BUILDING BRANDS THAT BRING THE DESTINATION TO LIFE
THE OPPORTUNITY:
Do you feel most at home somewhere between a mountain trail and a lake sunset? Does a weekend packed with outdoor adventure, local shops and a worn-in tee sound like your kind of life? Can you spot what makes a resort town feel like a community and translate that into a brand?
If those questions excite you, this role may be for you.
We're looking for a strategic and driven Brand Manager to lead the marketing strategy, positioning, and expression of several of our resort brands. This role is one of two brand managers on the resort division at Lakeshirts and this particular brand manager is responsible for elevating our brand presence across both destination and outdoor lifestyle markets for: Blue84 Resort, Zephyr Resort, Aksels, Altered Latitudes.
You'll collaborate closely with Sales, Product, Creative Directors and retail partners to ensure our brands show up clearly, creatively and competitively - through email campaigns, catalogs, photo assets, partner communications and tailored go-to-market strategies.
This role blends brand strategy with hands-on execution, offering the opportunity to shape how resort communities experience and connect with our brands. This is an onsite role based in Detroit Lakes, MN.
Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS | Strategize + Execute + Collaborate + Optimize
- Brand Strategy Leadership: Own and evolve the brand strategy, voice and positioning for assigned resort brands
- Market Presence: Develop seasonal and campaign-level marketing plans, identifying opportunities to differentiate and elevate each resort brand respectively
- Catalog Ownership: Lead resort catalogs and fliers end-to-end including timeline management, content direction, messaging and cross-functional approvals
- Content Direction: Define storytelling, content direction and messaging to ensure our materials resonate within the resort marketplace for each distinctive brand
- Sales Collaboration: Partner with Sales to understand growth opportunities, prioritize requests and ensure marketing tools align with business goals
- Request Management: Review and prioritize incoming marketing requests through established workflows (e.g., Monday.com), ensuring clarity and alignment
- AI: Embrace emerging AI tools with curiosity, exploring how they can strengthen content creation, campaign planning, email performance and brand storytelling (no prior AI experience required)
- Retail Experience: Collaborate on and help define in-store branded environments and retail marketing support
- Trade Show Partnership: Collaborate with the broader marketing team on major resort-related trade show presence and materials; serve as a strategic partner (this role does not directly oversee trade shows)
- Email Marketing and Website: Build and manage customer email communications and an effective campaign cadence, primarily B2B via Mailchimp, with support for D2C brands (often in Klaviyo), including light website updates and ongoing site management as needed
- Communications: Develop clear, on-brand external communications for respective brands, including acquisition and company announcements, partner and association messaging, and presentation/PowerPoint support as needed
- Performance Insight: Help define how we measure effectiveness of catalogs and marketing initiatives within the resort channel
- Licensing Approvals: Manage submission and approval processes with third-party licensors when appropriate (currently we have Warner Brothers licensing on the Resort side), ensuring compliance with brand guidelines prior to launch
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work in close partnership with Creative Directors to ensure visual execution aligns with brand strategy, while respecting product design ownership
- Social Media: Where applicable, aligning and managing social media to service overall go-to-market plans
- Onsite Activation & Events: Where applicable, aligning events or onsite activations to service overall go-to-market plans; partner on developing and evolving onsite activations and experiential marketing opportunities; help define execution standards and success metrics
- This role does not: design products, manage SKU setup or inventory processes, directly manage tradeshows, or function solely as a production-level project manager
QUALIFICATIONS | Strategic Executor + Collaborative Brand Builder
- Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or related field (or equivalent experience)
- 6–8+ years of experience in brand management, marketing strategy, sales enablement, or related field
- Passion for or familiarity with resort, outdoor lifestyle, or destination retail environments strongly preferred
- Experience with email marketing platforms and campaign management is highly desirable
- Strong eye for photography, visual storytelling, and content that resonates with lifestyle audiences
- Ability to think strategically while executing tactically
- Highly organized and comfortable managing multiple timelines simultaneously
- Proficient in Microsoft Office and comfortable learning project management systems (e.g., Monday.com)
- Clear and confident communicator, both written and verbal
- Collaborative leader who can influence without direct authority
- Self-motivated, proactive, adaptable multitasker who thrives in a fast-paced environment
- Strong cultural contributor who embraces and enhances our unique company culture
- Willingness to travel occasionally for events, activations, or industry engagements
- Must love dogs (we kinda like them and we hope you do, too)
WHY LAKESHIRTS IS THE PLACE YOU WANT TO BE. At Lakeshirts, we believe in making work as awesome as the apparel we create. We're not just a t-shirt company- we're also a hat, sticker, and sock company (and so much more!). We're a place where creativity meets culture, where ideas and innovation are encouraged, and where the atmosphere is truly one-of-a-kind. As one of the largest screenprinting manufacturers in the U.S., we decorate a variety of garments and accessories for the resort, licensed collegiate, and K-12 markets, supported by over 1,000 ah-mazing team members from sea to shining sea.
OUR CULTURE TRULY SETS US APART. Life at Lakeshirts is all about embracing our core values, having fun, and working with great people who make every day an opportunity to thrive. We're looking for those who want to roll up their sleeves and make an impact while enjoying a culture that values creativity, teamwork, continuous improvement, and empowering each team member to define and elevate their success. We also foster a strong sense of community and are dedicated to wowing our customers on the daily.
LIFE'S BETTER IN A T-SHIRT & SO IS WORK! Here's what you can expect when you join the Lakeshirts team:
- Compensation | Work Hard. Get Rewarded: The wage range for this position is $75,000-$95,000 annually, depending on experience and qualifications, with flexibility for exceptional experience. Guided by our value of meritocracy, we offer a compensation package that reflects your unique skills, talents, and contributions. You are not just a number-your success, ideas, and efforts directly shape your growth and earning potential, empowering you to take your career to the next level. And there is an option to be paid daily!
- Insurance Benefits | We've Got You Covered: From health and life insurance to voluntary benefits like dental, vision, short-term/long-term disability, and critical illness & accident coverage, we've got you covered; benefits kick in the first of the month following 60 days of full-time employment
- Paid Time Off | Life Outside of Work: Enjoy up to 22 paid days off during the first year because we know life happens outside of work & we want you to be able to enjoy
- Profit Sharing | If We're Profitable. You're Profitable: When we win, you win
- Retirement Planning | Free Money? Yes, Please!: Our 401(k) program helps you plan for the future
- Onsite Perks |Get in my Belly: At our HQ in Detroit Lakes, enjoy hot breakfast, lunch, and snacks from our subsidized cafeteria
- Dogs @ Work| Yes. It's A Thing. And It's Pawsome: Bring your furry friend to work, because we believe dogs just make everything better
- Relaxed Dress Code | Wear What Makes You Feel Your Best: Whether it's jeans, tees, and flip flops- we believe comfort fuels creativity, and we offer an employee merchandise discount to keep you & your family well-stocked
- Unique Culture | That Is Priceless: We make work fun; we believe in teamwork, giving back to our communities and doing what we love with great people, and always rocking a t-shirt, a hat, and some cool socks
Cognitive or Mental Requirements of the Job:
Employee must be able to see and hear, read and write. Requires adaptability, analyzing, assessing, calculating, decision making, dependability, judgment, reading, speaking, following direction, handling multiple priorities, reasoning.
Physical Demands:
CONTINUOUSLY: Sit
OCCASIONALLY: Lift, Stand, Walk, Carry, Push, Pull, Climb, Balance, Bend, Twist, Crawl, Reach, Lift under 10 lbs., Lift 10-50 lbs., Lift over 50 lbs., Carry under 10 lbs., Carry 10-50 lbs., Carry over 50 lbs., Reaching above, at, and below shoulder height
NOTE: This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive and should in no way be considered a contract or guarantee of employment. Employee may perform other related duties as needed based on the ongoing needs of the business. Minnesota is an Employment-At-Will state and implies no specific length of employment
