Students
2009 Summer Internship with Unilever
by Stacy Stokes
Code Name: Project Century
So maybe I’m not James Bond, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the idea of a top secret mission. So you can imagine my excitement when I learned that my summer project at Unilever would not only involve an exciting new product launch, but a product launch so important and top secret that it was given a code name: Project Century (insert dramatic theme music here.)
Okay, so maybe all product launches at Unilever are given top secret names, but it doesn’t make me feel any less cool.
I spent my summer internship at Unilever as a member of the Bertolli Frozen Meals team, but my focus was primarily on the Century launch. Century, as it turns out, is a new PF Chang’s branded frozen Asian meal for two: http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/08/17/daily7.html
All interns are assigned a project to work on throughout the summer, and at the end of the program we present our recommendations to a panel of VPs and Director’s – having that level of exposure is pretty phenomenal for an intern! My specific project was to develop a shopper marketing strategy for the 2010 launch of “Project Century.” This meant that I was to make recommendations for how best to reach consumers using our retail partners.
In order to do this, I first needed to understand how consumers shopped the frozen meal category. Luckily, there were a myriad of resources for me to use at Unilever including past Bertolli analyses, Nielsen databases, and a dedicated Consumer Market Insights team who conducts many of the detailed studies the brand team uses to make decisions.
I spent the first few weeks at Unilever immersing myself in the category, the consumer and our competitors. Consumer shopping habits are fascinating – there are a million things that take place in a consumer’s mind before she puts a product into her shopping cart! Using the right shopper marketing strategy can alter this behavior, and ultimately make or break a new product. It’s safe to say that after my summer, I will never shop the same again!
Curious about how my project turned out? Check your local grocery aisles in 2010 – I’m proud to say that many of my recommendations will be used in the upcoming launch!