SUMMER INTERN SERIES: RYAN CHAPPELL – The Good, the bad, and the Offer
As I reflect on the last ten weeks, I was stretched and pulled in ways I thought never possible. The good thing is I definitely feel that my experiences at Goizueta learning how to navigate through ambiguity in classes such as Goizueta Marketing Strategy Consultancy (GMSC) and Marketing Intelligence prepared me well. I was able to showcase my analytical ability in a way that was both not overwhelming when communicating to senior leadership but also the rigor behind justifying my recommendations.
As part of my project to unlock granular growth for Frito-Lay, I was asked to segment stores in such a way that could drive growth activation. Utilizing the learnings from these classes I was highly capable. The “bad” or not so great looking part of the internship were times where I felt there wasn’t anything in my “Goizueta Tool-Kit” I could use to justify my recommendations. In these instances, I had to heavily rely on networking and leveraging alumni and other groups to work through adversity. In doing so, I was able to develop an execution strategy and in-store creative to drive engagement and activation of consumers to drive growth for Frito-Lay. This involved some re-work, lots of interactions with various marketing managers, and also working on my presentation and analytics. There were times where it felt like the first semester where there were some very long days. The silver lining was the opportunity to be in an internship I enjoyed and challenged me. Through all the struggles and challenges, I made it to the presentation in front of senior leadership. After making it through my presentation, the Q&A started. I must say not one of my strongest attributes but going forward, I will constantly always look to understand and be able to answer the question “what does success look like?” This question at the MBA level is a question you should be able to answer this question. The offer…I RECEIVED!!!!! My hard work paid off from my the first semester, the second semester MP course GMSC, and during the internship taking my learnings further. Ready to hit the second year with knowledge I can share with the 1st years as they embark on the journey I took a year ago.
