As a brand manager you must know what happens in stores to be able to manage your job. You must know what kind of products, expos and displays that are liked by the customers and consumers, in other words you must be aware of the “real world”. If you do not know this, it is hard to come up with good ideas of new innovations or creative exposures. Of course, you can find many hard facts in different data systems and researches but a great complementary thing to do for finding this information is to partner up with a seller for a day, which I recently did.
Just before Christmas I car pooled with one of our skilled seller for a whole day. We visited some of the stores that he are responsible for and checked that everything was under control before the big Christmas-holiday. I once again, I realised that to experience how a regular day for a seller looks like makes me understand so much better what’s needed in-store. Even if I know many things before; to car pool is a great reminder of how things really are.
For lunch we meet some others sellers and they all have so many great ideas of how things can be developed and improved. We must never forget that they are the absolute best source of information about “the real” world. My goal is to partner up with different sellers for a few times a year. Each time it gives me so many new ideas and great inspiration, but it is so easy to forget in our everyday-life at the office. But in 2011 I have promised myself I will car pool more often (of course, if the sellers let me….).
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Orkla Brand Academy nr 4
After four weeks (17 days) at Sarpsborg I am done with Orkla Brand Academy (OBA). It has been fun and I have learned a lot. Everything from how to create a brand stamp or a advertising campaign, how to manage sales and strategy, and so on. We have had both external and internal lecturers. The most lecturers have been great but some you can recall more easily than others. During the entire academy we have been the same people in the class which means many new friends, that is fun!
Focus has of course been on marketing but to become a great marketer you also need to know the surroundings to get the total picture. Now when I am done with these four weeks I have many good tools in my luggage, mainly marketing-tools but also within nearby areas that I can use in my everyday job.
The very last night we had a ceremonial dinner. We dressed nicely and had a lovely dinner at the manor of Sarpsborg. Robert, the lecturer, told us all the stories and myths about Orkla and finally we got our diplomas. The ceremony was very special and unexpected, more than that I cannot tell you…you will see if you complete the OBA yourself...;)
Focus has of course been on marketing but to become a great marketer you also need to know the surroundings to get the total picture. Now when I am done with these four weeks I have many good tools in my luggage, mainly marketing-tools but also within nearby areas that I can use in my everyday job.
The very last night we had a ceremonial dinner. We dressed nicely and had a lovely dinner at the manor of Sarpsborg. Robert, the lecturer, told us all the stories and myths about Orkla and finally we got our diplomas. The ceremony was very special and unexpected, more than that I cannot tell you…you will see if you complete the OBA yourself...;)
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Orkla Brand Academy nr 3
Four more days and three more nights at the manor in Sarpsborg are done. I have now completed the third out of four modules of Orkla Brand Academy (OBA). It feels good!
What is Orkla Brand Academy? It is one of Orkla’s many courses that all interns need to pass. Orkla arrange a great number of courses each year and they are all completed at Orkla’s great conference centre in Sarpsborg, close to the Swedish border in Norway. The educations are about marketing, sales, purchase, trade, and others areas needed when working in our branches. People from the entire world working within Orkla are gathered and take the courses together.
After a completed academy, Orkla offers us to move on and take more courses in other fields. It is such a great privilege as employed at Orkla to achieve those courses; they are both fun and interesting. At the same time, Orkla creates internal directions by spreading quality knowledge.
Since I work as a brand manager, my main area is marketing and therefore my first academy is marketing. It is built up of four modules and teaches us how to manage brand positioning, write brand stamps, create advertisements, and so on.
My fourth and final round of OBA will be at week 44 this year. As I have heard, it will be finished with a great dinner with a ceremonial session where all of us get a signed OBA-diploma. I look forward to it and will of course update you afterwards how it was. Until then, take care!
What is Orkla Brand Academy? It is one of Orkla’s many courses that all interns need to pass. Orkla arrange a great number of courses each year and they are all completed at Orkla’s great conference centre in Sarpsborg, close to the Swedish border in Norway. The educations are about marketing, sales, purchase, trade, and others areas needed when working in our branches. People from the entire world working within Orkla are gathered and take the courses together.
After a completed academy, Orkla offers us to move on and take more courses in other fields. It is such a great privilege as employed at Orkla to achieve those courses; they are both fun and interesting. At the same time, Orkla creates internal directions by spreading quality knowledge.
Since I work as a brand manager, my main area is marketing and therefore my first academy is marketing. It is built up of four modules and teaches us how to manage brand positioning, write brand stamps, create advertisements, and so on.
My fourth and final round of OBA will be at week 44 this year. As I have heard, it will be finished with a great dinner with a ceremonial session where all of us get a signed OBA-diploma. I look forward to it and will of course update you afterwards how it was. Until then, take care!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Barcelona
Three times a year our sales- and marketing departments meet up for a few days of preparing for upcoming launches. Usually we meet at a hotel or at a conference-building close to Stockholm since it is the biggest city and easy to gather up at.
This fall we had our meeting at a completely different place, in a small village called Sitges in Spain. The reason to this was that the sales force had managed to reach our high goals that we had put up in the beginning of this year. They did a very good job throughout the whole spring and as a reward we had the meeting in the south of Europe.
Sitges is located close to Barcelona and we stayed at a hotel nearby the beach. We hade seminars, presentations and hard work from early morning to late night but every day we had a few hours of rest that we could spend in the sun and relax. And in the evenings we ate dinner together. It was a really great week!
Pictures below show the fabulous dinner we had the last night before we went home. So my message is, if you work hard and score high, you will be rewarded in Orkla!
This fall we had our meeting at a completely different place, in a small village called Sitges in Spain. The reason to this was that the sales force had managed to reach our high goals that we had put up in the beginning of this year. They did a very good job throughout the whole spring and as a reward we had the meeting in the south of Europe.
Sitges is located close to Barcelona and we stayed at a hotel nearby the beach. We hade seminars, presentations and hard work from early morning to late night but every day we had a few hours of rest that we could spend in the sun and relax. And in the evenings we ate dinner together. It was a really great week!
Pictures below show the fabulous dinner we had the last night before we went home. So my message is, if you work hard and score high, you will be rewarded in Orkla!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Orkla Brands Nordic + Solna Business Park
Summer summer summer, lovely summertime! Right now I am on vacation and have completed one out of three weeks of no job during this summer. I am really enjoying the days and relaxing but I am also looking forward coming back to work later on.
Before I checked out for summer I had completed seven weeks at my new job at Göteborgs Kex and I really enjoy it! I am working in a great team and the tasks are new, many and fun. The organisation Göteborgs Kex differs pretty much from Nidar (where I worked before) as it is much smaller and the position brand manager is completely different from being a trade marketing manager. Even if I often feel frustrated not knowing all the tasks yet, it is at the same time very stimulating to learn so many new things every day. I have a steep learning-curve and I look forward to the day when I can work independently.
One of the reasons to look forward coming back from holiday is to see how our offices are. In Sweden, the main body of the Orkla Brands Nordic companies are gathering up in Solna Business Park (just outside Stockholm) and our offices are right now being finished. The companies are Göteborgs Kex, OLW, Pierre Robert and Axellus and since 1th of June they are located at Svetsarvägen 15, Solna. The address is in Solna Business Park where many other FMCG-companies are situated. When everything is completed we will be around 100 people from Orkla Brands Nordic companies working at the same floor. It will be so much fun and we can more easy get help from each other. I tell you more when I get back in August.
Happy summer!
Before I checked out for summer I had completed seven weeks at my new job at Göteborgs Kex and I really enjoy it! I am working in a great team and the tasks are new, many and fun. The organisation Göteborgs Kex differs pretty much from Nidar (where I worked before) as it is much smaller and the position brand manager is completely different from being a trade marketing manager. Even if I often feel frustrated not knowing all the tasks yet, it is at the same time very stimulating to learn so many new things every day. I have a steep learning-curve and I look forward to the day when I can work independently.
One of the reasons to look forward coming back from holiday is to see how our offices are. In Sweden, the main body of the Orkla Brands Nordic companies are gathering up in Solna Business Park (just outside Stockholm) and our offices are right now being finished. The companies are Göteborgs Kex, OLW, Pierre Robert and Axellus and since 1th of June they are located at Svetsarvägen 15, Solna. The address is in Solna Business Park where many other FMCG-companies are situated. When everything is completed we will be around 100 people from Orkla Brands Nordic companies working at the same floor. It will be so much fun and we can more easy get help from each other. I tell you more when I get back in August.
Happy summer!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Social Club
Social Club
Today I have worked at Göteborgs Kex for one month and I am enjoying it, I really do! Even if I cannot wait to write about my new position and new tasks I will tell you about Nidar and my old job for the last time. This special “Social Club” is worth mentioning before I move on to Göteborgs Kex on full-time.
An organisation making good results is most certainly based on a great co-working environment and built up by people enjoying working together. Relationships between people in an organisation are crucial and to create this harmony the members need to work on it. Members in a group need to communicate; learn how to speak each others language and how to compromise to get everyone satisfied. They must trust each other and one way of reaching this group dynamic is by participate in social building events.
The category department at Nidar has a great way of doing this. One day each month/every other six weeks one person gets the mission to arrange a dinner for the entire group. It is up to the person what to serve and where to be. Usually Thursday is the evening and most often the dinner is at someone's home. During the dinner we (they) talk about everything, mostly things that are not connected to work but also work-related discussions can show up. This is social time and it is really fun to talk to colleagues in a relaxed environment, not feeling stressed because of a deadline or meetings coming up. You get better relations to your co-workers which makes the tasks at work easier - and the best thing is that these dinners are great times!
Today I have worked at Göteborgs Kex for one month and I am enjoying it, I really do! Even if I cannot wait to write about my new position and new tasks I will tell you about Nidar and my old job for the last time. This special “Social Club” is worth mentioning before I move on to Göteborgs Kex on full-time.
An organisation making good results is most certainly based on a great co-working environment and built up by people enjoying working together. Relationships between people in an organisation are crucial and to create this harmony the members need to work on it. Members in a group need to communicate; learn how to speak each others language and how to compromise to get everyone satisfied. They must trust each other and one way of reaching this group dynamic is by participate in social building events.
The category department at Nidar has a great way of doing this. One day each month/every other six weeks one person gets the mission to arrange a dinner for the entire group. It is up to the person what to serve and where to be. Usually Thursday is the evening and most often the dinner is at someone's home. During the dinner we (they) talk about everything, mostly things that are not connected to work but also work-related discussions can show up. This is social time and it is really fun to talk to colleagues in a relaxed environment, not feeling stressed because of a deadline or meetings coming up. You get better relations to your co-workers which makes the tasks at work easier - and the best thing is that these dinners are great times!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Orkla-opportunities
I am so happy, I am moving back to Sweden in the end of May! Two weeks ago I got the message that I got the job as brand manager at Göteborgs Kex in Sweden. The sales- and marketing department within Göteborgs Kex are moving from Kungälv, Gothenburg to Solna , Stockholm this spring. The reason to this is that the Orkla Brands Nordic companies located in Sweden are trying to gather up in the same building (as the Norwegian companies do in Sandakerveien in Oslo) to achieve synergy effects from being a huge concern. So by June this year the majority of the sales- and marketing departments within OLW, Göteborgs Kex, Axellus and Pierre Robert Group will be located at Solna Business Center just outside Stockholm City.
I do have split feelings; I love my job at Nidar AS in Oslo but I am at the same time very excited about my new job at Göteborgs Kex. When I move back to Sweden again, I have been one and a half year at Nidar as a Trade Marketing Konsulent. I have really enjoyed my time at the company and Nidar is a great organisation with wonderful people. I will for sure miss it. Though, the biggest reason why I want to change job and move is that I see my long term future in Sweden (friends and family) and therefore I cannot miss this chance to join Göteborgs Kex when positions will be filled when moving to Solna.
Göteborgs Kex is also the FMCG-company that is closets to my heart since the production is located nearby my parents' house in Gothenburg. I have grown up beside the company's factory and therefore I have a strong personal connection to it. Moreover, I want to work with marketing in the future and my new job is a more clearly defined marketing job.
I really want to stay within Orkla and if I had not got this job I would absolutely have stayed at Nidar, no doubt! This is just an example what great opportunities Orkla can offer you; a new job in a new country, how nice isn't that!
I do have split feelings; I love my job at Nidar AS in Oslo but I am at the same time very excited about my new job at Göteborgs Kex. When I move back to Sweden again, I have been one and a half year at Nidar as a Trade Marketing Konsulent. I have really enjoyed my time at the company and Nidar is a great organisation with wonderful people. I will for sure miss it. Though, the biggest reason why I want to change job and move is that I see my long term future in Sweden (friends and family) and therefore I cannot miss this chance to join Göteborgs Kex when positions will be filled when moving to Solna.
Göteborgs Kex is also the FMCG-company that is closets to my heart since the production is located nearby my parents' house in Gothenburg. I have grown up beside the company's factory and therefore I have a strong personal connection to it. Moreover, I want to work with marketing in the future and my new job is a more clearly defined marketing job.
I really want to stay within Orkla and if I had not got this job I would absolutely have stayed at Nidar, no doubt! This is just an example what great opportunities Orkla can offer you; a new job in a new country, how nice isn't that!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Lofoten
To spend two days up in the very north of Norway with its beautiful nature while working is fabulous! Could it be better? To earn money while enjoying the tremendous geography of Norway, I do not think so.In the middle of March Nidar had meetings with the sales force at three places in Norway divided into the north, west and east region. Nidar has such meetings three times a year to inform the sellers about upcoming news and happenings in the market. These days are really fun and exiting for all of us. It is great to meet colleges beyond them you usually meet at the same time as it is crucial for our organisation to give the salesforce continuously information. In addition, it is also nice for some of us to come out the office for two or three days.
It is the regional sales managers who decide where to arrange the meetings and this time the manager in north, Atle Kvamvold, decided to put the meeting in Lofoten. For me as a Swede it was really interesting to experience the northern part of Norway since I have not been there before. So I liked Alte’s decision of place to stay.
To reach Lofoten you fly to the small town Bodø from Oslo. From Bodø you fly to the even smaller town Svolvær. Svolvær has approximately 5000 inhabitants and has a tremendous nature. There are beautiful mountains surrounding the small town and the ocean is powerful. Today Lofoten earn most money on tourism.
The first day of our stay we spend on meetings. The second day we experienced the nature. Two hours on a rib boat, lunch at a sea restaurant, three hours on a sailing boat (the first picture shows Kersti and me enjoying the fishing trip) and summing up with dinner at a another sea restaurant. We eat fresh seafood to all dishes during our stay which was really nice. What can I say; this was an extremely different meeting but very fun!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Creating campaigns
One part of my job is to create campaigns in-store. The campaigns shall create attention at the point of sale. Campaigns shall do something extra for the products; create added value for the shopper. I guess you all easily can recall how Coca-Cola offer you the chance to win a pair of exclusive skies, how you can win a trip to the sun with the chocolate bar Bounty, how you can win a ticket to the grand prix final by another candy product or how you can get a lottery ticket by collecting a certain amount of EAN-codes from the packaging of a throat pastille, and so on. There is a heave of different campaigns out there, all made to get shoppers’ attention. Companies compete about the few seconds that the shopper gives every product in store; how to get the shopper too see just our product. In more exact terms the reasons why companies create campaigns are making products more competitive at the point of sale, rewarding loyal users of a brand, attracting new users to a brand and/or developing more display and stronger trade relations.
For me, creating campaigns are one of the most interesting parts of my job but also a challenging one. How do we find the best mechanisms, can we be sure that the chosen one really attract shoppers in the decided target group, do we have the best suited rewards and is the campaign enough up to date? The challenge is to know the answers to these questions when creating a concept for a campaign, but that is the glance of it…
Right now Nidar have one big campaign that is up and running, Storplateopplevelsen. Take a look at the homepage http://storplateopplevelsen.no/ and get your own tickets to entertainment parks.
For me, creating campaigns are one of the most interesting parts of my job but also a challenging one. How do we find the best mechanisms, can we be sure that the chosen one really attract shoppers in the decided target group, do we have the best suited rewards and is the campaign enough up to date? The challenge is to know the answers to these questions when creating a concept for a campaign, but that is the glance of it…
Right now Nidar have one big campaign that is up and running, Storplateopplevelsen. Take a look at the homepage http://storplateopplevelsen.no/ and get your own tickets to entertainment parks.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Norway is not Sweden
Christmas is over and the exciting New Year's Eve as well. During these days I have been in Sweden and celebrated the holiday with family and friends. Since I have not been at work (worked from home), I will tell you about some cultural/off-work differences between Norway and Sweden. Even if many do not believe there are any differences between the two countries, it is wrong.
One of the biggest differences is the lunch. In Sweden you sit down with colleagues and eat a hot meal for at least 30 minutes, often 45 minutes. You bring your own food for lunch (in a lunchbox) or you eat out. In Norway the typical lunch is two sandwiches in the “kantina” (the company’s food court) for 20 minutes or in front of the computer for 15 minutes. The sandwiches are often healthy, fibre bread with cheese, egg, ham or salmon and with some side-salad the lunch is complete….for the Norwegian people yes, but not for the Swedes. I really like the sandwiches but they are not what we are used too and it is less than the Swedish lunches. We eat a hot meal that keeps us full until dinnertime in the evening. Norwegians eat dinner much earlier than Swedes and that is the explanation of the diverse routines. I do not say that any of the routines are right or wrong, just that there is a difference.
When comparing the surrounding nature of the two capitals Oslo and Stockholm, there is not a doubt that the possibilities of using it are much greater in Norway. Only 15 minutes away from city you are in the forest and can go skiing or hiking. In summertime, you can reach the ocean in 15 minutes where you can go sailing or snorkelling. The mountains are very close and by car you can reach several ski paradises just hours away. I love skiing and in the picture below you can see me and my colleague Ewa Sitkiewicz in Beitostølen (3 hours from Oslo) before Christmas enjoying the Norwegian nature. It will definitely be more of this.
One of the biggest differences is the lunch. In Sweden you sit down with colleagues and eat a hot meal for at least 30 minutes, often 45 minutes. You bring your own food for lunch (in a lunchbox) or you eat out. In Norway the typical lunch is two sandwiches in the “kantina” (the company’s food court) for 20 minutes or in front of the computer for 15 minutes. The sandwiches are often healthy, fibre bread with cheese, egg, ham or salmon and with some side-salad the lunch is complete….for the Norwegian people yes, but not for the Swedes. I really like the sandwiches but they are not what we are used too and it is less than the Swedish lunches. We eat a hot meal that keeps us full until dinnertime in the evening. Norwegians eat dinner much earlier than Swedes and that is the explanation of the diverse routines. I do not say that any of the routines are right or wrong, just that there is a difference.
When comparing the surrounding nature of the two capitals Oslo and Stockholm, there is not a doubt that the possibilities of using it are much greater in Norway. Only 15 minutes away from city you are in the forest and can go skiing or hiking. In summertime, you can reach the ocean in 15 minutes where you can go sailing or snorkelling. The mountains are very close and by car you can reach several ski paradises just hours away. I love skiing and in the picture below you can see me and my colleague Ewa Sitkiewicz in Beitostølen (3 hours from Oslo) before Christmas enjoying the Norwegian nature. It will definitely be more of this.
I wish you all a Happy New Year! In 2010 I will tell you more about my job at Nidar AS.
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