Sitting in the Scientific Services Group (SSG) , which is part of RB’s Research and Development (R&D) department, your work has a huge impact on the profitability of a really exciting region! Your ability to affect profitability can happen in much shorter timeframes than in category development as this department focuses on new product developments (NPDs). Here in SSG we are working with existing products and adjusting formulations, claims, production and supply strategy. So let me tell you a little about my first few weeks in SSG…(for those new to my blog, I’ve recently moved to India from the UK!).

Factory Transfers

Vanish liquid is a recent launch in India. Initially we had been importing product from our factory in China to A) hit the market ASAP and B) to test the market. Vanish liquid has shown good initial success – and without cannibalising our existing powder product.

The location of a production factory has a large impact on GM (gross margin) and profitability . We are currently in the process of moving Vanish production from China to India, localising our production. This will mean an increase of over 30% on our GM, which is HUGE and will have a massive effect on the brand’s profitability.

Formulation changes and Harmonisation

SSG is also required to manage the complexities encountered in our factories, such as the number of formulas made for one product. Veet has 3 main variants: Normal, Dry, and Sensitive. Within these variants, there are also formulation changes e.g.when we add extra materials such as Aloe with vitamin E. Countries migrate to the changed formulas within different timelines. However, the more formulas a factory carries, the more complexity is added. Cost is also impacted as cycle times will be longer due to the cleaning and swapping of lines and mistakes are more likely to be made.
Therefore SSG need to ensure that this situation is managed. I am currently managing the migration of Veet to our most recent formula which will supersede supply to all countries. These projects run for roughly 6 months over which raw material sourcing, line trials, stability and product registration will be completed.


Claims and Demonstrations

Consumers in one country can be completely different to the next. I can see this from my personal experience, I LOVE to have a tan, the browner the better, but here in India the paler the better. All of the creams and facial products sold in India are targeted at this need bucket. It is therefore really important to manage claims and advertising campaigns per country. This is another role of SSG, investigating potential claims and supporting these.

Vanish has some really interesting consumer demonstrations, including a Monster stain – scary! As part of my work I will be looking at ways to develop India specific demonstrations and claims to improve our market share. It’s all about making your product relatable and building trust in your brand!

Wish me luck

International opportunities
Before I started working at RB, I went travelling for 3 months… and I LOVED IT! I was pretty sad to come home and realise that this wouldn’t be possible again for a long time. Little did I know, but RB would offer me some amazing travel opportunities.

RB really has been the perfect place to begin my career. Having only been working for RB a year, I have been to the USA, China and am now LIVING in India!

Every one of these trips has been an amazing experience on both a work and personal level. All 3 countries I had never visited before and it has really opened my mind to different cultures, mindsets and the infinite possibilities out there!

USA
During my trip to the USA, I met and presented to one of the head buyers from Wal-Mart. It was really interesting to experience this side of our business as sometimes, in R&D, you can feel detached from the end goal – selling our products. Trade relationships are really important to the success of any business and it was invaluable to see this interaction.

China
China was a whirlwind! While I was there I travelled to Beijing, Shanghai, Dongguan and Hong Kong (all crammed into 5 days!). When in China you have to be adventurous with the food – pigeon, beef stomach (tripe) and beef tendon were amongst the strangest I tried.

During my time in China, I was sitting in on consumer focus groups (with live translation, of course ), visiting one of our core fragrance houses and meeting with some local suppliers. I gained a very rounded experience of the facilities we use and the consumer mindset which varies greatly around the country.

India
WOW – when I finished university, I would never have imagined I would be living in India for 6 months! Currently being based here, I am completing my second placement on the graduate scheme in the Scientific Services Group (one of the three departments in R&D). I will be managing Vanish for India, a few Veet projects and some products for Paras personal care which we acquired earlier this year.

I am really enjoying India so far – despite having found a cockroach in my apartment on the first night! As well as getting a really varied and fast paced work life, I also get to experience a truly diverse culture – I can’t wait to explore!

For me RB is my perfect match!

Omar Hasan Khan

Hello! My name’s Omar and I am currently pursuing my MBA from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in Karachi, Pakistan. I am also a RB Campus Brand Manager – an opportunity that came calling as a result of the graduate internship programme I was part of during the summer of 2010. It was not a tough decision to make – why would I turn down an opportunity to represent a growing and unique FMCG that boasts powerhouse brands among its portfolio?

If there ever was a time to test my mettle this was it! Executing marketing activities within time frames, a certain budget and objectives to deliver! I can say this is the best preview to brand or sales management a student in Pakistan could get! Considering the Campus Brand Manager concept is in its infancy in Pakistan, it means that currently only RB is conducting such a program hence I am luckier than many! Here is a chance to make a memorable impact at both my institute and at RB Pakistan itself; and I wanted to because the RB had culture won me over during my internship – this company really lives the values it preaches!

Students of a business school aspire to work in organizations that have top brands; giving little thought to the working environment – the people, structure, mentality etc. Why? Simply because they have limited work experience that do not give them such exposure. However, being a student myself, I know that I along with peers have formed opinions about organizations via interactions with their personnel. So what better way to inform students of RB’s culture than to bring the culture in to the classroom?

We did just that!

Guest Speaker Sessions

Dr. Kamran Siddiqui handing over a token of appreciation to Humayun Farooq

First, we invited Humayun – Senior Brand Manager Veet & Healthcare at RB Pakistan, for a guest speaker session in the Brand Management course at IBA to discuss everything Veet: the product, its values, target market, celebrity endorsement (regional vs. global), leadership qualities of the brand and understanding the environment.

The session started with us quizzing students about RB and Veet whist giving out freebies in the process! Humayun went on to show recent advertisements dazzling students, let’s face it, Veet DOES have admirable endorsers!

The session was well received as plenty of students had plenty of questions – one even attempting to convince Humayun to flip Veet’s marketing strategy! The session concluded with the Professor of the course handing a token of appreciation to Humayun.

Second session, we arranged for Ashaar – HR Director at RB Pakistan, to speak at the IBA Leadershop Conference (IBLC) 2011. The IBLC is an annual event that spans 4 days and attracts hundreds of students from all over the country. Our speaker was awesome!

Ashaar in the midst of inspiring students

Ashaar’s topic of discussion was “Set Your Own Pace” and entertained students with anecdotes from his life while providing valuable advice for these young minds. He also cited how RB allows you to set your own pace – it’s always easier to understand concepts when they’re aided with practical examples. A Q&A session followed in which Ashaar was more than willing to answer every single question! End result? Another favorable impression planted in the minds of students towards RB.

It always takes more than just interactive sessions to strike a chord with students. Our hoodies distribution activity (covered in Faryal’s post), was one way to tell the students that RB is all about opportunity. Sticking with RB’s strategy of playing in niches and being unconventional while keeping in mind its values, I found another way!

The World’s Most Popular Sport

Football in Pakistan – niche.

Women’s football in Pakistan – niche within a niche.

IBA Girls Football Team traveling to the capital to participate in a nationwide tournament – unheard of!

The team

I coach our institute’s girls football team so when the captain of the team mentioned the tournament and limited funds I could not resist the idea of bringing RB into the fold! The most relevant RB brand for females, in Pakistan, is Veet so it only made sense that I should have approached the Senior Brand Manager for sponsorship – fund our traveling expenses and your brand is on our shirts.

In fact, brand endorsement by the girls will probably be taken a step further via social media on Pakistan’s Veet Celebration of Beauty page and/or our Are You RB Enough? page. Veet Celebration of Beauty and football? Well, for a player, scoring a goal is “what beauty feels like” Ideas for the pages are now flowing in my head as I type!

En route to an opportunity like never before

Anyway, it all worked out and RB was able to help these girls seize a rare opportunity – be the first team to represent IBA at a nationwide women’s sports tournament in Islamabad. I even added in the hoodies to the package and gave each team member a RB hoodie – the winter may have been withering in Karachi but it’s definitely chillier in Islamabad at this time of the year! Hence the hoodies, in effect, became the official team jacket for the tour. Yes, the hoodies were initially part of the Are You RB Enough? activity; but, in retrospect, these girls are RB Enough because they embody the RB core values:

• Ownership – the team was found and run by students
• Teamspirit – always helps in football
• Achievement - in this case the results did not matter, rather, the fact that this trip took place should provide an impetus for development in female sports at our institute and across Karachi!

For the record, we did not manage to win any game (we did not get a rollicking either); but, our best performance was against THE team of the tournament so that was very encouraging!

The team leaving in high spirits after their final match - I'm covered by the flag!

The next step, as aforementioned, is to leverage social media to both increase Veet and RB’s brand equity among IBA students at least and, help build a platform for the girls – the Veet Celebration of Beauty page does have over 16,000 fans after all!

I just got back from Islamabad a week ago and I’m already planning the execution of our next activities with Faryal and, to some extent, Waqas, so watch this space, till then, goodbye !

Faryal Warind

Hi i’m Faryal, I am currently pursuing my MBA (Marketing & HR) from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) and working as an RB campus brand manager. My RB opportunity came along when I interned in the Marketing Department for RB PowerBrands Veet & Strepsils in Summer 2010. I was constantly on my toes and loved every minute of it! It was then that I applied for the position of Campus Brand Manager and soon enough I was the proud aspiring Brand Manager for one of the fastest growing FMCG’s of the world.

Now here I am, blogging away my wonderful experience so far! I hope this novel idea launch in Pakistan is of interest to you all and gives you a view of the RB through my eyes, bit by bit with every blog

Campus Brand Managers in Pakistan

Campus Brand Manager? Who’d ever heard of Campus Brand Manager (CBM) in Pakistan? With an exciting and novel idea, Reckitt Benckiser is one of the first companies to launch a structured CBM program in Pakistan. Giving aspiring brand managers a taste of what it really is, RB has given me the opportunity to learn the ropes via this 5 month on-campus role at the Institute of Business Administration.

My task is to involve students in Campus related activities aimed at enhancing RB brand values and promoting the leading brand portfolio that RB boasts. Doing this is a strategic process with budget constraints and timelines to be met.

Yes now I knew what all entailed to being a Brand Manager!

Lucky for me, my mentors and my fellow campus Brand Manager (Omar) and I creatively drafted a fun filled yet brand relevant activities that not only hyped up the student body at IBA but also thanks to social media and buzz marketing has become the talk of the student fraternity! Wohooooooo!

Before we could start, though, we felt the biggest challenge associated with RB had to be tackled – not many know that RB owns some of the most powerful brands in the world! Hence, we designed a teaser campaign to not only stimulate interest but to get the students wondering. How did we achieve that? Custom made posters were placed across the IBA Campus with students and the faculty both quizzically staring at and creating buzz while trying find out what was this campaign was about as well as which company really IS behind such powerful brands.

Are you RB enough?

Starting our tenure in November meant starting out just on onslaught of winters and what better way to create noise and gather people than to give out winter gear freebies? Thus began the “Are you RB Enough?” campaign.

The title for this campaign was inspired by RB being an unique FMCG, therefore, challenging IBA students’ match our unique qualities. The driving force behind this campaign was Facebook and the tools it offered – tagging, video and picture uploads, and feedback. The winter gear – hoodies – were not given out, they HAD to be EARNED! The campaign entailed ascertaining whether students had the right blend of RB core values of Teamwork, Ownership, Entrepreneurship and Achievement.

How did you earn it? Take a RB brand, own it, and be creative with it on video, either individually or in a team, with videos being posted on Facebook. Trust me, it’s not as simple as it sounds! We had to ensure that students did not treat their task as a simple TVC, rather, they had to show an understanding of the brand in a fun-filled manner. This ranged from creating songs/jingles, puppet shows, to unconventional uses of the products. Additionally, as attractive a free hoodie may seem, many declined due to their fear of facing the camera! Hence, only the ones considered RB Enough had an extra piece of winter gear in their closet by the end of the day!

Noise was created both figuratively and literally- social media helped create the buzz while filming of videos attracted crowds. The efforts, at the end of the day did leave students all over IBA chanting RB’s name and eagerly waiting for the next round of activities that come their way. Watch out for next weeks post where Omar brings you the latest update on what’s happening at IBA!

I knew I wanted to do something marketing related in FMCG, but there was a myriad of companies promoting marketing and sales graduate programs – which one was going to help me achieve my goals of having a fulfilling marketing career?

Having been in the Commercial Graduate Program for more than a year, I have no doubt that I have made the right decision to work at RB. Here are some of the reasons why:

1. Strong portfolio of brands – Whilst most students are familiar with the P&G, Unilever and L’Oreal’s of the world, the truth is, most of them have probably never heard of RB. Don’t worry, even our stakeholders have trouble figuring our who we are!

However, one thing is for certain, people know our brands – Nurofen, Strepsils, Veet and Dettol to name a few – and at the end of the day, its all about the brands, isn’t it?

At RB, you’ll be working with brands which are ranked 1 or 2 in the marketplace. Walking into a pharmacy as a Sales Representative in my first rotation, I was always able to get the buyer’s attention and respect because they knew our portfolio of market-leading products would help drive customers into their stores and grow their business.

Did you know that at RB, 40% of revenue is generated from new products launched within the past 3 years? So you can be reassured that there will be a plethora of resources and talent readily available to accommodate innovation and growth of our brands and being part of that process, whether it be marketing or sales, is so rewarding for your career.

2. Real ownership and responsibility – I don’t think any student comes out of a marketing degree wanting a career in sales; I certainly didn’t… which is why I can understand why many students are hesitant to consider a graduate program which incorporates time in the field or in sales.

It was a case of sink or swim when I was handed over a territory of over 120 stores to manage – and while it was certainly a challenge, I also had a ball of a time doing it!

I felt a great sense of ownership and achievement in being able to negotiate and implement a planogram, sell in a promotional program and be able to resolve difficult situations – you learn a lot about responsibility, task prioritisation and demonstrating entrepreneurship.

Most importantly, I felt like I was a valued member of my team and that we all shared the same company core values which allowed us to achieve our goals and deliver results. Do you also share the same passion and drive like we do? See if you have what it takes to thrive at RB.

My time on the field has allowed me to build a strong foundation and thorough understanding of how RB brands are perceived in the market place – perfect preparation for my upcoming marketing rotation. After all, how can you truly understand a brand if you don’t know what customers want?

3. The Aussie graduates! – Since the Commercial Graduate Program started in RB Australia/New Zealand 4 years ago, the pool of graduates has grown into a small family of nearly 20!

RB Graduates at Sales Awards Gala

So when you find yourself in a difficult situation, you know you can always seek help and guidance from another graduate who has been through it all and knows what you’re going through.

As Eva mentioned in one of her posts, we have an annual graduate development day where the New Zealand graduates come over to Australia we get to see what kinds of mischief our neighbours get up to! It truly reinforces the international element of working for a global FMCG company.

We graduates work hard but play harder and whilst it’s great to catch up and let your hair down during official work functions to down, we also socialise outside of work – most recently having Italian cuisine in Darling Harbour!

RB Graduates at Christmas Party

Until my next blog post, I leave you with some recent photos of the RB Australia graduates partying it up at our Hollywood character themed Christmas Party and Sales Awards Gala in Circular Quay, Sydney!