I had the chance to have an Informational interview with the marketing executive of one of the Fastest growing food companies in Canada. I interviewed this individual because I intend on pursuing a marketing career in brand management so I thought I should get some more insight in this particular career and field. I also thought that it would be great to share some of this information with my fellow peers. Below you will see some of the questions I have asked and the particular insights I had the chance to gain. Please understand that this is my understanding of answers that were given to me and reflects my opinion and only my own.
“What challenges do you foresee in the food industry in the next few years?”
From my understanding the toughest challenge is to align retailers’ goals with the food companies. Currently retailers operate with the short goal to sell more than their competitors. Thus, selling their goods at a particular low price. Apparently retailers make very little to no money off selling their products instead they generate most of their revenue from programs with the food companies. Also, retailers continue to ask for more money but refuse to raise the prices of the goods they sell. The food companies on the other hand want to raise the price of their goods to increase their margins and enable retailers to also generate revenue from selling the goods.
“What are some of the growing trends?”
The particular insight I gained from this question was that there has always been a healthy trend but the bar is constantly raised. However, even if consumers’ health concerns have considerable weight in their decision-making, taste remains the dominant factor. Taste is the most important factor when selling food. For example healthy pizzas were released with whole-wheat crust and other healthy factors but they had a hard time selling because they weren’t of particular great taste. Some of the current trends that are here to stay however are organic, sustainable farming practices as well as selling or having local ingredients in the food products.
“What qualifications, competencies and skills are fundamental for someone who is pursuing a career in marketing?”
The greatest thing I retained was to have a good attitude and personality, as well as a basic level of; problem solving, organizing and strategy. To distinguish one self and to succeed you must have the ability to interact and deal with people and be able to lead cross functional teams and getting peoples’ goals all aligned with a common goal and get them to follow your vision. Marketing is not particular what they teach in school, given that there is some “marketing” involved but again it has a lot to do with people in general.
“What kind of extracurricular readings/research do you do in your particular field?”
I learned that it is good to watch what is currently going on in Grocery stores, Billboards and advertisements. Observing what other Companies are doing. What works and what doesn’t. Reading magazines about strategy and marketing seeing what happens in the real world and keeping track.