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Pitching, puppies and the life of a graduate trainee

As our first projects are coming to an end, just as we are getting the hang of it, it’s already time to wrap up. So these last weeks have been quite intense and involving a wide range of activities to say the least!

One day, I joined a sales guy and his insanely cute puppy for a day of visiting our customers and their shops. That changed by perception of store shelves forever, I think. Also, much to the amusement of Erik, my lack of geographical knowledge was painfully exposed as we went to places like Vallentuna, Sigtuna and Kungsängen. “Please, just make sure I can get home!” Had hoped for a great selfie or at least cute puppy pic to post here but that didn’t really happen.

Another day my buddy Hanna, Nordic Brand Manager for pasta & pancakes, brought me along to an agency pitching their ideas for a campaign to her. It was really interesting to see everyone in action and so many things to bear in mind despite the concept being great fun – does it play well with all other parts and aspects of product, brand and market? Plus it is cool to see former trainees in action and what they do now, only a few years later. Think this really showed the best of the trainee program – being allowed to join interesting things.

Yet another day, I’ve had my final workshop! A cross-functional team from around the Nordics came in for a full day of packaging strategy. Quite a (nervous) luxury to work with such an accomplished group! I had planned and arranged the day, prepared pre-reads, and lead the discussion, trying to keep the schedule. It also involved presenting the present situation, future trends and opportunities as well as providing inspiration. So that was really fun! Below you can see an example – CocaCola is really great at having offers targeted at different occasions – more sizes and variations you can ever imagine for basically one product.

förpackningar

Moreover, I showed this little film of Puma’s “Clever little bag” by Yves Behar, where no box is the best box, and how Method is using plastic recycled from the ocean fpr packaging – and great marketing, particularly as they profile themselves as the “good guy”, with products that are less harmful. Hence, focusing on the environment is a natural part of their brand identity. These examples show how companies can use packaging to make a statement and to let it be an integrated part of the product experience and marketing, not just an annoying extra.

soap

Finally, I’d like to recommend everyone to watch Simon Sinek’s talk on “Start with WHY” – it is so easy to forget why we do things, while at the same time it is very true that at many occasions the WHY is the differing point.

Now it’s all about wrapping up the last things. Today I had a long lunch with my future supervisors at group controlling & strategy. Let’s just say there were many good laughs and it looks like some interesting things coming up.

Over and out!