Esi Eggleston never thought she'd end up pushing products like soap,
shampoo and deodorant. She thought she'd be a doctor.
"I studied bioengineering and did pre-med, because I loved math and enjoyed
sciences, but I really just loved solving problems," says Eggleston. She is
a brand manager.
"But I also always liked people and working with people, and had an interest
in psychology. While I was at college, I found myself getting really involved
in extracurricular activities, working on teams and doing things for my sorority."
Then she went to a corporate recruiting session that focused on brand management.
"And the things they described about the job struck a lot of chords with me
and what I liked about both my extracurricular work and my science studies
-- especially the problem-solving aspect.
"It involved working with people and getting to know consumers, which incorporated
my knowledge of psychology. So I thought I'd give it a try, and ended
up absolutely loving it."
Eggleston hasn't looked back. During her tenure, she rose from brand
manager for a fabric softener to marketing director of the company's
entire beauty care line.
She says she loves brand management because of its links to the people
buying the products.
"I love meeting consumer needs. I love listening to consumers -- learning
what's going on in their lives, what can help them make their lives better
in terms of what products we can offer them."
Eggleston says she works with people every day on both sides of the store
shelves. She consults with colleagues in marketing when making decisions about
brand management.
"The majority of my work and my role is dealing with people -- both consumers
and people in other departments at the company. So there's a lot of work
with a lot of different people, depending on what elements you're working
on," she says.
"It's a lot of collaborative work, but at the same time there's
a lot of specific pieces that you own yourself and that you've got to
think out independently in preparation for your work with others."
Eggleston has a big responsibility: getting a product from the drawing
board into consumers' hands. "My job is to set marketing strategies for
brands. I identify what it is about the brand that catches the consumer's
eye and makes them interested in buying the product. I have to determine what
you need to say about a specific brand or product to get consumers to put
it in their shopping cart."
Rob Peter is product manager of a fruit beverage line. He says marketing
is the most important department at any consumer-driven company.
"The marketing department should lead the company. And the reason we say
that isn't because we're pompous or anything, but the marketing
people are really the ones who deal most closely with the consumers. We're
the ones who live and breathe our consumer. And it's the consumer base
that's going to make or break the company."
Peter adds that brand managers rely heavily on feedback from other company
departments. "That's not to say we're going to tell finance how
to do finance and manufacturing how to do manufacturing," he says.
"But we will tell them, for instance, that we need to produce a different
package type because the consumer wants plastic rather than the Tetra pak,
or whatever the case may be. So marketing people should, in any company, lead
the way."
Leading the way, ultimately, are the desires of consumers. To gauge that
crucial element in managing a brand, Peter says he looks to research houses
to do market surveys and other indications of where people are willing to
put their money down.
"Research is a big part of it. Research projects can take many different
avenues. You can do focus groups. There's also telephone surveys and
a whole bunch of other vehicles you can use. We have an outside researcher
that we use," he says.
"So depending upon what our objective is, we would ask him what we'd
like to know. And then he comes back with a proposal and suggests how we should
try and achieve what we're looking for. So we move forward from there."