About Kellogg's Marketing Conference

Last Saturday, January 26th, the second day of Kellogg's Annual Marketing Conference was held in Jacobs allowing students to be part of it. There we went!

In terms of organization, the Marketing Club did a great job. Registration was easy and credentials looked nice as the program of the event. Sponsors were remarkable brands and some (Unilever and J&J) gave us very useful samples of their products as presents. The conference's favors -a bag of colorful jelly beans and customized fortune cookies- were a fun touch. The catering service was very good and generous, timing worked well although they seemed worried about a 15 minutes delay during the morning. But it didn't affect the experience at all! By 4.15pm the expected networking cocktail in the atrium was on and going...

As the form was performed as expected, I think the content did to. And that's the most important thing! The agenda was full of important professionals working at big companies. We heard ideas from people who not only know about marketing: they are doing, building, giving meaning to global marketing right now.

There is much to think, to try and to discuss. Either way I'd like to share with you the ideas I took that I'd like to keep in mind.

• "Go into the wilderness. Don't be afraid of feeling uncomfortable" - Davide Grasso, VP of Global Brand Marketing, Nike. (very engaging lecture on branding!)
• "Focus is understood as what we should do... But 1st step in these tech days should be what we should NOT do" (idem)
• "You own your brand also in crises. You need to listen and speak. Even if it is saying 'I don't know'" - Colleen Sellers, Sr. Brand Mgr, J&J.
• "You only launch a brand once; do it right. Create a story that friends want to tell friends." - Erin Collins, Mgr of Customer Insights, Warby Parker.
• "You really need to use analytics as a competitive weapon" - Ken Dickman, Managing director, Accenture.

Finally, the phrase I liked the most because it means a lot more of what we can read. It's an insignia marketers should have. It's a mission and engagement to work for. We need to show by doing that marketing is not what the common jokes say: lying, trying to sell what you don't need. Yes, many work that way. But marketing and branding are -I believe in this- something else. Part of that something else was said by Prof. Zettelmeyer in his brilliant opening of the afternoon panel:

Marketing is no longer a function, 

it is a philosophy of management.

Sobre curriculums y otras yerbas... ó Este post largo enredado y sin tiempo que escribí igual

Hace dos semanas tuve el beneficio de una reunión con una persona del centro de desarrollo de carrera de Kellogg.

Previo a vernos, ella me había enviado el formato de curriculum de la universidad para que lo completara. Luego conversaríamos.

El ejercicio fue muy interesante (¡aún lo estoy desarrollando!). Mi base antropo-comunicológica (¡no encuentro otro término para describirlo!) no me permitió dejar de prestar atención a las diferencias culturales sobre la percepción de las cosas que se conjugaron en nuestro intercambio. Les comparto mis aprendizajes.

En primer lugar, me hicieron ver que la experiencia laboral y educativa había que compartirla contando los logros, no la lista de tareas. ¿Exitismo? No, una buena construcción sobre lo que uno es capaz de hacer a partir de lo que hizo. ¿Funcionará un cv así en Argentina? ¿Cómo sería recibido? ¿No tenemos una tendencia a verlo de otra manera? En las búsquedas que he hecho (y ahora que lo pienso fueron unas cuantas) no recuerdo haber leido cvs encarados de esta forma.

Antes de vernos, Loraine -la persona realmente adorable que me atendió- me adelantó su feedback por email. Cuando vio los años que me había tomado la carrera de grado me puso also así: "Oh! Revisa las fechas, no pudo haberte llevado tanto...". Primero me sentí mal. Horrible. Luego procuré entender y, cuando nos vimos, explicar.

Las carreras de grado aquí no demoran más que tres o a lo sumo cuatro años, como suelen manejarse en nuestras universidades privadas. Por cierto, me resulta algo no menor que a las licenciaturas se les llame "undergraduate degree". Piensen un segundo. "Under... graduate". ¿No se les hace fuerte? A mí sí, pero es obvio porque tengo una experiencia distinta y estoy traduciendo algo a mi esquema cultural que interpreta de otra manera.

Nos juntamos. Expliqué entonces que sí me había demorado "un poco" más de lo normal, pero que tampoco era el doble, y le hablé de la tesina y se dio cuenta de que mi experiencia laboral coincidía con la carrera. Se sorprendió. "Wow! ¿Cómo estudian y trabajan a la vez? Impressive". Eso dijo: "Impressive". Yo no podía dejar de explicarle que en mi país eso era lo normal y no era que yo "era mil".

Seguimos charlando y mientras le relataba mis experiencias más me daba cuenta de lo mal que tenía hecho mi curriculum, porque casi nada de lo que relataba se podía entender realmente leyendo lo que había puesto (bueno, casi nada, alguna cosa sí). Qué ironía para una licenciada en ciencias de la comunicación, ¿no? Claramente necesito reescribirme.

Charlamos y charlamos, una hora completa, y me volví con mis recomendaciones. Y mis tareas. También algunas preguntas, cómo no. Y como todo esto tiene que ver con el futuro, con la carrera, con las ganas, hasta con las convicciones, voy a cerrar con una frase recolectada por aquí.

Este statement lo compartió una manager de Kraft en su relato sobre el target de una nueva marca. Definiría a un consumidor "millenial", pero creo que es claro que supera lo generacional. Es una cuestión de actitud.

Quien sea que lea (scout o creativo o cientista social o aventurero o "vitalera"...), creo sin dudas que se podrá identificar... y si no, ¿por qué no lo intentan? ;) 

We don't let the world change us.

We change the world.

Week 1 in quotes

Week 2 of classes is starting. Week 1 left me a lot of things and first learnings. I'd like to share with you in some quotes how it was.

• Some innovation principles by Prof. Razeghi: "Don't innovate: solve problems. Learn to forget. Sell what customers buy, not only what you make".
  
• "Dream of the kind of world you want to live in. Dream out loud and at a high volume". Bono, U2, quoted by Prof. Razeghi.
  
• "It's not about money. It's about passion". Prof. Sawhney talking about entrepreneurs.
  
• "Don't think you have a product with features. Think you have a problem and solutions". Very very interesting panel with huge professionals: Ram Krishnan, Thomas McCleary, Jai Shekhawat and Troy Henikoff about 'What makes a great Product Manager' in Prof. Sawhney's PM class.
  
• "Don't fall in love with the product, fall in love with the problem", Jai Shekhawat.
  
• "You own a solution to a problem, you don't own a product", Ram Krishnan.
  
• "People tend to be too nice. Don't believe until they pay", Troy Henikoff.
  
• "You'll never win by looking at competitors. You'll win by looking at the customer", Prof. John Miniati, PM class.

Last but not least, I've learnt a lot from a movie I watched yesterday. This is the quote that reached to me profoundly. They were leaving the shire for the unexpected adventure when Gandalf says to Bilbo:

"Home is now behind you. The world is ahead"

"Belong, feel like you are from here" or My first "branded" impressions

I'm writing as my second day of classes finishes. I've been in in Kellogg only for hours but it already feels good.

I see myself -per career and personality- as a "communications-people" person. I'm here because of a master in marketing. I've been formed strongly by semiotics, critic thinking and all that -now- linked to branding. Meaning is key to whatever we do (and with this I'm saying culture, language, history, context...). I believe in it.

Based on that position, one of my first impressions and thoughts once my first two classes finished was: "where is branding in all I'm hearing about innovation, products, products and more products? Did I choose the right courses?". I did.

Then, of course, I thought twice and found "semiotics" (not as discipline but as in act) and especially branding not only in the clear and lively way of thinking of the teachers but in the environment itself, in the institution and the way to show itself to us.

Prof. Sawhney said today in class: "You rarely brand a product, you brand the company. Generally speaking brand assets come from the corporate brand". I immediately started thinking of well-known products with a strong brand... I couldn't quickly find one which I ignore the company behind it. That definitely plays a role in our perception/consumer behavior. This point is particularly relevant if you think of services or tech industry. What examples come to your mind? If I see around I'm living in one example.

So here I am with all my possible ID-objects, and an actual mailbox, and a name tag in my room door, that say I am studying in Kellogg. It's not "merchandising", it's not a "nice-to-have", it's creating experience, it's branding. It's making me feel I can be fully a part of this even for just a quarter. It's in these small items, in the e-mails, on the screens. It's in the walls, it's in sign posts, it's in the way professors talk to us saying "you all can do it, dare to". I feel today that Kellogg itself is a great case of branding to look at.

I'm feeling welcome, even when there is a necessary distance. For example: -it needs more thinking and time to live from me but- there is a gap (not sure if that's the word but can't come up with another one) in the class experience. The impression is: it's all first-world-countries oriented and most of my colleagues are thinking that way. Not saying right or wrong. It's an initial impression. I'll give it my second, third thought and maybe share back. In the end, the exercise of looking for ways to meet what we think, see, talk in here, to our emerging markets realities is ours, or not? We are the ones going back. We are the ones who wanted to get prepared on this to do that.

The spirit...

Got here (after GREAT vacations). Getting used to it. Excited. Paying attention. Writing more soon.

Meanwhile...