(Learning 1 will keep popping up again and again as it was a vital takeaway which helped me do a good job.)

  Enter: JK Prasanna. The master Shifu to the Kung-Fu Panda 

“What I am really interested in seeing is how much you can learn in these two months.” My time with Kellogg began with these words when my guide called me up the day before the orientation. I was also told to visit one Modern Trade outlet and see the various types of promotions happening in the market. *drumrolls*

Learning 2: Understanding the objective of the task before rushing to complete it at a superficial level.

My colony had a D-mart in its premises. It was a 15 minute job to go there and FINISH the task my guide gave me. But having spent 22 years in Mumbai, I knew that Mumbai had many different segments and promotions would differ from segment to segment. I decided to visit Food Hall in Phoenix Mills, Lower Parel (A high end convenience outlet), Hypercity Thane, Metro Borivali (A cash and carry store in suburbs) and the D-mart next to my house (I don’t believe in ignoring things close to me). My instinct was right and there were significant differences which existed and I figured out various types of promotions being used by companies in India while my dear D-Mart mostly had only price-offs. When I presented my findings to Prasanna in our first meeting, he had a smile on his face.

(Spoiler for incoming Interns: Guides test you in more ways than you can imagine).

Although this example isn’t the most powerful one but during the course of my internship, learning 2 made sure I surpassed expectations of the people evaluating me.

  Time to Fly: ‘Udaan’ Begins

We had Coco, the monkey greet us at 8 am in the morning along with a Management Trainee HR who did not seem as happy as Coco (as her job generally started at 9). We had a very informative session with the directors and senior managers who shared their knowledge with us for the next 2 days. We even had the CEO address us which was very motivational. From day 3, my project began and I had to further scan the landscape of Mumbai. *drumrolls*

Learning 3: Be flexible and keep your eyes and ears open while working

While I was observing different outlets, I noticed that the ongoing campaign of Pokémon cards and puzzles being given free with Chocos had few issues when it came to execution in stores. I also overheard a conversation which the mother had with her child talking about the offer. It picked my interest and I approached my guide who told me to go ahead and collect more information. For the next 2 weeks I visited nearly 30 outlets across Mulund, Vashi, Thane, Worli and all major areas of Mumbai. I observed and interviewed nearly 1000 people to gain insights, their preferences and the efficacy of on pack promotions on them. I used ethnography to understand the shopper behaviour, when and where they were likely to purchase a product like Chocos which scored high on Pester Power and what could be done to increase the efficacy. I also interviewed around 100 kids from 6 to 14 years of age to gauge their preferences in their residential societies towards on pack promotions. One of my suggestions to solve the problem of information asymmetry between the shopper and the gift counter at stores got implemented within a week and the feeling of seeing my plan in the stores was phenomenal.

Intermission: Mid Review *drumrolls with music* Learning 4: The Presentation of work is as important as the work itself. Learning 5: Improve upon your weakness rather than focusing on your strengths.

These are lines straight out of Prasanna Sir’s book and very important point to keep in mind. Since I was good at presenting and talking in public, my slides were made for myself and not the audience. However I was made to redo everything so that “even when I wasn’t there, people should see the slide and understand everything.”

These pointers helped greatly when I presented to the director and the hard-work and quality were applauded. It also set the bar higher for the final review.

A completely new chapter starts

Post my Mid Review, I was given the data for all the modern trade outlets (1 GB of excel files at least) to analyse. Learning 1 again came to my rescue. Two KAMs were very helpful in explaining to me how they analysed their chains along with my guide and I also contacted my friends in various data analytics firms and my management science faculty members. (Perks of being a friendly person)

Gathering this information, I started the analysis at brand level and drilled it down to individual sku level, measuring their Price Elasticity, Inter-play within brands and skus of a brand and also effects of on-pack promotions to add on to my field work. The multiple viewpoints of the KAMs and other Kellogg employees gave me a good understanding of the business of Kellogg’s and their objectives. I integrated my views and the results of the data analysis to execute 3 pilot strategies in the market and the company even spent close to Rs.55000 to support my initiatives.*Drumrolls*

Learning 6: The challenges of dealing with different stakeholders

So far, all my work had been as an individual. It was time to level up. I now had to execute strategies in different markets and hence had to deal with many stakeholders. I had to deal with the category managers of Hypercity and Tesco, The marketing team of Hypercity, my ISPs and merchandisers, the employees who handle their data and the KAMs and Brand Managers in Kellogg’s. Three different strategies had to be executed in 2 different outlets and 4 locations namely Thane, Vashi, Andheri and Malad in a period of 3 weeks. People had their own schedules and since these strategies were being executed in the middle of the month, it was extra work for everyone. (Resting the drummer before the finale)

Learning 7: The balance between persistence and patience

Learning 8: Try adapting to the culture of the organization even if you will be there only for 2 months

I had to get the work done, but at the same time I couldn’t be too pushy. I always tried keeping myself in their shoes and then deciding whether to wait or to pester. I had to respect their schedules and get my work done within that. My prior experience of dealing with different people in my family business greatly came to my rescue here.  If the KAM’s got free after 8PM, I did spend days in the office till that time. They also respected the efforts I took and helped me more to achieve my objectives. These soft skills can’t be taught but you do pick them up after trial and errors during the internship.

I firstly tested the stock turn ratio at secondary visibility for a product like Pringles which was high on impulse by changing the locations in Hypercity and the Promotions in Tesco. The choice of various locations came from my ethnographic studies and consumer behaviour articles which I read when I was in the field.

Secondly I tried to estimate the price elasticity of a corn flakes variant at different price points and compared it with the results from bundled promotions and piggybacking to see which form of price off was working better with the shoppers.

The last activity was to see where the instrumentality of the new Special K flavour came from, i.e. Lapsers or New users through a sweepstake using the loyalty program of Hypercity. I sent a message to the two sets of consumers (tracked by their loyalty card numbers) that buying the product will give them a chance to win 2500 loyalty points as my hook.

The results came and I had really interesting insights. And then came the judgement day

I presented my final recommendations and the director said the work was pathetic. And I don’t know what I was feeling for a couple of minutes before he started laughing. I guess he figured out I was very attached to my project and wanted to have some fun.

I was given a very good feedback by everyone and appreciated for the quantity and quality of work. (Feels good to praise yourself). So finally the most important learning.

Learning 9: Have fun. (*drumrolls max*)

Till now, I might be sounding like a guy who will grow up to be the boss who never goes home. But that’s only because I haven’t mentioned the pizza parties we had in the afternoons in office, the dinners, partying with the other employees in the night and all the fun the 16 interns had together in the Macho MAC (the intern room). We even had a recipe contest where all my friends prepared complicated recipes and although I wasn’t addressed as a CHEF like them, Nutella and Simplicity ensured I won the 1000 Rupee voucher.   We went out on drives, explored places, bonded over music, movies and the ongoing Game of Thrones. The exposure which was given to me in terms of dealing with other stakeholders, understanding the intricacies of business, developing and executing my pilot strategies in outlets gave me excellent practical experience and knowledge. After the internship, when I went to D-mart to buy some things my mother wanted, I saw the same place so differently. I was reading the discounts as % of MRP. I was seeing the shelf space given to products rather than products themselves, and while leaving, I instinctively looked at the machine to see the count of how many people were there in the outlet. Learning 10: The two months of Internship can change you without you realizing it

___

About the Author:

Keshav is a student of IIM Trichy who believes in keeping things simple. A lover of movies and cartoons, he still believes that a fantasy world is out there, waiting for someone(read: him) to unlock its gate.