Hi there, I’m Kathryn and I’m a Campus Brand Manager for RB based at the University of Birmingham in the UK.
I’m going to be blogging here to tell you how I’m developing this exciting chance to be an ambassador for RB and spreading the word about the career opportunities available here.
You can read my full profile and follow me on Twitter too.

When starting out as a Campus Brand Manager the last thing I would have expected to come out of the role was to be asked ‘are you the flip- flop girl?’.
But having been given 300 pairs of RB branded Havaiana flip-flops at my disposal, perhaps I should have guessed that would have been the case.
I discovered that through my activities I was starting to create a buzz around RB. Creating awareness within a student population, especially with freebees, isn’t hard as long as you come up with creative, interesting and fun ways to do so.

And even though my role has been hard work so far  it has also been hugely rewarding and great fun!

My first idea was inspired by the mass congregation of Birmingham University students to their student union night. Where better to target my market with RB branded flip-flops then girls in high heels after a long night out?I managed to create an enchanting flip-flop Cinderella moment as well as raising the awareness of RB!

Now, ask yourself this question: if you saw a free pair of flip-flops would you take them?
I wanted to see if the students at the University of Birmingham would take the opportunity. I placed the flip flops where I knew students would be walking past, then strategically placed myself so I could not be seen.
Then I recorded their reactions to the free RB ‘gifts’.  You can see the large variety of responses for yourself on this video:

For the University of Birmingham’s football team, they jetted off to Newquay for their yearly tour!

So I thought what better opportunity to raise awareness than to give a pair of flip-flops to each of the players that went. This reached a wider audience as well as making the flip-flops an exclusive extra for the tour! They produced some very amusing pictures which can be found on the University of Birmingham Reckitt Benckiser’s Facebook group.

This role has given me the opportunity to push myself. I have been left to my own devices to use my initiative, to think creatively and to take on new challenges. Students’ lifestyles are high paced and very demanding; they keep me on my toes to come up with original ideas.

As a Campus Brand Manager for Reckitt Benckiser, raising awareness is central to my aim.
I am looking forward to putting into place the many other ideas that I have up my sleeve which I know will continue the buzz around RB  at the University of Birmingham.

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!

This is the first in a series of blogs I will be writing, interviewing our graduates about their achievements at RB and how they see our core values playing a part in their success.
At RB we are like our brands – strong, fast-acting and highly effective. When working here you’ll find plenty of drive and energy, and a direct and open style.
Which is why our core values are: Achievement, Entrepreneurship, Team Spirit and Ownership.

This week the core value I will be concentrating on is Ownership.

We describe RB as a unique company, where people have the chance to give their contribution and play their part from the very beginning, with a very high level of responsibility.

Marco, Trade Marketing Manager Assistant Healthcare, joined RB in 2009 as an intern, and the focus of his project was on one of our Powerbrands: Dettol – an incredible opportunity! Marco, 25 years old, is from Milan and he holds a Bachelor degree in Business Administration plus a Master of Science in Management, both degrees gained at Bocconi University, one of our target university in Italy. As soon as he completed his university path, he started an internship at RB.
Here he shares some of his experiences and reveals what it’s like to be an intern at RB . . .

Marco, what did you expect from RB when you started here?

I started my experience in RB Healthcare as assistant Trade Marketing Manager in September 09.
I knew it would be a great opportunity to grow as a man in many aspects, both on a personal level and as RB employee.
I was aware it would be a very hard experience, but I was full of enthusiasm and I wanted to improve my personal and professional skills. With these thoughts in mind I started my experience on September 29^th and immediately I understood that I loved and really appreciated this job!

Firstly I met great people in my division and specifically my boss, Adelaide and her assistant Annalisa. Without having really started I was already fully committed. One of the most important things was my very high responsibility since the beginning. For me this was a source of great motivation and of high commitment.
At the beginning I obviously received a lot of information about the business with a specific focus on trade marketing aspects and key pillars in the healthcare division. Furthermore my head was full up with confused information but after a few weeks I was able to follow autonomously a great quantity of projects and activities. This was great!
What I had expected at the beginning was materialising: a great work atmosphere full of young and high skilled people, high responsibility, interesting and challenging activities and projects.

Tell us more about the project you worked on during your first 6 months here.

Even though I was supposed to follow “only” trade marketing projects (i.e. monitoring and supporting the visibility and the growth of brand awareness on the field through point of sales materials: visibility on the shelf and second display) I had the big opportunity to have, together with my boss, the ownership of the launch of a new brand in pharmacies: Dettol.

Dettol is a line of disinfectants for personal and surfaces care really well known above the entire world. Reckitt Benckiser Italy decided to launch three products in pharmacies and I was involved in supporting this great project. I was really enthusiast because this project was massively interesting. I was supposed to help my boss in developing all the materials to support the launch and the visibility of Dettol in Pharmacies.
We developed a lot of material: two displays, a scientific folder, a sales folder, a kit travel with a Dettol product inside, a note pad, an adv page and an entire website dedicated to the brand. I would like to focus on a specific project: the developing of the Dettol communication materials. Together with the creative agency we developed the entire Dettol communication structure which we are pleased with. Initially we decided to make certain changes to the original layout of the materials we received from the global headquarter. To start with, we introduced a new colour scheme including both white and green on the background.

As you can see we also enlarged the logo and repositioned slightly further to the left. Now the logo is situated between the green and white and this gives the impression of breaking something, in this case the chain of infection which is represented by the human chain either side of the famous Dettol sword symbol. Having completed the development of the new key visual layout we began to utilise it in all aspects of the Dettol brand including printed and online publications. This reformatted communication structure became so popular and effective within Italy that it has been adopted as a “POP guideline execution of total key visual” by other countries throughout Europe. We are extremely proud of this achievement!!

When did you start feeling ownership of your work?

From the word go I immediately felt involved and committed to the work projects in hand. My main objective during the first six months of my work was to support and facilitate the Dettol launch in Italy. I found the task extremely involving, challenging and engaging and soon began to have fresh new ideas of my own to contribute with. I found the work so interesting and demanding that I soon developed a sense of being owner of my work with a high level of responsibility and high degree of autonomy.

So what do you think are the right characteristics to succeed in RB?

In my opinion the right characteristics to succeed in RB are: autonomy, entrepreneurship, seeing the job through and respect for both projects deadlines and other colleagues.

What would you suggest to a graduate starting an internship at RB?

An extremely high level of commitment is required. Working in RB is a great experience because it helps you develop invaluable skills but be prepared to give your all to the job. Give hundred percent to everything you do however small the task might be and you can be sure that the rewards will be great. If I have to offer one most important piece of advice it is to be sure to listen with an open mind to your colleagues on all levels from the lower ranks to top level management.

One of the great things about job rotation in different countries, is that you get the chance to experience the local interpretation of RB culture across the world.  Outsoar, Outshine and Outperform is the Thai version of RB core values, which is also the spirit that everyone in RB Thailand  exhibits, even in off-site team events.

I always like company team events, as it’s an great opportunity to spend quality time with your colleagues. You are a team not only in your tasks, but in everything - eating, living, sight-seeing, gaming.  This year the RB Thailand supply team event was taken in a province to the west-northern of Bangkok, two hours driving from Myanmar, and there is a very famous river here,  the river Kwai.  A secluded resort was booked by RB,  on the river side, surrounded by mountains,  an ideal place for team building and getting involved in challenges and adventures.

One thing I’ve learned from the several team building activities I experienced is that, if you want your team to win,  then you cannot just think about outshining yourself,  you need to make effort, at least when you have a chance,  to help your team members to perform in their best way.  And in my mind the most important trait of being a team leader is being able to discover what your team members are good at, because people are good at different things and need to be motivated in different ways. When everyone in the team manages to perform their best and find their own way to outshine,  your team will definitely outsoar.  This theory is proven to be right during the adventure competition in which each team had been assigned to finish a series of tasks. I am very proud of myself that I helped my team beat the others in the last task: who can keep a “Hula” ring moving in a circle in their waist for the longest time.  I had the obvious advantage because I played it a lot during my childhood when “Hula” ring was quite popular in China!   See, you never know who can surprise you!

Compared to working in the office,  during the team events colleagues become more open so it’s becomes easier for us to build stronger bonds with each other, and you don’t need to plan anything it will happen naturally. After you come back with the bond, you will become more stronger as a team to oursoar, outshine, out perform. 

To finish I will show you one photo taken by the river side, it is a really beautiful place

As a campus brand manager for Reckitt Benckiser I feel I am well informed about the company and its attributes, such as being fast-paced and highly consumer focussed. In particular, RB pride themselves on the opportunities they provide. Other companies may make promises that in reality they do not keep, however I feel this is not the case with RB. I say this because I had the privilege of experiencing my first RB opportunity during May, when I was asked to accompany employees from the corporate communicate teams on an RB corporate brand marketing workshop in Lisbon, Portugal!

The conference took place just before my last exam; however I could not miss this amazing opportunity. After all how many 18 year olds get this experience. My role involved representing the campus brand manager scheme on an international platform, so to encourage other markets to follow suit and adopt the initiative.

This adventure was a surprising amount of work and I feel that the general preconceptions of business trips as being wasteful are far from the truth. My experience was enjoyable and challenging but one that I would repeat in an instant. For me the hardest part was having to be awake for 5.30am, but seeing the early hours was a worthy compromise.

Upon arrival we, the RB UK team, went straight to the exclusive hotel Tivoli. After a few hours of presentations there it was, my time to shine and tell all about my exploits as a campus brand manager. Dare I say it but I do believe I did a good job. This is based on the fact that all countries taking part, bar one, have since decided to adopt the campus brand manager scheme in their markets and for this I feel complemented. The scheme is strong enough to sell itself but my presence and enthusiasm for the role, I like to think, helped to tip the balance.
The meeting had RB representatives from many different countries and of even more cultures, giving me the opportunity to see how such a diverse company actually works together. I personally got to spend a lot of time with Ricardo, from the Brazilian team and Uwe from Russia. I also really enjoyed experiencing how different countries had diverse approaches to group discussions.

I also met agency staffs whom are of the creative side, who work with RB designing media and work on evolving the digital side of the company. I learnt from one of the agencies why it’s important for a firm to be aware of the importance of going digital.

During the course of the day we split into mixed groups where we worked together with the objective of devising new ideas for raising awareness and enhancing the RB brand. I was given another opportunity and this was to present my groups new ideas. I can proudly say that one of the ideas our group created has been put forward and is set to be implemented into practice, exciting stuff!

All in all I am very glad to have been given this opportunity, to take part in an international conference with unique networking opportunities. This whole experience has certainly inspired me to progress with my role as I now know how much of an impact it has on the company. Did I mention how good dinner was?
So if you are reading this from afar keep an eye out as there is soon to be a campus brand manager coming to a university near you soon!