I would argue this month is the most important and exciting month for a Marketer working in Reckitt Benckiser.
1. I’m developing my Brand Plan for next year
2. I’m finalising all the marketing mix activities for my New Product (NPD) that’s launching into market this September

Every brand has a Brand Plan which is written a year ahead and it’s used as the ‘bible’ for how you manage and promote the brand for that year.

Brand Plans are written over a few weeks as it’s a lengthy process to collate and make sense of all the learnings, research and data at our disposal and requires much strategic thinking. Although its lead by the brand, it’s a team effort between Marketing and Sales because at Reckitt Benckiser brands and numbers are at the heart of our business so the starting point is agreeing what the financial target for the brand should be. This is decided through many rounds of what we call ‘bottom up’ and ‘top down’ forecasting. Marketing and Sales forecast what we believe we can deliver and we marry this up with the top down target we get from the CEO. The Brand Plan then tells you how to strategically deliver this target…and at RB the targets are never easy, but that’s what ensures we deliver strong growth year on year!

At the same time…
New product development (NPD) is the most exciting project for any marketeer as you launch a new innovation for your consumers with a variety of marketing mix activities. Im currently developing these new activities for Strepsils which include new TV advertising, in store promotions, new packaging, PR campaigns and much more.

Developing and executing an NPD launch is the sexy bit of marketing and is one of the biggest focus areas for us at Reckitt Benckiser because our brands are our most important assets. I feel so lucky to be managing a brand like Strepsils which is over 50 years old! The consumer trust that comes with that is priceless.

Look out for the Strepsils NPD in the peak sore throat season in November & December. Let me know what you think, there’s nothing more satisfying than positive feedback from your consumers, so I hope you like it!

Friends of mine who work in careers ranging from medicine to charity have asked how I feel ethically about working in such a large corporate organisation with a mission to make profit.
I say that I’m extremely proud because Reckitt Benckiser is unlike any other I know.
I don’t blame them for being curious about the corporate sector and its corporate responsibility practices, as you often hear bad press about large scale organisations’ social responsibility when it goes wrong.
But at Reckitt Benckiser, social responsibility is at the forefront our daily practices.
Our CEO, Bart Becht, actually visited the branch I work at to personally present Carbon 20, a new global initiative to reduce the carbon footprint of all our products.
For him to do this himself signals just how much RB will focus on the environment going forward.
It’s motivating because I can – and have to – participate in this in my day job.
Strepsils is the fastest growing global brand we have, so it’s critical we get on board. For example we have changed all our plastic external packaging to a more sustainable version as well as vetting all our suppliers to ensure they also comply by strict social responsibility guidelines.
In our office we even have 3 compartment bins, each of which we use to separate out paper, plastic and general waste. It’s made so easy for us to make a personal difference.
RB has been hosting an ongoing conversation about corporate social responsibility on LinkedIn and the Reckitt Benckiser Facebook page.

However, our social responsibility doesn’t just focus on the environment but also on charity.
Save The Children is our official charity and not only are there many opportunities to participate in fundraising initiatives but anyone in the business can suggest an activity where they fundraise and RB will match it!
A group of 61 employees have just returned from an amazing fundraising trek in the Himalayas for Save the Children in which they were also given the opportunity to help out at local schools projects.
Reckitt Benckiser is unlike any other large scale corporation I know in this respect and I’m extremely proud to be part of it.