Event Recap

On Friday, November 13, 5 teams representing UCLA Anderson went head to head against the 5 best teams that USC Marshall had to offer, and naturally emerged victorious in the Taco Bell Case Competition. The winning team consisted of 1st year students Jared Altschul, Greg Maczka, Andrew Miller and Joseph Wong, as well as 2nd year student Elizabeth Poston.
The winning concept was the “YOUURITO,” which was a highly customizable breakfast burrito. The team came up with this concept based on the fact that 39% of consumers are dissatisfied with the menu selection at fast food restaurants. Based on this piece of consumer insight, the team developed a strategy to market this product. As Joe Wong said, “We wanted to transfer the Starbucks concept to the breakfast QSR market.” For those who frequent Starbucks and order something along the lines of quad, venti, half-caff, one pump sugar-free vanilla, two pumps sugar-free hazelnut, extra-hot, ristretto latte, with half soy, half lowfat organic milk (yes, this is an actual drink), it should be relatively easy to see the value in being able to customize your own breakfast burritos.
Reflecting on the experience, Greg Maczka said, “I can’t believe we went from wanting to kill each other at 2am Friday morning to hugging with a trophy at 5pm.” Indeed, the week leading up to the competition was filled with highs and lows. While many others were enjoying their holiday on Veteran’s Day, team YOURRITO was locked up in the dungeon debating everything from market segmentation to the best taco joints in L.A.
Despite some of the challenges (i.e. the complete lack of PowerPoint skills) that the team faced, everything worked out seamlessly in the end. Under normal circumstances, many people may consider the task of presenting to the President and the CMO of Taco Bell to be daunting. However, in this situation, the complete lack of sleep may have actually helped to ease the nerves. As Jared noted, “everyone was too tired to think of anything else, so we just went in and had fun.”
When Greg Creed, President of Taco Bell, announced the winner, he said, “Had this been an operations case, this team would’ve been slaughtered. However, we were looking for a big marketing idea, and this team came in and ran with it, and it’s something that we admire.”
As the team hugged and celebrated their sweet victory, everyone agreed that this was one of their best MBA experiences so far. Elizabeth Poston duly noted, “It was such a wonderful experience working with four new Andersonites in my first case competition and I was reminded of how the best ideas are spawned by collaboration.” Additionally, the joy of beating USC is simply oh-so-fulfilling.

By Emily Boyd

Last Monday’s Marketing Association Career Night was a who’s who of North America’s, if not the world’s, top brands – Clorox, General Mills, Chevron, Mattel, Nestlé, Del Monte, Henkel and Taco Bell descended upon Anderson’s first year MA members for a night of networking and socializing. It was the official kickoff of the courting – I mean, recruiting – season.

Ridiculous as this analogy may seem, Career Night could easily be compared to speed dating. Bringing together Anderson alums from a wide variety of industries, company reps were eager not just to share their recent professional experiences and their b-school advice with first years, but also to check-out the new crop of MBAs. Likewise, though first years weren’t exchanging hobbies, pet peeves, or numbers with company reps, they were doing some serious flirting in the hopes of making a good impression and real connection – one that will last a life time, or at least a summer. For many, Career Night was the start of a beautiful, fruitful relationship.

Analogies aside, the three, twenty-minute roundtable sessions gave everyone just enough time to ask one or two questions of the company reps before time was up. Organized by VP of Recruiter Relations for the MA, Jessie Reder, and her first year directors, Career Night’s round table format also provided a constructive forum in which first years could exchange ideas with each other, as well as the company reps. Though some first years came in knowing exactly who they wanted to talk to, many left the event excited about companies they hadn’t expected to be.

But the evening’s highlight was the keynote speech given by John Carmichael, Vice President of Sales Operations & Customer Development for Nestlé’s USA Sales Division. Carmichael, an Anderson grad from 1995, offered an interesting perspective on the future of marketing, with a glimpse into some of the challenges Nestlé faces today in reaching its target consumer. According to Carmichael, the “MASH” series finale in 1983, garnered over 106 million viewers, whereas the most widely watched episodes of American Idol today only score approximately 20 million sets of eyes. In a marketplace in which it is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to meaningfully connect with customers, how does a company’s message and product rise above the noise of competitors and other distractions? And even more concerning, those 20 million sets of eyes are not completely focused on or dedicated to what they’re watching – many are busy consuming several other types of media simultaneously. The implications for traditional advertising, as we know, are vast. For Nestlé, they have one more hurdle to surpass when it comes to connecting with consumers – they have to reach the small proportion of their consumer base who actually wields the household purchasing power. To address these challenges, Nestlé is making immense strides in shopper marketing research and is at the forefront of strategically integrated marketing and promotions.

Though these issues pervade every market and plague nearly every company, Carmichael emphasized that today’s marketing environment presents an exciting opportunity for those of us soon to enter the field. The future of marketing is nebulous, uncharted territory – neither the marketing gurus nor the world’s leading brands have any clue as to where this will all shake out – which means that developing creative and innovative ways to connect with and impact current and potential consumers is our post-MBA torch to carry.

By Emily Boyd

Attention jacks of all trades: do your interests include intense non-stop client meetings, deciphering the celebrity image market, hours of research behind 2-way mirrors, doggish schedules, and brand alchemy? If so, you may be eligible for life as a marketing consultant. Last Wednesday the MA and MCA teamed up to provide first year MBAs and FEMBAs a view into the professional worlds of three marketing consultants from Roll International, Brand Sense Partners, and ZS Associates.

The forum provided insight into a different side of the service industry – two parts hard skills one part soft skills, or is it the other way around? The three panelists, David Weil of ZS Associates, Jonathan Levine of Brand Sense Partners, and Rashidi Hodari of Roll International, spoke about what marketing consulting means in their respective firms. The one resounding echo among panelists was the importance of picking smart partners and working with great product. In the words of one panelist, “no one is going to buy a product again if it sucks.” You said it.

In a business sector catering to other businesses which cater to consumers, it is critical to be able to both understand and articulately communicate your client’s value to their customers through their brand and all its associations. Especially in an economy characterized by frugality, if not empty pockets, it’s clear that a marketing consultant’s role in this mess is to make clients more valuable and position them for long-term growth once the cloud lifts. For Roll, this came in the form of a $15 million pistachio ad campaign launched a few weeks ago following last April’s recall of several pistachio brands, which did not include Roll’s Wonderful Pistachio brand. In the ad campaign consisting of TV ads and online video, Roll uses D-List celebrities (Dara Tores, Wee Man of Jackass fame, and Caitlin Upton…a.k.a. the beauty pageant contestant who bombed the map question) to spark buzz about pistachios. According to Jonathan Levine at Brand Sense, it’s just as important to promote the market on the whole as it is to promote the individual brand.

And speaking of celebrities, since this is LA, why not mention that Brand Sense manages dozens of celebrity brands. Britney Spears and Sheryl Crow, to name a couple. To Brand Sense, building a brand is not about the celebrity whose name is attached to the product, but rather it’s about a product that has strength and value with or without an A-list endorsement.

What this all boils down to is that life as a marketing consultant means walking the line – teetering between a heavily research and quantitative-based professional discipline and a fuzzy ground, requiring innovation, creativity, and relationship building. It is striking a balance between living in the details and creating a big picture story of a brand.

By Emily Boyd

On October 14th, first year Marketing Association members crowded the C-Atrium in what they hoped would be the answer to their prayers – some clue or hint or a swift kick in the rear, giving them the direction they need towards a long, fruitful career in marketing. Or was that just me?
Last week’s WAMMO (What are My Marketing Options), organized by Dana Taylor, VP of Career Development for the MA, gave first years the opportunity to meet their second year counterparts to gain an insider’s perspective on what’s out there for those interested in marketing. First years moved from one marketing station to another, as patient and articulate second years walked them through the rigors of their summer internships. Roundtables included Brand Management, Brand Strategy, Corporate Communication, Entertainment, Healthcare, High-Tech, Online Marketing, and Product Management, and the second year leaders talked about their experiences at companies such as Paramount, Cisco, Clorox, Neutrogena, Amgen, Electronic Arts and HP.
The MA organized the event to kick off recruiting season and to get first years thinking ahead about how their skill sets and interests might fit into a marketing role. According to Dana Taylor, “marketing is a huge umbrella function and our MA board believes it important to introduce first years to the various opportunities marketing has to offer as quickly as possible. We hope the attendees found value in discussing potential career paths with the second year marketers.”
Though an hour was hardly enough time to check out every station, it quickly become apparent that marketing is more than branding and advertising. Marketing is a strategic corporate function – often a window into the heart and future of a company.
The event was valuable for both career switchers and marketing lifers, alike, and, though a few of us are still scratching our heads about the differences among Product Management, Brand Management, and Brand Strategy, the first years appreciated the candidness and wealth of knowledge the second years had to offer.

Casual dress at the Marketing Association Kickoff. Not business casual and definitely not business formal. We are able to dress casually when we are together at internal events, and we are very professional at recruiting and other external company events. That what makes the MA great. The MA is first and foremost a professional club attracting some of the most prestigious Marketing companies in the country, yet internal MA events feel more like a social club of old friends. The MA Kickoff was representative of both sides.

The evening opened with food, drinks, and greetings to new and old MA members. In classical Anderson fashion, we didn’t have enough food but we had more drinks than we were able to finish. (Had we invited the 2009 Anderson CMC softball team, this situation may have been remedied, but that’s another story. . .) Second year students caught up on each others’ summers, while first year students courageously met other MA members and took in the scene. Even the FEMBAs were represented strongly. With over 80 students present, the Executive Dining Room was full of life.

At 7:15pm, Todd Harris, the MA President, went up to the microphone to share opening remarks. He welcomed the class of 2011 and set a vision of hope for the year by talking about recruiting companies and opportunities for first years to get involved. All the women thoroughly enjoyed when he named his two-week old daughter, Marlowe, the new MA mascot. Then, each member of the MA Board stood up for a few minutes to talk about his or her background and job function in the club as well as available first year director positions.

Dana Taylor, already an icon amongst first years, talked about Career Development. Next, Jessie Reder spoke about Recruiter Relations. This was followed by Linda Murphy on Brand Management, Maryann Patel on Speaker Series; Tommy Gaeta on Alumni Relations; Andrew Martin on Digital Communications, and Alice Lin on Finance. The Board highlighted major events planned for the year including the Happy Hour sponsored by Henkel, MA Career Night, the Taco Bell Case Competition, the MA Alumni Mixer, and a variety of Days on the Job events.

As expected, the MA Board speakers were entertaining as well as informative. 21 first year director positions were offered by the eight VPs for various functions from helping organize the Career Night to web development. After all of the Board members had shared, Todd gave his closing thoughts on the Kickoff Event and MA future events. The program ended at about 8:30pm, but most people stayed for a while to socialize – and attempt to make a dent in the alcohol. Overall, the MA Kickoff proved that no 30-second pitches need to be given for a professional club event to be successful.