What is a Product Manager?

I'm currently in Placement Two of my Graduate Programme at Vodafone which is a Product Manager role within the Innovation team. Now, when people ask my role, they often mishear my title and thing I say Project Manager! However, the role of Product Manager is distinctly different. If you're a recent graduate, student, interested in marketing roles or have even just heard of Product Managers within your organisation and wondered what the hell it is- let me fill you in on a Day in the Life of a Product Manager.

Product Managers are not a million miles away from Brand Managers, however this depends on the type of organisation. A firm with an umbrella brand and lots of sub-brands e.g. Unilever, Coca-Cola, Mars, Nestle etc. will probably have a lot more Brand Managers than an organisation which feeds from the strength one core brand e.g. Apple, McDonalds, Amazon, Samsung and my company, Vodafone, who primarily employ Product Managers. However, effectively the two roles are pretty similar.

On a very high level, Product Managers oversee everything which concerns a certain product. They try and drive usage/ sales/ downloads/ customer satisfaction/ whatever other KPIs marketers pluck out of their objectives and make sure the product is performing. This effectively means you have to make the maximum revenue from your product and ensure your product is doing exactly what it should be doing for the business. This of course, means you must align your product to fit in with the wider business strategy and listen to the needs of the business before you decide exactly how to market your product.

You must also be very close to and focused on the customer. Understand their every need and get feedback on the user experience, which includes a lot of testing, testing and more testing! As a Product Manager, there is also a technical understanding of your product/s needed on a higher level, to know exactly how they work, what is possible and how to develop them.

As all products go through a life cycle, it is important to understand the different times within product managing, right through from launch, growth, maturity, decline and then either rejuvenation or closing/ discontinuing a product. You as Product Manager will oversee all of these stages and
literally be the expert on this product for its entire life!

Launch

Before you can launch a product you need a need that this problem solves for the customer, backed up by a bunch of research! With a deep understanding of the market and your target audience, as well as a real passion for the product, as you are going to have to be the salesperson to every single person inside and outside of the business.

Growth

You then continually plan roadmaps for your product to understand exactly where you want it to go and how you are going to get it there. This might be working super closely with developers, marketing communications activity or user experience improvements. You have to have super attention to detail as you pick out every little nit-picky error or problem with your product and put it right! There are always problems along the way which need solving.

Maturity

This is where you can look at your product and gather enough data about it to understand exactly what customers like and dislike about it. Do you need to make a price change, completely change the product's features or invest heavily in marketing to keep your numbers up?

Decline

Upon the product's decline you can consider two options, closing the product or revitalising it entirely. The businesses' goals may have changed, the market may have changed or the product may simply be too costly to make a profit anymore. This is where you can consider targeting a new audience, changing the structure of the product or redesigning it.

My Role

My role within Product Management is of course within a mobile technology brand and I manage a number of apps. Day-to-day I may be speaking to app developers to improve our user experience on the apps, speaking to various functions within the business such as Brand to get one of our images in the app approved, Digital to get a webpage which mentions my app changed, CVM to promote our app through an email or SMS campaign, Customer Services to make sure the agents know exactly what to say if a customer asks a question about my product or even liaising with Market Research teams to understand how much customers are enjoying my apps!

The role is super varied and means you can really put your passions and energy in to one or two products and they are your entire responsibility- which can be a good OR bad thing, depending on how well your product is doing!

If you have any questions or are interested in a Product Management role, please tweet me at @stefclark

I'll do my next role profile within Placement 2!

Stephanie

The Sony Experience in Tokyo

I recently got back from a trip to Asia, including a week in Tokyo. Whilst I was there I saw a crazy amount of fascinating things, but one thing that really caught my eye was the way that Japanese people absolutely love brands. I believe over there they have even more emotional connection to brands than we do- however for completely different reasons. For example, they love designer clothes such as Gucci, Prada etc. but not to show status or wealth such as the Western world, but to indicate quality investment and good money management. I also noticed that despite an influence from the Western world- particularly the U.S., Japanese people love Japanese heritage and culture.

One particular brand which is celebrated and appreciated in Japan, one of, if not the most famous brand to come out of Japan- SONY. I was lucky enough to have the chance to visit the SONY experience centre in Ginza, Tokyo- the technology area of the city where the latest innovations are showcased. The SONY building is technically a 'showroom', but it was so different from any showroom I've ever visited before.

SONY have actually been able to create a free, fun and interesting tourist attraction which hundreds of people flock to see and experience. As everything was in Japanese (of course), I had no idea what I was about to experience before I stepped through the doors!

The whole centre was a showcase of the latest SONY products and effectively was a shop, but with a high focus on experience, understanding and a 'try before you buy' attitude. On the bottom floor was a huge aquarium, which I believe acts as a 'hook' to get customers through the door, but each fish tank was filled with beautiful fish and lined with dozens of SONY cameras which could be demoed whilst you tried to take photos of the sea of colours you could see before you.

Me and my cousin Mya in the SONY building aquarium, in a whale shark's jaw!

Camera demos within the SONY aquarium

Then as you went up the various floors within the centre, each floor was dedicated to a 'sense' or in other words a SONY product range, phones, tablets, laptops, speakers, TVs etc.

One of my masterpieces taken with a SONY camera

Each floor was totally interactive and didn't focus on salesy messages or price promotions, just purely letting the products speak for themselves and letting customers experience the SONY brand wholeheartedly- even the lifts were the height of technology (although being absolutely rammed full of Japanese tourists)

A floral display with ultra HD lenses to use

The centre also featured a customer service/ advice centre and lots of staff on hand to help. My favourite floor was the top floor which brought most of the products together to create an absolutely beautiful film, shot on a small island off the coast of Japan, featuring their beautiful marine life and mainly- the whale shark. This not only was shown on their enormous SONY TV, but had music blasting from their speakers, was shot on their underwater camera and used various filming equipment that was all available to buy. This really demonstrated how powerful the products were and what they were capable of. Throughout the film, the camera equipment used in each section popped up at the bottom.

For gadget lovers, the SONY centre is an absolute must, but even for little old-me, it was still worth a visit (not only because my marketing geek sensor was at an all time high) but also just to learn more about the brand, their commitment to innovation in technology and it was fun! There is even a SONY museum, restaurants and souvenir shops- they have really gone out to make this more than just a 'department' store.

Why is this such a great example of a fantastic retail experience?

Of course, this is an extreme example and it would be impossible to turn every retail store in to the phenomenon of the SONY building, but there are lots retailers can learn from SONY.

1. People like to see, hear, touch, smell, taste things

Interaction with products and brands creates an emotional attachment between a person and a brand, by effectively 'playing' with products, we imagine owning them and can remember them much more at points of purchase than seeing a TV advert or a review in a magazine. 

2. A prestigious brand means people will actually want to learn more about you

We all know the SONY brand, the SONY centre is not there to create brand awareness or as a status symbol in the Ginza district. It doesn't need to be, people will actually go to the area just to visit the centre. We've been brought up with SONY products, they are universally considered as valued possessions, back to the walkman and the more recent Xperia products. They create awe-inspiring products which make customers inquisitive about the technology behind them a.k.a. an opportunity for a sales experience. Create a prestigious brand and you can experiment with what you do to explain it.

3. Create loyal customers and you can start to create 'fandom's'

To SONY building was an absolutely technology geek haven- for SONY fans there is nothing better! The fact they have a brand following is any marketers dream! Brand ambassadors are worth much more to any brand than lots of marketing activities!

4. Bring your brand to life

Ultimately, a brand should have a personality and by experiencing this first hand through the SONY building, customers can understand this concept much more clearly.

Genius Revolution in Advertising from British Airways

Check out one of the most innovative adverts I have seen from British Airways:

As part of the #LookUp campaign, BA set up a billboard in Piccadilly Circus which tracked flights and named them as they were passing. What an amazing attraction which is not only interactive, fun and interesting but allows consumers to engage with the brand on a real-time basis.

It ignites the imagination and child-like curiosity in people and for those who imagine where the plane they see up in the sky, they can find out instantly! It is inspiring and an absolutely phenomenal piece of innovation within advertising. 

I believe the campaign could also be extended through various platforms such as a smartphone app and to give British Airways phenomenal coverage and brand experience!

The ad was created by Ogilvy!

Working 9-5....at the largest IT company on the planet...

Hi,

I haven't really posted much about my Marketing Placement at IBM since I've started as I have just been getting to grips with my role, understanding IBM's strategies and where my team fits into the overall picture.
I think working with a large organisation is not only a rewarding experience which is full of opportunities, but can also be a hindrance in terms of understanding how such a small part of said organisation can actually make an impact.

I think I have been very lucky in getting the role I have though, as liaising with clients coming from the biggest companies in the UK is a unique experience- one which I may never be able to experience for the rest of my career (fingers crossed I do though!)

Today, all of the new marketing IT's (Industrial Trainees) got to visit one of IBM's locations near Winchester. I have visited a couple of times before for meetings, but I never got the full tour....

Today we got to hear how much IBM as an organisation has changed from the organisation it was 100 years ago to what it has become in the 21st Century today. It was phenomenal to realise how amazing the company I work for is. It has evolved from selling huge pieces of hardware, where computers needed entire buildings just to home them, to the microchip and barcode that we use everyday, and more recently to the unbelievable technology we see used for analytics, vast quantities of data and mobile technology. Who knows where we might be in another 100 years! (Not that any of us will be around to see- sad times)

When I tell them where I work, people always ask me "What do IBM actually do?" "Do they just make computers?" "I had an IBM photocopier back in the day". Well simply, IBM has moved away from these kinds of products years ago- to a far more innovative, smarter way of thinking, and rather than serve users who have simple business needs for IT, which IBM still provide- they now use technology, knowledge and data in order to create a "smarter planet" which is a huge initiative at IBM.

Today, we got to see some of these amazing projects which IBM are involved with. IBM Hursley- the location we visited, has a huge laboratory in which most of the IBM products are developed and  is also home to some UBER geeks who have developed life changing/saving/enhancing technologies!

We got to visit the IBM Hursley Innovation Centre where lots of amazing IBM inventions are showcased! (May be sounding a bit geeky at the moment) We saw a piece of technology which translates sign language from a webcam into text and visa versa, with a robot who is fluent in sign language.

We saw a piece of technology used by the military which tracks snipers and can give an exact location...this kind of technology saves lives!! See why I am proud to work here :-)

We also saw an aeroplane chair that measures your heartrate without the use of straps or wires, which helps airlines help passengers adjust to their new time zone and can help reduce stress levels on board. Then we saw a mind controlled car- something which is being used in video games soon!!

But- the most interesting thing for me personally that I saw in the Innovation centre was something which usually I would say I had absolutely no interest in- Analytics. As part of the Smarter Analytics programme, IBM helped an Italian Council reduce it's social security budget by monitoring elderly CO2, methane, smoke levels etc. with a small sensor in their homes- which meant a computer could be alerted immediately whenever one of these levels were dangerously low or high- and immediately send a warden round, rather than constant checks. This piece of technology has saved hundreds of lives- from fires, gas leaks, trips and falls and O.A.Ps who have fallen unconscious etc.

This is obviously a breakthrough piece of technology which has revolutionised care homes in Italy- but has also helped the council save money and time as less human checks are needed. Now, to me this was very interesting, but the way IBM adapts such technology to meet the needs of other clients is the thing that really draws my attention so such an innovative organisations.

Whilst you can monitor the gas and electricity levels used in peoples homes- something gas companies have been able to do for years- they can tell when consumers perform certain activities, for example; cook, shower, boil the kettle etc. and by analysing such data- IBM have worked out a way of determining exactly which TV shows everyone in the nation is watching according to their energy usage.

May not sound that revolutionary- but this type of data, available in vast quantities, could be worth MILLIONS to advertisers. Once an opportunity like this is spotted- IBM act upon it and that is why I am proud to work for such a forward-thinking organisation!!

Some pics from the innovation centre:

Sam's rear end.....not the best snap!

Trying on the brain controlling device

Vicky and Rachel in the Innovation centre

The sniper launcher in it's initial stages

Brain controlled car in action!

Vintage IBM PC!

Beautiful IBM typewriter I fell in love with! Gorgeous vintage- I want one in my house!

After visiting the innovation centre, we had a history lesson on IBM Hursley- a huge Edwardian mansion- and the only property that IBM owns in the UK. The place was stunning and I wish I could work here everyday!!!

The Winter Gardens

Gorgeous features

Client meeting room (who wouldn't buy from us with that view!! Better than staring out over grey concrete buildings in London I reckon)

one of the many beautiful fireplaces

Mine and Rachel's attempted selfie!

Managed one haha

See the servants bells on the walls!

SO stunning- stairs in main hall

another selfie (how sad I am)

The exterior- end to a great day!!

What a lush location and a great day overall!

Going to try and write a bit more about IBM and the stuff I'm getting up to there!

Steph

Ever changing

Ok, so been a massive week at uni this week. Exams, assignments and today our group product pitch presentation which we have been working on for MONTHS and I am so glad it's over. I hate group work, not going to lie I like to be in control especially when it concerns my own grades and levels of input to my work. Anyway I think our product pitch went really well and I think developing a new product and pitching it is something beneficial from uni that you normally wouldn't do through literature reviews or exams. That's why I love my course! Lot's of variety....

Sad news about HMV going into administration this week, a truely British brand. However I remember saying a long time ago how they needed to up their game and develop a new strategy in order to remain current or else they were going to fall under..... touche. They never changed in order to suit customer demand and therefore they were never going to compete. Personally, I haven't been in a HMV store in years and would have no enjoyment in doing so.

And from another organisation crushed by the rise in technology, as comes a further development in technology. This one interests me as I love social networking as much as the next person.... However, I have started to use facebook less and less recently as I feel as though a lot of it is just marketing (ironic I know) and less about the 'social' aspect. However, I am becoming addicted to twitter. I feel that although twitter does incorporate marketing and brand promotion through its trends etc, it allows people to be social through doing so. For example, every night without fail there is a TV show trending which allows people to join in on discussing the programme or not if they choose not too. I feel twitter uses this interaction in a way that facebook is unable to. Twitter is definately less in your face and 100% more tailored to individuals, not only through demographics and people you 'follow' but also increasingly using twitter means your topics of interest or talking points become tailored into products or services you may be interested in.

Anyway, back to my initial point. Facebook have now launched a search engine or a "graph search" as they are calling it; it allows you to search your 'network' for images, statuses etc. which I think may be slightly more like twitter in that you can search for things which interest you and sort of tailor your experience with the site. So for example, I was recently trying to think of places to go on holiday and was struggling finding photos of people that had been to marbella, cancun etc. however the new feature would allow me to directly search "friends who have been to marbella" which I do think is going to be interesting and am looking forward to checking the feature out! Maybe see if facebook can make a comeback! Also interested to see how my facebook friends react!

Been working on my internship loads this week too! Been contacting review sites and bloggers ahead of the launch next week! This has been the most exciting element so far I think as I love reaching out to other companies and making a pitch! Also signed my contract with IBM! I am now a demand programmes specialist!!

Steph