A “thank you” card from the intersection of my dream internship and real life

by Jared on July 20th, 2008

If you ask me what it is that I have done with my new media experience while getting my MBA – I probably won’t have a single, decent answer. Oh, I have plenty of decent answers, mind you; I just haven’t found one that fits all occasions.

At first, I started off thinking new media wouldn’t be a good hook for the more traditional brand management MBA internships I was after. Then, I realized that new media MBA internships actually existed and tried to pivot my search in that direction and new media became my main selling point. Ultimately, I ended up wasting so much time figuring out how to market myself that April came around and I still didn’t have an internship locked down.

While most of my friends were signing great summertime commitments with companies like P&G and Deloitte, I was stuck trying to figure out if I could realistically pass off the title of “Barista” as graduate-level job experience. Then, it happened; my dream internship fell into my lap when I was least expecting it.

Granted, the experience did come with a few strings. Before I could take the internship, for instance, I would also have to spend a month coaching undergraduates in business strategy. What happened here was real life…apparently it happens, occasionally.

Flash forward to the last four weeks of summer: Most of my friends are either getting ready to complete their internships or have so, already. I, on the other hand, am only a quarter into my dream internship, trying to figure out how to cram 8 to 10 weeks of experience into just 4. Though I have to spend countless hours over the weekend working on presentations and creative briefs – literally turning out pages of the best marketing ideas I have ever had – it’s the reminder that this is real life that keeps me going.

In new media, when we step out of the digital-meta-wiki-blog-pod bubble, we’re sometimes surprised to find that the real world can, and will go on without us. The benefit I have found however is that my time in new media has made me more entrepreneurial and ready to face those glimmers of opportunity, no matter how strange or oddly they are presented to us.

For that, I am eternally grateful for my circle of new media friends and the people I have met along the way. Thank you.

Technorati Tags: new media, mba internships, surviving business school

How should KFC change its business model to attract 20-somethings?

by Jared on June 28th, 2008

(Some of the undergrads I coach, posing with the colonel at KFC’s museum)

One of the more interesting sides of my various MBA internships this summer is the chance to guide undergrads through several, strategic-level consulting initiatives. Of course, my favorites are the ones where we are able to find ways to get your input into their direction.

In fact, here’s your chance to weigh in on a project we’re working on for KFC: http://urlzen.com/6k

The team has structured a quick survey about Fast Food in general, and KFC in particular, that we would love to have your opinion included in. As with most the of the surveys I work with, I’ve encouraged them to get creative with the insights they want to gather. Help us get to a statistically significant sample size (for the purposes of this survey, they want 100 responses by Sunday morning).

Again, we need your input on a survey for Fast Food and KFC so take a moment to browse over to our survey page and let us know what you think!

Technorati Tags: Colnel Sanders, KFC, Owen Accelerator, Owen Graduate School of Management, Accelerator

How Elvis Helped Me Get My Work-Life Balance Back

by Jared on May 3rd, 2008

At about 5:30 this morning, my Treo buzzed me awake with a message from my friend and future roommate. She had decided against taking our planed trip to the Kentucky Derby Infield with the rest of our business school friends and wanted to know if that would affect my plans?

Not being the biggest fan of mud-filled fields of loud, drunken horseracing fans myself; I was inclined to agree with her course of action. The problem was that after weeks of intense work culminating in exams, I was counting on this trip to get me out of Nashville for the day.

After a couple of text exchanges, we agreed that a road trip of some magnitude was in order. Our destination, we decided, was Memphis. Only about 200 miles away, we could hit up Graceland, the Mississippi River and some of the best barbeque in the south - all while fulfilling the need to get us the heck out of here.

I have to say the trip was incredible from a lot of different angles. For instance, you know how they say, “getting there is half the fun?” Well, in this case the fun was discovering strange quirks about my future roommate.These quirks would include her affinity for singing along to Taylor Swift and her eerie ability to detect Wal-Mart stores from just about any distance. Seriously, it was creepy.

At the end of the day though, I was kind of left feeling that the trip had lacked somehow? We had a blast, we talked, we dove into some great ribs on Beale Street and yet I am still not feeling that the trip did the trick. Somehow, I needed more.

Business school, it turns out, essentially takes a lot more than hard work. It takes an almost maniacal identification with your chosen course of study. Simply stated; I didn’t have any work to do so even the most awesome road trip I have taken in years failed to validate me.

This is a problem that I think all of us have from time to time and though it’s not something to call a shrink over (yet), it’s still important to bring it to light. Honestly, as soon as I realized the problem, I was able to adjust my frame of reference. Instead of thinking of all the things I didn’t have to do – I looked for things OTHER than work that I could busy myself with this evening; writing my thoughts down on this blog being one of them.

The point is that just like “The King” and his life, you can’t let a job like getting drafted into the Army keep you from enjoying yourself. As I think back on today and the immense fun I had strolling the grounds of Graceland, I really am thankful for the ability to soak it all in. It turns out - that’s the only important thing; that I did it, enjoyed myself and get to take those experiences back with me whenever I do decide to get back to work. For now, I get to keep them to myself, and anyone that wants to see the photos.

That story being told; how do you approach this issue? How do you approach a problem like this of work-life balance?

Technorati Tags: beale street, elvis, memphis, road trip, work-life balance

20SMF Episode #71 - MBA Spin: One Year Down

by Jared on April 24th, 2008

On the last day of my first year of business school, I reflect on “what have I really learned?” as an MBA student.

• OwenBloggers.com

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Technorati Tags: Owen Graduate School of Management, OwenBloggers, MBA, surviving business school, Vanderbilt

What New Media Can Do For Traditional Marketing Careers

by Jared on April 16th, 2008

First off, I will admit that this post does have an ulterior motive. However, it is a point I have been meaning to make on the blog for some time, so bear with me.

For the last four to five months, I have been knee-deep in work related to finding something substantive to do over the summer. Today, I am finally getting a chance to get in front of a company where I think can align all of things I am good at, with a position where I can make an impact.

As with any interview for an MBA Internship, the fact that I am coming from a non-core school is a sizable hurdle. Normally, the advantage in such evaluations goes to the students from the business schools from which the company already is aquatinted. However, I hopefully have something else up my sleeve that will give me a competitive edge equal to any other; new media.

Though not my main selling point for this particular position, my work in new media illustrates how strategic analysis intersects with creativity and technical competency. In interviews, I like to say that I can bring more to the table than just the ability to crunch spreadsheets and create SWOT analyses; that I also have the technical and creative background to bridge that work with just about any type of cross-functional implementation team.

It occurs to me that this revelation is not only my selling point, but the selling point of many of those traditional marketers fascinated by the world of interactive media, blogs and social networking sites. Its not just about being the marketer who can visualize solutions in the “cool new medium,” its about being able to apply analytic solutions to a rapidly-evolving playground of consumer choice.

Cross-Posted From The Marketing Diner

Technorati Tags: Marketing Diner, MBA, MBA Interviews, new media interviews, surviving business school

20SMF Episode #70 - MBA Spin QnA

by Jared on February 26th, 2008

Answering questions related to getting your MBA including admissions, full time vs. part time, and what it’s like “on the inside.” Also, answering a deep backlog of other viewer mail.

• 20SMF’s MBA Spin Series
• Kindo - Cool Family Tree Building Site (Sent To Us By Daksh)
• Amazon.com - 20 Something Manifesto by Christine Hassler
• Christine Hassler’s Web Site

Listen To Episode:

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Technorati Tags: 20-Something Manifesto, Christine Hassler, mba applications, mba full time, mba part time, Kindo

The Real Genius of Marketing

by Jared on February 25th, 2008

Cross-Posted From The Marketing Diner

One of the highlights of this last MOD was a chance to run a full-scale, two week business simulation game. In it, teams of five business students were pitted against each other, charged with running a company by controlling all aspects of its strategy including finance, operations and yes, even marketing.

I can tell you that from my perspective, the marketing component was far from rocket science. It only allowed for basic sales and promotions planning around different customer groups but it did bring up an interesting conversation. Yes, this was a game and our “customers” were nothing but sophisticated algorithms, yet I did find myself defending the finer points of marketing to my finance counterparts.

The kicker was that we only started doing well when my group members started allowing the marketing department to drive integrated operations and production planning. Frankly, without demand forecasts produced by the sales and promotions outlays (don’t ask, it included a large and annoying spreadsheet we created for the occasion), the company produced way too much and caused my team to pay much more in holding costs than we would, otherwise.

At the end of the simulation, it wasn’t that that our marketing department had more vision than any of the other marketing departments out there. Nor did our sales and promotions budgets have a greater effect on the end result of the game. What happened was that our marketing department helped translate our companies’ vision into a tactical plan that touched everything from operations, to finance to HR. In the end, it was the teams that had marketing-centric planning that proved most efficient and profitable.

As you can imagine, this was only a simulation. However, it doesn’t take a venture capitalist to see that it has implications for those interested in cracking the code on succeeding in a world where technology renders a lot of competitive advantages, moot.

Plainly stated; the biggest lesson any of my marketing comrades or I learned from this simulation is that great marketers have to move beyond being just great creative minds, but we also become great office politicians.

Oh, and in case you’re interested in the outcome of the game: we only took 9% market share our industrey but our pricing and promotions strategy garnered our products an average of 47% on margins.

Catch Up w/Jared - Now on Twitter!

by Jared on February 12th, 2008

Despite the ever-growing workload I have here at business school, I have found a new way to keep in touch with people….Yes, I have finally gotten on the twitter bandwagon.

Whether you’re on twitter or not, you can keep up with regular musings about social media, marketing and business school via my twitter page at http://twitter.com/marketingdiner. It’s an exciting prospect to be able to get that much more engaged with people through mini-bloging but I think it will make a nice compliment for those of you who may miss my regular shows here at 20-Something Marketing.

If you haven’t already discovered twitter, it’s a neat little tool that connects people, 140 letters/charachters at a time. Definitely worth the time to check it out.

Catch you on the twitter-side, marketing fans!

Technorati Tags: Marketing Diner, social media, twitter