Hi everyone.

As Marcus has already told you, I´m the new Brazilian blogger here on My RB Opportunity!

I am a trainee too and he helped me a lot during the 6 months I’ve worked in Indirect Channel (for those who don´t know what Indirect Channel is: This is a Sales Channel, that negotiate with distributors and wholesales).
So thanks Marcus for all your advices and learnings.

I am really anxious to start blogging. This is an important space to exchange experiences and to learn about other countries reality. It stimulates people to know more about RB and how we work here.

Two weeks ago, I was invited to a new challenge: going back to marketing to be part of the Pest Control team (this mean that I have to know everything about flies, roaches, ants and even dengue mosquito!).
I was extremely happy and excited with this new position. I had already worked in marketing during the trainee program (with Finish and Vanish), and now I had the possibility to go back to the area and focus my career on it.

We work with two different brands of insecticides: our global brand Mortein (sold all around the world), and SBP, our local hero (SBP is a Brazilian brand, bought by RB in 2003).
These two brands have different positioning: Mortein communicates power, efficiency. SBP sells protection for you and your family, as it is the only aerosol line with a water-based formula in the Brazilian market.

Our 2010 season (from August 2009 to March 2010), when this kind of product is mostly sold (it´s our summer time), is beginning in August, and we have developed a strong strategy to gain SOM (share of marketing) and distribution.

I still can’t tell you what we’ve planned – we have some secret launches!
But … I can anticipate that we´re launching Mortein Powergard here in Brazil! The new Mortein brand platform was named in RB’s big results announcement as a key company strategy to continue to outperform the markets with consistent innovation.
If you want to know more about it, you can read the full report on the Reckitt Benckiser home page or read the story of our success at The Times and the Wall Street Journal.

With Mortein Powerguard, together with all the new launches, I can guarantee that we’ll rock this season!

See you next week! And wait for more news from here!

Pati

These last couple of weeks have been extra busy due to the Swine Flu situation. I look after the Strepsils brand which is a sore throat product and there has been a viral joke email making the rounds about Strepsils. We obviously didn’t create this and wouldn’t ever take advantage of a serious health risk. We have been working with our PR agency daily to monitor the media and inform journalists that these joke emails were not condoned by RB.

The PR situation is slowing down now so I can get back to my day job. I say ‘day job’ but every day is completely different.

This week’s a good example as unexpectedly our CEO (Bart Becht) has challenged one of our recommendations for the brand. We really believe in our proposal so we’re going to prove it to him. That’s the good thing about RB: it’s not hierarchical and you’re encouraged to fight for what you believe in and not give up, so I’m not. I’m now writing a presentation for our General Manager to present and gain alignment from Bart. Lots of pressure to get this one right! If Bart still doesn’t go for it, we’ll have to come up with a whole new plan in record time to still deliver our targets for the year. The big meeting’s next week so I’ll let you know how it goes and if he’s aligned to our recommendation.