Fourth Week of the Semester
(May 29 - June 3)
My fourth week of the summer semester starts on Tuesday after the long holiday weekend...and what a day it is! I have back-to-back-to-back meetings from 8:30 am-4:00 pm! Phew!
I get into work at 7:45 am that morning to get my bearings for my busy day. At 8:30 I meet with another Assistant Marketing Manager to review some budgeting information in preparation for several BMS system moves and accruals that will be put into effect later this week and next. Since I'm still learning the ropes, I'm a bit slower than others and need all the extra help I can get.
Then it's off to crash my boss' 1:1 wither her boss to get our MBOs (Managing by Objective) confirmed before loading them into our company system. These MBOs are critical because they act a blueprint for what each employee wishes to accomplish during the year. Come review time, this is what we will be evaluated against.
Just after that I transition into my 1:1 with my boss where we discuss all of my completed and in-progress projects.
Right before lunch there is the quarterly President's award which recognizes individuals with substantial achievement in the company. Two employees recieved awards this quarter. Having this event right on the tail of our Marketing off-site where even more awards were handed out makes me feel really good about the opportunity to get recognized for hard work here at Ocean Spray.
Lunch today is had over budget accruals. I frantically try to keep pace as the people in the room talk about accruing for invoices, moving funds from one place to another and allocating programs across profit centers. Phew!
As soon as that wraps it's on to a meeting on a new Craisins® packaging initiative which is followed by a follow-up meeting to look at some of Craisins® key retail accounts.
At 3:30 pm I get to attend my first ever DMT meeting (Decision Management Team). I love sitting in on this monthly session because it involves a ton of employees presenting their new ideas/innovations to the Directors, Vice Presidents and C-Suite to get approval to move through the stage-gate process. So cool!
In class that night we get to present our progress report to our Consumer Behavior class. My team is focusing on health conscious America and how they view organic and all natural foods in the marketplace, particularly focusing on LOHAS consumers (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability). It's also fun to see what the other groups are presenting on. Their topics range from "Sex Sells" to "Online Dating". I also get some amazing news in the form of a deliverable extension of two weeks! Hallelujah! This makes my week and means that when I get home that night I can actually work on this blog and get to bed before midnight! Woot!
On Wednesday I get into the office around 8:30 am after hitting mystery traffic on the way in that could not be attributed to anything...hmmm.
Fortunately, my day is much less meeting heavy and I have substantially more time to get work done. I plug away at budget planning, Nielsen data pulls and more until my lunch date with my Ocean Spray buddy. I discuss my experience at the DMT with her, along with the somewhat overwhelming task of managing the Foods budget.
After lunch I have a quick phone call with a potential promotion partner for sauce before heading to a weekly Calibration session put on by the Consumer Affairs department. Each week Consumer Affairs listens in on customer calls to ensure that our staff are addressing the needs of the consumer appropriately and professionally. It was really nice to the see how much time and energy is placed, each week, into ensuring the quality of brand and the satisfaction of our customers.
In my Service Sector class tonight we discuss a case on Steamboat Ski, a ski resort company dealing with declining ski package purchases in the face of less expensive of more prestigious competitors.
Thursday my day is nicely broken up with meetings that occur every couple of hours. To me, this is the perfect ratio because I still get meetings in but I also get enough time between them to dig into work. On the agenda for the day: our weekly marketing huddle to kick off the morning, some work, a meeting to discuss a new Craisins® product, some work, lunch, a meeting to review a new product's UPC request process, some work and then a budget review to wrap up my day. Tres productive!
In class that night we discuss an article called "The Coolhunt" which chronicles two womens' roles as 'Coolhunters'. Essentially, these 30+ year-old women hang out with hipster kids and try to catch on to the next big thing. It all sounds bit fluffy to me and, to be quite honest, these women sounds a bit annoying and full of themselves. Still, it was interesting to hear about how much value companies put into their services (or similar ones) and the money they will pay for it.
Yay for half-day Fridays! But, with half the time to do the same amount of work Fridays are also quite hectic. I cram in a ton of work today, breaking only for a meeting with the Marketing HR rep and a phone call to my boss to give her a status update.
My meeting with HR goes very well and I'm able to discuss ways to work towards my personal/professional development goals as well as get all the new hires onto the intern training programs. These training programs will be perfect for all us new hires because they involve more than a dozen sessions on topics as diverse as finance, contracts, package design and consumer affairs. They even get a trip to Arnold Communications!
After work I meet a classmate for a fun afternoon of mani/pedis and shopping topped off with dinner and drinks at Parish Cafe. Lovely.
Saturday I'm up early for my requisite library session. Ugh. I spend most of my 6.5 hours there working on two case write-ups which are due on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. One, on Flying J, a gas station company, is worth 1/3 of my Marketing in the Service Sector grade so it better be good. For the other, I have to analyze the elements of consumer behavior that lead a young, male consumer, to spend more than he wanted to on a used car.
Fortunately, I have a glorios food event tonight that keeps me going. At 7:00 pm I meet up with 12 MBA classmates and their girlfriends/boyfriends for an event every little girl dreams of (or at least, this little girl): a whole Pig Roast at Citizen Public House and Oyster Bar!
What a feast it was! Not only did we get an entire roast pig (head, feet, tail and all!) but the accompanying sides were obscene. They included oysters, clams, shrimp, bacon and cheese grits (a literal vat of it), salad, spicy green beans and more that I can't even recall. There was so much food and drink that night that it would be impossible for it not to be amazing. Also, I was with a bunch of foodies, which made it way more fun as we all fought for the ears, cheeks and other such parts of the pig that many of my other friends would look at in disgust.
My week wraps up on Sunday with another morning and early afternoon spent at Snell Library working on textbook reading assignments, case write-ups and more. I break around 5:00 pm to grab some New York Pizza before heading to the laundromat to do laundry and then home for a night cap of more homework. Good thing I am officially half-way done with the semester!
*The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Northeastern University, Ocean Spray Cranberries, either entity's staff or affiliates.
(May 29 - June 3)
My fourth week of the summer semester starts on Tuesday after the long holiday weekend...and what a day it is! I have back-to-back-to-back meetings from 8:30 am-4:00 pm! Phew!
I get into work at 7:45 am that morning to get my bearings for my busy day. At 8:30 I meet with another Assistant Marketing Manager to review some budgeting information in preparation for several BMS system moves and accruals that will be put into effect later this week and next. Since I'm still learning the ropes, I'm a bit slower than others and need all the extra help I can get.
Then it's off to crash my boss' 1:1 wither her boss to get our MBOs (Managing by Objective) confirmed before loading them into our company system. These MBOs are critical because they act a blueprint for what each employee wishes to accomplish during the year. Come review time, this is what we will be evaluated against.
Just after that I transition into my 1:1 with my boss where we discuss all of my completed and in-progress projects.
Right before lunch there is the quarterly President's award which recognizes individuals with substantial achievement in the company. Two employees recieved awards this quarter. Having this event right on the tail of our Marketing off-site where even more awards were handed out makes me feel really good about the opportunity to get recognized for hard work here at Ocean Spray.
Lunch today is had over budget accruals. I frantically try to keep pace as the people in the room talk about accruing for invoices, moving funds from one place to another and allocating programs across profit centers. Phew!
As soon as that wraps it's on to a meeting on a new Craisins® packaging initiative which is followed by a follow-up meeting to look at some of Craisins® key retail accounts.
At 3:30 pm I get to attend my first ever DMT meeting (Decision Management Team). I love sitting in on this monthly session because it involves a ton of employees presenting their new ideas/innovations to the Directors, Vice Presidents and C-Suite to get approval to move through the stage-gate process. So cool!
In class that night we get to present our progress report to our Consumer Behavior class. My team is focusing on health conscious America and how they view organic and all natural foods in the marketplace, particularly focusing on LOHAS consumers (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability). It's also fun to see what the other groups are presenting on. Their topics range from "Sex Sells" to "Online Dating". I also get some amazing news in the form of a deliverable extension of two weeks! Hallelujah! This makes my week and means that when I get home that night I can actually work on this blog and get to bed before midnight! Woot!
On Wednesday I get into the office around 8:30 am after hitting mystery traffic on the way in that could not be attributed to anything...hmmm.
Fortunately, my day is much less meeting heavy and I have substantially more time to get work done. I plug away at budget planning, Nielsen data pulls and more until my lunch date with my Ocean Spray buddy. I discuss my experience at the DMT with her, along with the somewhat overwhelming task of managing the Foods budget.
After lunch I have a quick phone call with a potential promotion partner for sauce before heading to a weekly Calibration session put on by the Consumer Affairs department. Each week Consumer Affairs listens in on customer calls to ensure that our staff are addressing the needs of the consumer appropriately and professionally. It was really nice to the see how much time and energy is placed, each week, into ensuring the quality of brand and the satisfaction of our customers.
In my Service Sector class tonight we discuss a case on Steamboat Ski, a ski resort company dealing with declining ski package purchases in the face of less expensive of more prestigious competitors.
Thursday my day is nicely broken up with meetings that occur every couple of hours. To me, this is the perfect ratio because I still get meetings in but I also get enough time between them to dig into work. On the agenda for the day: our weekly marketing huddle to kick off the morning, some work, a meeting to discuss a new Craisins® product, some work, lunch, a meeting to review a new product's UPC request process, some work and then a budget review to wrap up my day. Tres productive!
In class that night we discuss an article called "The Coolhunt" which chronicles two womens' roles as 'Coolhunters'. Essentially, these 30+ year-old women hang out with hipster kids and try to catch on to the next big thing. It all sounds bit fluffy to me and, to be quite honest, these women sounds a bit annoying and full of themselves. Still, it was interesting to hear about how much value companies put into their services (or similar ones) and the money they will pay for it.
Yay for half-day Fridays! But, with half the time to do the same amount of work Fridays are also quite hectic. I cram in a ton of work today, breaking only for a meeting with the Marketing HR rep and a phone call to my boss to give her a status update.
My meeting with HR goes very well and I'm able to discuss ways to work towards my personal/professional development goals as well as get all the new hires onto the intern training programs. These training programs will be perfect for all us new hires because they involve more than a dozen sessions on topics as diverse as finance, contracts, package design and consumer affairs. They even get a trip to Arnold Communications!
 |
| Tuna burger and vino at Parish Cafe |
Saturday I'm up early for my requisite library session. Ugh. I spend most of my 6.5 hours there working on two case write-ups which are due on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. One, on Flying J, a gas station company, is worth 1/3 of my Marketing in the Service Sector grade so it better be good. For the other, I have to analyze the elements of consumer behavior that lead a young, male consumer, to spend more than he wanted to on a used car.
Fortunately, I have a glorios food event tonight that keeps me going. At 7:00 pm I meet up with 12 MBA classmates and their girlfriends/boyfriends for an event every little girl dreams of (or at least, this little girl): a whole Pig Roast at Citizen Public House and Oyster Bar!
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| Glorious pig roast at Citizen Public House |
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| My comfort food staple in Boston: New York Pizza |
*The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Northeastern University, Ocean Spray Cranberries, either entity's staff or affiliates.
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