Adventures in Brand Management

Reflecting on the first semester

2006-12-21T13:00:00.000-08:00

The first semester is done. Looking back I can say that it was way more demanding and intense than I ever imagined it could be:

Lessons learnt:
- Always maintain the big picture in mind i.e. do not sweat the small stuff. I know this is easy to say looking back but stress levels will be much lower if you have that in mind.
- Teamwork is a great thing
- Have time to have fun
- Go to as many events to meet your classmates

Looking back I should have had a team approach form the beginning, it would have made my life easier!
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WhiteWave & Dagoba!!!!

2006-12-21T12:49:00.000-08:00

WhiteWave Foods will be interviewing for summer marketing internships in January.. I am so excited. Will go to their infO session and report back on the blog!

On a different note, the founder of Dagoba Chocolate - organic, fair trade chocolate brand was on campus to talk about founding is company to selling it to Hershey Food Company. It was quite interesting to hear about his vision on protecting rainforest and the environment.

Check them out!
http://www.dagobachocolate.com/

Update! Update!

2006-12-21T12:22:00.000-08:00

Its been a while since I posted anything to this blog! I was impressed with my visit to the east coast CPG, I will be joining them for the summer. They exceed all my criteria:
- Great training program
- Outstanding reputation for excellence in brand management
- Strong mentoring program

In the end, the caliber of people was what made the difference!

Exams galore

2006-11-07T12:49:00.000-08:00

Three exams this week and I am feeling like a zombie. First year of b-school is TRULY hectic!!!

I am off to visit a leading CPG on the east coast on Thursday and Friday. Stay tuned for my thoughts. I will be missing Malpratice Ball this week due to the company visit, Malpractice Ball is an annual semi-formal for the Law, Business and Medical schools.

BTW- Finance exam results are in and I did well.. whew. Feeling accomplished and relieved!

Applied Fridays: General Mills Visit

2006-11-07T12:48:00.000-08:00

Last week, the brand class visted General Mills for a day in Minneapolis, MN. UW-Madison Brand Management alumni hosted us for the day.

Highlights of the visit:

- Marc Belkin, EVP spoke to us about his experience as a brand manager, GMI and his thoughts on the industry.
Key Takeways:
- Focus your career on your "motivated ability"
- There are no dead brands just lackluster brand managers (innovate and refresh).

- Presentation by the VP, Marketing for Yoplait - great insight on managing strategic growth.
- Strategic Growth Channels Presentation and discussion on leveraging non-traditional sales channels to expand growth of a brand.
- A panel made up of Asst Mkting Mgrs to Directors went indepth about careers at General Mills and their experience later that day.

Overall, it was a great learning experience. I was surprised how much I like Minneapolis. Great city, clean, great vibe and affordable.

Brand blogs worth checking out...

2006-10-29T10:53:00.000-08:00

Enjoy!

http://brandandmarket.blogspot.com/

http://www.davedolak.blogspot.com/

Conagra on the rise, WhiteWave gets another look

2006-10-29T10:39:00.000-08:00

Lots of buzz from Wall Street about Conagra. After shedding its non-branded businesses and focusing on the strong brands in thier portfolio (Healthy Choice, Hebrews National, Chef Boyardee), Conagra is on the rise. They are positioned in catergories with strong growth and innovation prospects. The combination of a strong brand equity in healthy, diverse portfolio and good execution, it is a company to watch!!

Speaking of growing brand companies, WhiteWave Foods is one I am looking at:
- Leader in a growing category (Soy Milk and organic products)
- Enterprenuerial culture

Given, its small nature, I am not to sure if they have the capacity to train new BM talent or they take on only experienced hires... but they still make an attractive company.

Halloween

2006-10-29T10:09:00.000-08:00

Outrageous costumes, great music and a merry crowd of 35,000 students, alumni and visitors celebrated halloween last night in Madison... it was quite an experience apparently, it was a little tame this year as a result of the gate fee (estimated 80,000 people attend Halloween on State St last year). The MBA class had a party as well, got there pretty late. Its Sunday morning and in no mood to do school work .. so why not blog...

My visit to the CPG outside Milwaukee went well.

Positives:
- Great people - friendly, driven and strong committed to the company
- Intern projects are high impact projects. I had the chance to see projects done by last years intern whihc have been implemented and ways in which they used it.
- Innovation- The culture is committed to innovation on all fronts - operations, community relations and eco-sustainability.

- Strong brands- Outstanding brands in GROWING markets.

Location is a concern for me.. the location is pretty much off the beaten path.

NPV and CAPM are my new best friends...

2006-10-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

The rite of passage in the first year in Madison is the much dreaded Finance midterm by Prof Kavajecz (affectionately called Coach K).... Well last night was d-day and lets say after exam my head was aching so bad:( ..

In true UW-Madison fashion, the 2nd years treated the whole 1st years to drinks (open bar all night) to commiserate over the exam. Dunno which one made me feel better, hearing the 2nd year student reminsce about last year or the Leinenkugel's I had.

Heading off to a company visit to a "Fortune Most Admired Company" after class 'morrow.
Criteria for the first year internship: Exposure (a wide exposure to brand management role), Experience (quality of the projects I will be working on) and Environment (is it a growth company?)

UNC Soccer Tournament

2006-10-23T13:25:00.000-07:00

We could not get together funding at the such short notice to play in the UNC soccer invitational. I really wanted us to play:( Preparing for the MBA Soccer world cup in East Hanover next year..
On Wisconsin!

Up Close and Personal

2006-10-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

One the great things of the brand program here in Madison is the access to the industry movers and shakers students have. The CPBM (http://www.bus.wisc.edu/centerforproductmanagement/index.aspx) board had a dinner reception for the 20 plus students at the Center Directors house, it was definitely networking jackpot as well as an educational one. I networked with the new President of a multi-billion dollar branded food company with HUGE growth potential - thinking of that company for FT position. I will be visiting the company later next month. I interacted with a host of ex-CEO's and other C-level exec's from Kimberly Clark, Nestle, J&J and many others...

Finance exam is coming up...

Kevin Keller from Tuck was supposed to be the guest lecturer last friday... Was postponed- Looking forward to the class. I attended a class of his at Tuck earlier this year when I was looking at schools.

ON WISCONSIN!!!!

2006-10-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

Wisconsin 48
Minn 12

Nice one! hahaaaa

On Soccer news: The Wisconsin MBA soccer team have been invited to the UNC Charity Invitational. I am out with an ankle injury:(

Stay tuned for updates...

First to Mkt? No so fast

2006-10-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

In the current environment where innovation is imperative to survival in most consumer packaged goods markets, should innovation be the goal/end-game? History shows that the landscape of branded products is littered with innovators who lost out to late-comers. I was quite shocked to find out that diapers was not invented by P&G and even as early as the late 70's it was not even a player in that segment. Same with the video cassette recorder, online music (Napster), ball point pens etc..

Its safe to assume that for a company that creates a new market through an innovative product, it has the vision, managerial persistence, financial commitment, an innovative culture and an ability leverage assets available to them to compete effectively (Tellis et al). Various reasons have been given for why a lot of these innovators fall off, the emergence of a disruptive technology (Clayton M. Christensen) being the most prominent among them.

I think Andy Grove gets it in his mantra that "only the paraniod survive". I think managing a culture of "paranoia" in a market leading company or brand team in addition to the established must do's will maintain. Why a culture of "paranoia"?
- Creates a constant sense of urgency
- Take all competitors big or small seriously
- Relentless pursuit of excellence

These are my thoughts.. what do you think?

Geico Ads

2006-10-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the new Geico ads featuring actors and real life Geico customers? The ads feature Charo, The Movie Preview guy, Little Richard, etc...

Geico ads shifted from gecko pushing a "switching" preposition to a testimonial ads which cleverly blends main street, hollywood and humor to deliver a strong creative. Its engaging, well branded and delivers a strong message (actually 2X if you count the celebrity version of the ad's messaging). Overall the campaign is well co-ordinated and delivers a consistent message - a great way to maiximize your TRPS's !!!!!

Applied Fridays: Brand Management Internships

2006-10-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

At UW-M's brand mangement program, fridays are dubbed "Applied Fridays" where we engage in a "real world" brand management activity. Well today's topic was an industry insider's view on what they look for in the interns they hire. Tara Khoury, GM of Kao brands (Curel,Biore etc) and a UW alum led the brand managment class on landing a internship. She had spent 20 successful years at P&G before heading to Kao Brands.

She was AWESOME!!! amazing lady and will be one heck of an experience to work for her. I am soo pumped after this class....Good resume critique, effective networking skills and witty insights on the process.

Tonight, Kraft is taking the entire brand management cohort to dinner at Johnny Delmonico's, a Steakhouse in Madison... Looking forward to dinner:)

Accounting midterms on Monday morning.,. need to go review..

Steve Bennet Talk

2006-10-06T14:17:00.000-07:00

I am sure some are wondering who is Steve Bennet (UW-Madison alum), -- he is the CEO of Intuit. Mr Bennet was on campus (UWisconsin-Madison) as part of a CEO Summit going on here this week. The talk was highly interactive fielding questions about leadership and commenting on current issues facing corporate America (ethics, leadership styles, managing the investor constituency), drawing his experience at GE and Intuit.

My takeaway from the talk was that great leaders actually say and do the vision they espouse - "Whats your say-do ratio"?

Other CEO's in the audience - Thomas J. Falk, Chairman & CEO of Kimberly-Clark and David Lesar, CEO Halliburton (UW-Madison alum)