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