activate is the world's first active gaming facility where players move, compete, and problem-solve in immersive, tech-driven game rooms. With rapid expansion across North America, we're building a category-defining brand at the intersection of entertainment, fitness, and technology.
Position Overview
The Marketing Director is responsible for leading the day-to-day execution of Activate's marketing strategy — translating brand vision into campaigns, content, and programs that drive customer acquisition, repeat visits, and revenue growth across all U.S. locations. This role bridges strategy and execution, managing internal team members and agency partners while owning key marketing channels and performance outcomes. The Marketing Director works closely with the VP of Marketing, Operations team, and Sales team to ensure marketing activity is aligned with business goals and measurable at the location level.
Key Responsibilities
Plan, execute, and optimize multi-channel marketing campaigns across paid, owned, and earned channels
Translate national brand strategy into actionable, location-level marketing programs
Develop and manage a rolling marketing calendar aligned to seasonal moments, new openings, and revenue priorities
Oversee campaign briefs, creative development, and approval workflows with internal and agency partners
Ensure campaigns are launched on time, on budget, and measured against clear KPIs
Serve as the internal steward of the Activate brand — ensuring consistency across all touchpoints including digital, print, in-store, email, and social
Partner with Mediocre Creative and other agency partners to brief, review, and approve creative assets
Oversee the internal production of marketing assets, ensuring quality and brand alignment from concept through delivery
Own performance across key marketing channels including email/SMS (Attentive), organic social, paid media support, and maintain website content in the new CMS
Monitor channel-level KPIs (traffic, conversion, repeat visit rate, booking revenue) and optimize based on data and provide regular reporting
Manage Lifecycle Marketing Manager on CRM and retention strategies
Review and validate agency-reported paid media performance against BigQuery data
Provide weekly and monthly performance reporting to the VP of Marketing and leaders
Lead marketing execution for new location grand and reopenings, including pre-launch awareness, influencer activation, and week-of programming
Build and maintain scalable local marketing playbooks that give operators clear guidance while maintaining brand standards
Support grassroots community partnerships, nonprofit collaborations, and market-level campaigns in accordance with the strategic execution guidance
Oversee and manage the local marketing budgets, approving and denying partnerships, managing the chamber relationships, ensuring local teams are trained on properly evaluating them for ROI
Manage and develop marketing team members including the Marketing Specialist, Lifecycle Marketing Manager, and Production Graphic Designer
Set clear expectations, provide regular feedback, and build a culture of ownership and accountability
Manage day-to-day relationships with creative and media agency partners — including briefing, timeline management, and performance reviews
Identify gaps in team capabilities and make recommendations on resourcing
Required Experience
7+ years of experience in marketing, with at least 3 years in a leadership or management role
Proven track record driving customer acquisition and retention in a multi-location or franchise environment
Strong background in brand management, creative direction, and campaign execution
Experience managing agency relationships and creative production workflows
Hands-on knowledge of email/SMS marketing platforms (Attentive or similar)
Proficiency with marketing analytics — comfortable working with Google Analytics, paid media dashboards, and data tools
Experience in entertainment, hospitality, fitness, or consumer brand marketing preferred
Excellent project management skills — able to manage multiple campaigns and deadlines across markets
Strong communicator and collaborator across marketing, ops, sales, and tech teams
Highly organized with a bias toward testing, iteration, and continuous improvement
Comfortable in a high-growth, fast-moving environment
What Success Looks Like
Campaigns launch on time and generate measurable lifts in traffic, bookings, and revenue
Brand consistency maintained across all locations and channels
Agency partners are well-managed, well-briefed, and delivering quality creative on schedule
Marketing team is clear on priorities, developing professionally, and executing at a high level
VP of Marketing has clear, data-backed visibility into marketing performance at all times
Learn more about us at: https://playactivate.com/
Activate provides equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, marital status, genetic information, age, disability, or status as a Vietnam-era or special disabled veteran in accordance with applicable federal laws. In addition, Activate complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location where Activate has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including but not limited to hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leave of absence, compensation, and training.