Just a quick one!

Hello,
haven't wrote in over a week! Been super busy. Back in the north west for Christmas, which I am not enjoying as usual. I find this place so uninspiring I actually hate Lancashire! Sounds so negative but in Bristol everyone is so aspirational and hardworking and then I come up north and most people so bored and unmotivated! Sort it out Lancs.... I am having a nice time with my family though although I have a lot of work to do for my product pitch presentation, HRM assignment and finance exam in January STRESSFUL

I was also supposed to be attending a peugeot citroen, avon, caterpillar, BMW & PSA assessment centre in January too which would have added to the stress however I have some brilliant news to announce to my blog followers!

I got a job at IBM!!!

I'm sooo chuffed!! Got the phone call on Friday morning and I was in bed in a hotel room in Manchester and my phone rang and I sarcastically went "This better be a job offer" AND IT WAS!! Fate or what!!

Anyway so basically at my assessment centre day in Portsmouth I met this lovely lady who is the project manager for a B2B marketing team in Portsmouth and she interviewed me for a general marketing role. However she was impressed by me so much that she wants me to join her team in Portsmouth!! So I didn't need a 2nd interview like most people! I was soo pleased and I've already met my boss which is pretty cool.
Slightly daunting moving to Portsmouth as I've only been their once for my interview and I'm going to be living there in June! I'm so excited though and so pleased because I really wanted to work for IBM out of all of the placements I applied for! Going to buy a car in June and can't wait to be on a real wage and work for the 3rd most valuable brands IN THE WORLD

New normal blog post coming soon
Just thought I would fill everyone in!
Steph

My friends, goose and smashbox!

Heyy,
ok so this week I've been really unlucky! Got through to the assessment centre for peugeot citroen after passing the 1st interview!! Which I was super pleased about, however it's on the 10th January which is my finance exam so I can't go and I've emailed them begging but they won't re-arrange, which I'm GUTTED about :'( especially as I could really see myself there and I worked so hard on my application. I guess it wasn't meant to be!
Secondly, had my BMW telephone interview which went AWFUL as I was totally unprepared as I did it at uni cos I was in the middle of my group meeting for marketing in practice preparing our presentation, anyway I think I did well on the compentency questions but then she asked me what was my favourite BMW model and I froze I couldn't even think of one :-( so not expecting good news from them! Also got another interview lined up for next week and still waiting to see if I've been matched by IBM which is horrible as I'm really impatient!!

Our presentation is getting super close now and I think my group are finally working well! I hate group work and hope this is the last time I will have to work in a group during my course...probably not though.

So, writing this blog seems to have inspired a couple of my friends to start writing a blog which is exciting!
My good friend Sam who is on my course at UWE has started a marketing blog and he is a very opinionated and hilarious person so looking forward to hearing a bit more from him, you can check his blog out at: http://samvenning.blogspot.co.uk/
Also one of my girlies Sophie has started a blog too which is a bit more creative and personal which I like so you can check her out here: http://ohyoudramaqueen.blogspot.co.uk/
Finally, I have followed this blog for quite a while and it's definately one for the girls!! Zoe does beauty and fashion reviews and news and she's getting paid for it now I think so her posts have been very influencial! http://www.zoella.co.uk/
Let me know if you want me to mention you or if you want me to have a read of your blog cos I love reading new blog material!

Ok so tonight I went to Cribbs Causeway with 2 of my friends Rach and Beth and we went to Boots because I had heard about a new cosmetics company- Smashbox doing free makeovers and giving out free giftsets! So I booked an appointment for a treat for us all and we went along and I was very impressed!! Smashbox are huge in America and they came to the UK 3 months ago, they are owned by Estee Lauder who also make MAC and Clinique so I knew it was going to be high quality and I wasn't dissapointed. They did full makeovers for all of us and we got free products to try! Was a very girly and chatty session which I loved and they also do things like makeovers and photoshoots all for free so definately worth checking out! I think it's really important as there are so many make-up counters that girls can go to that new brands have an interactive and fun experience especially as I hadn't ever heard of them before and now I know loads about them from chatting to the lady who worked there. Very impressed!

Finally, something occured to me on twitter recently that I had been noticing increasingly.
I saw this account https://twitter.com/GreyGooseWanker and lots of retweets and follows from people I know.
I know a lot of people who will save up all week just to buy a bottle of Grey Goose at the weekend, and this has become an increasing trend over the last year. Grey Goose represented status, class and luxury and people who spend all their time working wanted to represent these things at the weekend. However, now I just think it has become a bit of a chav drink and not really for special occasions. I see guys getting 3 or 4 bottles a night and thinking their suarve when they are wearing sports t-shirts or trainers. Not really a good brand associate for Bacardi who own Grey Goose as one of their more premium spirits.
Although it is a premium spirit and represents indulgence and luxury, in order for Grey Goose to maintain this image they are going to have to work hard to ensure they can keep this brand image up, especially with bad publicity such as the site above. Although sales may have soared, is it for the right reasons and can they maintain the sales by using the same marketing and brand associations as they do currently.
They are just my predictions and opinions and if you don't agree feel free to comment and let me know!

Steph

My trip to Portsmouth!

Hello :)
Today I went all the way to Portsmouth for my IBM Assessment Centre, last night I was so nervous in my hotel and could barely practice my presentation for nerves- I don't know why I'm usually a confident person, especially when it comes to talking about myself! But when I arrived there it was such a relaxing and stress-free day and I can't believe how much I worried last night!

Anyway, from the whole day I am semi-confident towards the outcome, I don't want to speak too soon but I REALLY want the job- it looks amazing!! Fingers crossed!
The interviewer seemed really keen on all my stuff with the marketing society, PAL, my internship and camp america! I had loads to talk about which was great, I don't know how anyone who doesn't do much extra-curricular stuff can cope in interviews as you have no examples except "i took part in group coursework" so what!!?

I also got chatting to my interviewer about how most people who want to work in marketing walk in and tell her they want to work in advertising or PR, she said she liked the fact I specifically said I DIDN'T. I hate it when people think thats all their is to marketing, its such a minute point, especially if you want to be forward-thinking and current. I think you have to communicate brand value in other ways and tailor your marketing to individual clients rather than mass marketing. Hopefully all this worked in my favour but we shall see!

On my way down to Portsmouth, which is a lovely place by the way! Never been before but I think it's really nice, I was reading a book on segmentation which is suuuper old, but one of the best books I've ever read, especially if you want to get your head around segmentation and how to position your brand. It's called Positioning: the battle for your mind by Al Ries- definately reccommend!
Anyway, the lady sat next to me asked me if she could look at my book and turns out she was a marketing manager! Just shows how you constantly need to 'market' yourself because you never know who's watching you and I think opportunitites can arise in the strangest of places.

I don't know what I would do if I wasn't confident enough to talk to people like her as I think confidence is key to a lot of things and being confident enough to push yourself to be driven towards success no matter what is a trait which will always lead to success whether you achieve your goals or not. Just my little thought for the day!

Steph

“Sometimes there's not a better way. Sometimes there's only the hard way.”

Hellooo,
So this week I have been sooo busy! Been doing my operations coursework which is so dull it's the 2nd worst module after human resource management! I don't want to be learning about anything but Marketing which is a nightmare but I know it has to be done! Also been working with my group for one of my marketing modules where we have to pitch a product through a presentation in January- Dragon's Den style! A lot of hard work but I love my group and I think we work really well together. I think it's important to surround yourself with positive people and their positivity reflects on you and in a way makes you more motivated and definately makes me work harder.

I'm sick of negative people and people that aren't prepared to work hard to get results. People ask me how I do so much and how I have other people interested in my success and how I get so many opportunities. It's literally because I never stop! There aren't any shortcuts and if you aren't motivated and driven to succeed you shouldn't be at university full stop. People who skive uni to sleep all day or get drunk or because they can't be bothered to sit in a lecture anger me, anyway I better stop before I start a rant...

I had my telephone interview for a placement this morning and the lady said she was impressed with my enthusiasm and desire to succeed and I've got through to the next round which is an assessment centre in January which I'm so happy about! Got two lined up now, I'm so glad all my work has paid off!!

So whilst I was in London last week and in Cabot Circus this week, I saw huge billboards outside Dorothy Perkins for the new Kardashian Kollection clothing line. I thought this was a really exciting move for DP as they were a bit of a frumpy, mumsy brand compared to the other Arcadia brands like Topshop & Miss Selfidge, this will definately give a new viewpoint from a younger target market.
I did see the collection when I was in Chicago over the summer and I think the Kardashian Kollection has been in the US store Sears for a number of years (Sears reminded me alot of Matalan for some reason, so maybe their approach was the same, a brand which was once a bit frumpy has been sexed up a bit).

So I decided to go and check the clothes out for myself, the clothing is supposed to include "Kim's glamorous red-carpet looks, Kourtney's more Bohemian chic vibe and Khloe's rocker style" well from what I saw the clothes were tacky, a bit slutty and looked quite frankly, cheap. The Kardashian's are known for being curvaceous and the collection definately doesn't tailor to this. The clothes are tight, revealing and short. Kate Middleton snubbed the clothes after they were sent to her! Quite a funny read http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG9687431/The-Duchess-of-Cambridge-snubs-Kim-Kardashians-Kollection.html Anyone who is famous for making a sex tape can't really expect royalty to admire their clothing line... Interested to see how the collection is recieved in the UK anyway.

Very cool brand news- Tango are making shower gels!? I love tango and I think the product concept it exciting and I think it might be quite successful!! Already a large brand awareness and something a bit different from shower gels already on the market. I would lovveeee to work on the marketing for that product!

Speak sooon
Steph

London!

Helloooo,

Ok so Tuesday I went to London for my meeting with the CEO of newfox media. I love driving through Brentford past all the huge offices, I REALLY want to work there one day!
Tuesday night I went to see Wicked because my friend Hiten got me and him some free tickets, I've always wanted to see it and it was so great! Made the trip down to London so worth it! We also went to a pub for drinks and there was so many business men and women I was dying to do some networking haha!
So Wednesday morning I got up nice and early and got the tube to Shoreditch to google head office! It was crazy inside it looked a lot like ikea! Lots of kitch furniture and everyone was dressed very casual and everyone was a bit "individual" if thats how you want to put it. I don't think I would like to work there as I'm attracted to the suited and booted, very professional edge of working life and google head office wasn't like that at all. It's all personal preference though!
So I had my meeting with newfox media and got my role for my internship explained and I'm really excited about launching their new app and I'm responsible for a lot of the marketing for it which is so cool! I have a lot of responsibilities with them and I'm really hoping the experience will benefit me in years to come!
The CEO also said he is going to invite me to any networking events he's going to and put me into contact with some of his clients. Very exciting stuff I will keep you posted!
Then yesterday, I went in to my lecture and got my assignment brief for my marketing communications module (my favourite module at UWE) and the coursework task is to launch and market a new app!!!! ITS FATE! So I'm actually doing the same thing in the real world and at uni, double the experience!!
Doing my placement applications and lots of uni work this week! Very very busy! Managed to sneak a night out in and a bit of shopping in London! I am addicted to selfridges I literally spent about 3 hours in there after my meeting!
Next week I have a telephone interview for a placement at a very well known construction company which I am very nervous for and am going to have to prepare for next week!
So busy, but very excited about things coming up! Keep you posted,
Stef

Feeling Christmassy!

Hellooo... Have decided to start a blog as I feel like I'm missing out on this and I'm supposed to be a 21st Century chick! I want to use this space to discuss what I've been up to, my passion and my chosen degree course- Marketing! New product reviews/marketing campaign launches and anything else I feel particularly appealing in the branded world!

As the festive period is beginning I shall begin with my current two favourite adverts for Christmas!

Of course, John Lewis do it for me every year with their Christmas adverts and 2012 is no exception!
Check out the video below!

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A stunning advert and I love the music behind it! A real love story and definately pulls on the heart strings! I've been reading the feedback on twitter and some people arguing it's not as good as last years however I think John Lewis have cracked it this year as this advert really adds a magical edge in the Christmas spirit and I think people will love it. The ad is called 'The journey' and I love the name as it really draws in on the fact the snowman's motives for leaving his snow-woman aren't revealed until the end of the advert and it adds to the anticipation. When I first saw the ad I thought the ending was fantastic and it almost made me want to cry! I think that's just the reaction John Lewis were hoping for! Superb ad and I don't think it will be one forgotton soon either.

Secondly, I LOVE the new boots ad!

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I think it's so beautifully BRITISH and that's something I love when companies, especially well-known British brands like Boots play upon British humour and family life! I love adverts that tell stories and so this one is even better telling lots of stories! The atmosphere is great, a classic ad that I won't get sick of watching and want to turn over after seeing it too many times! I love the tag line "gifts that keep on giving" as it also recognises Boots as a high quality store which I believe they are! I wouldn't choose any other shop to buy make-up from and there customer service is great!

This week I have spent a few days in Lancashire with my parents and have managed to do a bit of shopping while out! Rare treat for me as I never really get the chance to treat myself but whilst I was in Liverpool I decided to have a quick look round the shops! I definately want to reccomend St. John's shopping arcade which may have a reputation for being a bit cheap and nasty but they had some gorgeous knitwear and jackets which I had seen very similar versions of in topshop and miss selfridge! Picked up a lush gold jumper for £10! Definately going to be heading back there next time I'm in the north west!

Also whilst I was in Liverpool I got the chance to eat and Red Hot Buffett which I had always wanted to try! Have to say though, ZaZaBaazar in Bristol is loads better and has far more options and a better atmosphere! The puddings were great tho!

This week, heading back to Bristol and have LOADS to do! Got a meeting in London on Wednesday with the CEO of Newfox Media about an internship I'm doing for 3 months which is exciting stuff. You can check out their website here: http://www.newfox-media.co.uk/
Whilst I'm in London going to try eating out somewhere really different and cool!
Also this week I have a massive assignment to do which I'm actually starting to enjoy completing which is really strange but it's about a real organisation rather than imaginary one like I've been writing about in my previous projects.
Finally, I need to get myself in order for placement applications. Crazzzy busy as it's so time consuming! Will let you know how it all goes.

Steph.