Tag Archives: marketing fellows

Brand Camp

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I’m finally coming up for air after midterms… I’m happy to say that I survived them. I could go on and on about them, but I’d rather talk about something a little less stressful and a lot more fun.

Two Friday’s ago I had the opportunity to participate in the CCIMS / Marketing Fellows “Brand Camp.” The day went from 11:00am to 5:00pm and was filled with all things marketing. (Finally! A subject that I understand!) Let me first explain a few things.

What is CCIMS? It is the Center for Customer Insight & Marketing Solutions, and its mission is “focused on identifying and facilitating work in areas deemed most important to the marketing profession.” It is also where you can find Marketing Fellows, which is a select group of MBA’s (i.e. you have to apply & be chosen) that “provide the opportunity to develop marketing acumen and management skills through a combination of focused curriculum and consulting projects, serving to elevate the caliber of marketing students produced at McCombs and the reputation of the Marketing Department overall.” I should mention, we are already in the application process for Marketing Fellows! Organizations don’t waste any time at Texas!

Back to Friday. I’ll be honest – spending 6 hours at Brand Camp seemed daunting in the face of all the studying to be done. However, I was ready for some marketing! The morning started with a panel of MBA grads representing Tostitos (Frito Lay), Deloitte, and AT&T. They discussed their various marketing roles and offered insight into their positions. I found the panel very insightful and learned quite a bit more about brand management and marketing consulting.  Next we had a networking luncheon to talk with our classmates and the 2nd Year Fellows. Then Ben Bentzin, who will be my marketing professor in a few weeks, gave a presentation about the importance of marketing. My favorite part was his explanation of University of Texas as a brand.  (DeLoss Dodds is one smart athletic director, by the way. But I’ll save that for class.) Have I mentioned how excited I am for a marketing class, by the way?

Phillip, Purva, Jason & Me... Go Team!

Last, we broke into teams and were tasked to create a marketing campaign for a really, er, odd product. I won’t spoil the details in case Fellows decides to use this idea again, but I will say that it was SO MUCH FUN! After an hour of preparation, my team pitched our marketing plan to the earlier panel participants and other Fellows. I loved it – the pitch, the strategy, the teamwork… THIS is why I came back to business school! We didn’t win, but it didn’t matter. I felt energized and excited – even in the face of a weekend of studying.

In light of my business school FOMO, I know that deep down I will always be most passionate about the marketing and strategy of a company, whether it’s my own company or someone else’s. I’m thankful there are so many resources at McCombs to help me on this path.

I’ll end with this advice… Even when faced with more work than you think you can handle, don’t skip out on opportunities like this.  They are worth it!

Marketing Fellows and Student Groups

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Marketing Fellows

This past week was a great week in Marketing Fellows.  This is a selective marketing group on campus that helps students who are concentrating in marketing. One of the coolest things about this group is that we have our own class in which we have weekly speakers from the industry.  Last week we were visited by AG Lafley (ex CEO of P&G) and Jim Trebilcock (current CMO of Dr Pepper/Snapple Group). This is a great group to be part of, but if marketing isn’t your thing, there are many other groups to shoot for. Check out the list here.

***Hint For Prospective Students***

Being part of a student organization is an important part of student life at McCombs. It’s not completely necessary, but I would add something about how you would contribute to one of these groups in your essays.  This shows the staff that you’re really doing your research and will be active when you get here ;)

-Morgan

CCIMS Marketing Fellows Meet Walmart CMO

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This year, I have had the amazing opportunity of being one of the 16 members of the inaugural class of CCIMS Marketing Fellows. When I came to McCombs, I immediately joined the Graduate Marketing Network, because I knew it would provide me with wonderful opportunities to learn from my fellow marketing classmates as well as to gain access to marketing leaders. Soon an opportunity was brought to our attention that a new organization, Marketing Fellows, was in the works – driven by four second year students who were already emerging as marketing leaders of their class.

The program, modeled after the concept of some of the other selective organizations at McCombs like Venture Fellows and the MBA Investment Fund, was designed to provide a unique opportunity to select students committed to a career in marketing. As it is a brand new organization, it has not been without its developmental kinks and issues to iron out. That said, the inaugural class of Marketing Fellows is all excited about the mission of the organization – to further our own marketing understanding and to further enhance the marketing program at McCombs.

Because Marketing Fellows has both curriculum and practicum components, this semester all of the Marketing Fellows took a course together that featured different guest speakers each week (in addition to working in teams on projects for four different companies throughout the semester). A couple of weeks ago, we were lucky enough to host Walmart CMO Stephen Quinn during our weekly Monday night class. He spoke about Walmart’s new branding initiatives and spoke candidly about CMO life and career changes. He presented to such a small group of us – our class plus a few students that will begin working for Walmart in the fall – which really lent itself to an intimate experience. Interacting with executives like Stephen Quinn is just one advantage of being a Marketing Fellow – and I really look forward to continuing to shape this great organization. It will be amazing to see how it evolves in the coming years.