This is my first blog despite being nominated blogger for the last 3 months.  That’s because I’ve been so engrossed in my work!  I’ve been working on the Dettol Mission for Health campaign launch in Australia – have you seen it?

Basically the idea behind Mission for Health is all about doing more for the health of mum’s, their families and the community. It extends on our heritage as a germ kill brand, into a brand that is identified as the trusted champion of health, everyday.

It has been a fantastic campaign to work on because I’ve been exposed to lots of different areas of the marketing mix including an i360 media campaign engrossing TV, print & online mediums. From being the time keeper on set at our Morning Show shoots, to approving copy & visuals for our new Mission for Health website.

I have gained valuable insight into the marketing world in my first few months as Assistant Brand Manager on Dettol, which will become part of the building blocks in my future career. And it’s always such a buzz when the campaign goes live… nothing beats seeing your campaign on TV or in a magazine!

For me the highlight was being exposed to and working across several different mediums at once. That is what is fantastic about being a marketing graduate at RB, I was given real responsibilities on this campaign, and real exposure. So the next thing I’m looking forward to is working on my very first NPD (new product development) launch (but it is still a secret!), so…  Stay tuned…in the meantime if you would like an idea of some of the fun stuff I have had the opportunity to work on, visit www.dettol.com.au ”

I have been working for Reckitt Benckiser for four years now, yet I still remember my first day in the office as if it was yesterday. Within these four years, I have held several responsibilities in Sales and Marketing departments ranging from Sales Representative to Assistant Brand Manager and to date as a Brand Manager. It goes without saying that Reckitt Benckiser is full of opportunities for everyone who is dedicated to giving their best at all times. If you have a career path in your mind or a position to want to reach or a list of countries you want to work in; nothing is impossible for you in Reckitt Benckiser.

When I first attended interviews for the Graduate Recruitment Program, I clearly told my managers that I would like to pursue a career in Marketing; still I believed that starting my career in Sales would be a great advantage since having the notion of Sales and understanding its difficulties and challenges enables me to think broader.

During my first assignment as a Group Sales Representative, we as the Carrefour Sales team, broke the Guinness World Record with building the biggest in-store pyramid and developed out of box concepts like “managing stores like brands”. One day in March 2007, my mobile phone rang and it was our Turkey Sales Director. When he called me I thought that he would ask me something about in-store executions but I discovered that he wanted to talk to me about a new opportunity in Marketing Department. I drove back to the office from my daily store check with great excitement in order to meet with him as soon as possible. After a one-hour interview, he offered me the Calgon Assistant Brand Manager position. I was delighted with the offer and accepted it in five seconds After three months with Calgon, my assignment was changed to a more challenging role, Vanish Assistant Brand Manager, which I held for one and a half years until my military service.

It was a fascinating experience enabling me to develop myself since there were two competitive launches from Unilever and Procter & Gamble in stain remover market which stretched my planning, monitoring, leadership and time management skills in a very short period of time. In one a half years we made four launches: two in Liquid, one in Oxi and one in Carpet. Amazing experience in a relatively short space of time.

After fruitful and educational two and a half years, I left Reckitt Benckiser to complete my military service in December 2009. Having spent six months in the Turkish army as a sergeant, I re-started as Finish Assistant Brand Manager. Holding a new responsibility, being faced with new challenges and developing new projects and initiatives motivated me tremendously. Then, after working as Finish ABM for 6 months, I got promoted to my current role as of 1st January 2010.

All in all, in my opinion Reckitt Benckiser is a unique company full of opportunities for anyone who really wants to go for them, and these opportunities are not restricted to your own country. I will end my first blog here before going into details of my current role and opportunities in RB but I hope that I was able to explain how dynamic life can be in Reckitt Benckiser. Five assignments in four years plus a completed military service…Hope to meet you again at my next blog.

Here we are with another interview with a graduate blog, and today I met Alberto, ABM (Assistant Brand Manager) Laundry. Alberto Gorini joined RB straight after graduation in Marketing Management at Bocconi University in Milan. After a 6 month internship in Marketing department with focus on Fabric Treatment, Alberto started his experience as ABM Laundry last June.

1. Alberto, from the start of your time with RB you’ve been exposed to a number of challenges not common for an entry level position.

I can say that RB is a company that really makes you grow professionally right from the word ‘go’. Since the beginning I’ve been asked to provide my input in a wide set of marketing decisions. You can feel a bit dazed, but I can ensure you that a young graduate’s learning curve grows very fast when you are immediately given responsibilities. Together with fundamental strong analytical skills I’ve had immediately significant freedom of action on many projects: packaging design development, copy production, relationship building with clients and suppliers.. A 360° view of the business that quickly gives you the confidence of being an integrated part of the team!

2. Would you share with us the highest achievement you’ve reached so far at RB?

Actually it is a very hard question, I cannot name you one single achievement right now. But I can tell you I feel a great sense of achievement every time I’m asked to do things that I feel I’m not able to do, but in the end I accomplish with great results. In these cases accomplishments not only comes from personal satisfaction, but even from realising that people around you know your potential and try their best and push you hard to exploit it. The feeling that your boss counts on your help for tougher and tougher duties makes you feel really proud.

3. Imagine you are managing a young graduate, who just joined your team: how would you explain to him the sense of achievement at RB?

I believe that achievement, especially in the beginning of your career, is realising how much you learn day by day. When you are put in such a dynamic and fast environment, you never have the time to stop and look back. But when you do it you feel surprised in realising how much you have acquired and how much people around you have given to you.

4. Laundry is a very important category for the Italian market, and the pressure form competitors is high: within this scenario, a very strong sense of achievement is fundamental. Do you feel that the bar is set higher and higher?

The bar since the beginning has been set high, it never stops rising up. Laundry is probably the most competitive market in Italian FMCG scenario, and consequently the business complexity is really high. Moreover I am Assistant Brand Manager of two big brands, Ava and Sole, and in many aspects of everyday business life I can say I’m required to put in twice the effort. Having such a high focus on you can be stressful, but at the same time it allows you to build up your know-how and expertise very quickly. The fact that you keeping on learning and gaining new responsibilites is for sure what makes me feel the strongest sense of achievment.

5. This constant pursuit of results and over-achievement can come across as stressful. How do you manage to be always goal oriented and result driven without burning out?

RB is very demanding and I can say that feeling stressed and under pressure can happen at the start of your career. Moreover I entered as a new graduate and it took me some time to gain confidence with everyday business life. At the start your vision tends to be short-term oriented, time after time you get the confidence to understand which actions will be more impactful for the business tomorrow. The experience you get  then allows you to understand better which are the priorities.  After 9 months I’ve improved a lot, and I strongly hope I’ll have the time to grow more and more in this direction with RB.

As I wind down my blogging responsibilities, it feels appropriate to announce that I’m finishing up as Pharmacy Sales Analyst and will take on my next challenge as Assistant Brand Manager for Pest Control -uber excited!

Seeing as  this will be my last blog post, I thought it would be fitting to revisit some of the key points in my first blog post, which was about my reasons for working at RB and how it would help me achieve my goal of having a fulfilling marketing career. Let’s see whether these points still stand true 6 months on…

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Strong portfolio of brands – No doubt this point still rings true. My Sales Analyst/Account Manager role has put me at the forefront of promoting our RB Powerbrands to my customers to ensure support and promotion within their stores. Massive launches of the past 6 months in Australia? Strepsils Cool, Nurofen for Children relaunch, Dettol No Touch Systems and Veet Suprem Essence just to name a few…

My job is certainly made easier when we’re promoting and selling in market-leading brands, which is why I’m really excited to be tackling Mortein in my next role, which has really big brand presence in Australia, as well as Brazil and India. Can’t wait to get my hands dirty and learn how to manage one of RB’s global Powerbrands!

Real ownership and responsibility –I definitely feel that I have had ownership and responsibility in a range of projects and tasks since starting 18 months ago – being able to present our business strategy to the CEO of my account, organizing and managing a stand in a retailer’s staff conference, convincing my buyer to adopt our shelf strategy in their biggest category – just some of the achievements you can also have as a RB graduate!

Challenges are the norm at RB; it’s up to you to decide how to tackle them. It might be tough initially, but it’s only when you retrospectively review your accomplishments after finishing the task that you realise how much you have learnt both personally and professionally. Certainly the experiences gained in the Sales component of the RB Commercial Graduate Program will help me tackle my next role in Marketing.

The Aussie graduates! – Well, what can I say…we’re like one big family! As we’ve gotten to know each other in the office, its great to know that I can always rely on a fellow graduate when I’m stuck in a rut with a project or just need someone to bounce ideas off. Getting the motivation to push yourself to the next level is difficult, but knowing graduates who have been in your situation and ‘broken through the pain barrier’ to get to the next level is certainly encouraging.

We still catch up outside of work, we’re planning a graduate dinner soon but before that, we’re all going to do participate in the City 2 Surf 12km run in a few weeks time…should be fun!

And that’s it folks, I certainly don’t think my reasons for choosing the RB Commercial Graduate Program have changed, in fact, they have merely been reinforced.

Whilst I’m sad to be leaving here, it is with great pleasure that I announce that my fellow graduate, Natalie, will be taking over my blogging responsibilities.
Natalie and I started the graduate program at the same time and we have shared many great professional experiences. She’s coming along to Marketing with me as Assistant Brand Manager for Nurofen, so please welcome Natalie as she shares her experiences and insights in her new role!

When I joined RB in July of last year, I knew this was a company which recognised hard work, dedication and innovative thinking – and could offer an incredible variety of options for career growth. This is why I chose RB, why I wanted to make a career here.

And this week I read something which made me feel incredibly proud to be part of this extraordinary company. Every year a list of the 100 most influential people in the industry is produced by the online magazine, Marketing.

Marketing’s Power 100 is a definitive guide to who calls the shots in the industry; who leads creativity and innovation and who managed to lead their teams through a year of economic uncertainty. And this year, the number one slot is filled by RB’s very own Phil Thomas, the UK marketing director.

But the success doesn’t stop there!

RB is also featured again, with Stefan Gaa – the UK healthcare marketing director who oversees a portfolio of brands including Nurofen and Lemsip. And what makes Stefan’s accolade (he’s at number 23 in the top 100) all the more incredible is that he has only been in the role for a year. He joined the company in 2000 as a brand manager in Germany and made his way up the ranks to the position he is in today.

A truly shining example of how your career really can sky rocket if you want it to and how at RB performance really does equal progression.

If you feel inspired to join our marketing team at RB, why not discover what we do, how we do it and what you will need to be a part of it? And you can also discover a typical career path for our marketers.