Hi everyone! I’m Faria Jabbar, a second year at Booth. I’m excited to share my Booth experience with you over the course of this year, and hopefully help you imagine what your own Booth experience could look like. It’s hard to predict what this year will bring, but expect a lot of posts from me about marketing, exploring Chicago, and my interest in retail/style.
As of now, I stand on the other side of some of the most fun and intense 10 weeks I’ve ever had. This summer I had the opportunity to make the switch from marketing consulting to the brand marketing, working as a marketing intern at Nestle’s Ice Cream division in Oakland, CA. Specifically, I worked on developing a Marketing Plan for a No Sugar Added ice cream, as well as a shelf schematic (determining ice cream flavors that should be on shelf in the grocery store).
A big question mark I had before starting school was around the summer internship – what do you actually do? The answer varies a lot depending on the internship – but hopefully a look at what was in my bag this summer will provide some insight into the world of brand marketing.
1. Ice Cream Shop Consumer Survey – I fielded a survey in a Dreyer’s ice cream shop to get some consumer understanding behind my product. Rooting my marketing plan in consumer needs / insights was critical, and this helped me get a pulse on what consumers thought of my product. I used my prior marketing consulting experience plus tips I picked up in Professor Art Middlebrooks’ Developing New Products and Services Lab to help me craft the survey.
2. iPad with Course Lectures – A few times this summer I referenced back to lectures from Professor Günter Hitsch’s Data Driven Marketing class. My Marketing Plan project required thinking through the four P’s of marketing, and looking back at Prof. Hitsch’s lectures on the impact of promotion on demand and consumer’s long term value helped me do that.
3. Nestle Notebook – Much of the information I gathered for my projects came informally, through coffee chats and hallway conversations. I carried this notebook everywhere with me to make sure I didn’t miss any of it. It’ll be great to reference back to as I share my experience during coffee chats with other Boothies who want to learn more about Nestle.
4. Booth Business Cards – For networking with new folks around the Bay Area – i.e. folks I came across in other industries and functions, Booth alumni, etc. The option to get Booth business cards is offered by Giving Something Back, Booth’s student-run community service group.
5. USB – Drinking from a fire hose is an understatement when describing the amount of information I had to absorb to learn a new industry. Much of a brand manager’s job is wading through all of the information, data, case studies, etc. available and deciding what is most important for your project. A lot of critical Nestle information was loaded up on this handy USB, and helped me quickly get up to speed and tackle my projects in 10 weeks.
Overall, the summer was an incredible experience! I learned so much about what it takes to run a successful brand, and the free ice cream wasn’t horrible either. I’m so excited to take this experience back to Booth and can’t wait to share the rest of my second year with you all. Stay tuned…
