Master thesis at Orkla

Right now two girls are writing their master thesis at Göteborgs Kex. Their names are Johanna and Lina and they study their last semester at KTH (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan) here in Stockholm. They have soon finished the program of industrial economy but first they are helping me with a real project. Johanna and Lina are helping me to find the next strategic step for one of our big brands. What should we do with the brand, what actions should we take to be able to increase the volume and profitability. What kind of actions will be the best for the brand? They have conducted several interviews with consumers, done their own research in stores and mixed it with theories in books. Both Johanna and Lina are ambitious girls and work hard. I am looking forward to hear their final presentation that we have booked in the end of May.

At the picture below you can see Lina and Johanna when they recently visited our fabric in Gotenburg.

Spring conference

Three times a year we have a conference with the sales force. We get together, usually somewhere close to Stockholm, for some days. The sales and market departments present the news for the upcoming period which the sales force will work with. This time we were at Bergendahls conference center approximately 30 minutes north of Stockholm. It was a really nice place with great surroundings, rooms and awesome food. At the picture below you can see me and some of my colleagues during a break at the conference.

Billboards

It is fascinating how 5 seconds of TV can take more than two hours to produce. Recently I was with TV4 and recorded new billboards for our cheese biscuits that we will show this spring. It was very fun but when I left TV4´s building I reflected over the working hours for only a few seconds of TV.

A billboard is a short TV-sequence before and after a program that shows tasteful biscuits (in our case) and a voice that says “this program is sponsored by….”.

It the pictures below you can see our two different billboards this time. I am very happy with the results since I think the biscuits look delicious and the voice sounds great. So whenever I see this billboard on TV4 nowadays I remind myself that these 5 seconds is a reflection of two hours of work ;).

Do I have the tastiest job ever?

How many of you have meetings that say “tasting new cookies” of a certain brand? Not many I guess. Look at the picture below. It shows a meeting that I ran for a few weeks ago. We tested new samples of Ballerina cookies that our R&D-department had produced for us. This time I was a little bit rude against my colleagues since I arranged the meeting at 9.30 am in the morning. That is usually not the time during the day that you feel the most for sugar. But I had no choice, they were all stuck in meeting the rest of the day and I needed a sign of which way to go towards the R&D-department. So when you have tasted 10-12 cookies in the morning you do not have big cravings for lunch that I can promise for sure… ;)

TV production

During the month of December Jenny Svensson have done a “cheese school” on tv, I hope you have seen it ;). It has been a part of the program “Mitt Kök” (My Kitchen) that are shown in the mornings during Nyhetsmorgon at TV4. Jenny Svensson is a cheese expert, she sells cheese on her own and co work with us at Göteborgs Kex and our biscuits Göteborgs Utvalda which you eat together with cheese.

I was with the TV-team for one day in November to see how the TV-production went. Wow, it took time! During one day (without lunch break) we did five short programs that last for approximately two minutes each in TV. That is a whole a lot of work for very few minutes. But it was funny and Jenny, the production team and Tommy Myllymäki (a professional chef in Sweden) were professional and patient. It was interesting and very funny to be a part of a tv-production and another part of my job as a brand manager at Orkla.

If you have missed the program you can see them at TV4´s site: http://www.tv4.se/mitt-kök
Or at Jenny´s blog: http://www.ostochkex.se/
Merry Christmas!

New design – new photos

This week we almost finished a new design. It is a new launch coming up next spring. The design-process has been rapid and intense but luckily the outcome is great! I am happy and believe that the new launch will be warmly welcomed in-stores.

The final step we need to add to the new design is some photos. So last Thursday me and the design agency meet at a photographer`s place to take photos of some biscuits that will cover the packages. The photographer`s name is Bengt Pettersson and he is a really great photographer he has created some really nice food pictures throughout his career. I would say, probably he is one of the best photographers in Sweden within this area.

The photo-session lasted the whole day. It can feel long for only some photos but it is precision and the result is amazing! You will have to wait and see until next spring when the product will be launched in-stores...

To work with a beloved category

It is very fun to work with a category of products that almost everyone likes and has an opinion about. I have just started my computer after a great summer vacation here in Sweden and I think back of my weeks away from work. I cannot remember one single dinner with new people this summer that one of the topics has not touched my work; cookies! It is such an easy subject to discuss. People want to describe their favorite cookie, if they prefer chocolate or strawberry, what kind of cookies they ate when they were kids, the cookie of their dreams, and so on. It is so much easier to talk about cookies than for example to talk about being in charge of information technology and technology competences. I realize time after time that it is so fun to work with something that everyone can relate to, I love it! To work with a category full of joy and that everyone can relate to is not the reason why I took this job, but it is definitely a bonus ;)