Campus Brand Manager Review

Getting the 3 full days to really get to know the office, employees and placements students gave a good insight into Danone's culture and what it might feel like to work here! Getting to do the insights profile was 100% the highlight. I do feel that the 3 day insight was perhaps a bit too long for purely a campus brand ambassador role, or, that our time wasn't necessarily used as effectively as it could have been. We got to meet placement students, but didn't learn much about the CBU's or get to meet people actually within the team and hear about new projects they were doing. Also, I heard they used to do a practice assessment centre and we didn't get that opportunity. Overall, I really enjoyed it. I do think there are some improvements to be made: perhaps meeting more of people within the role rather than just placement students and have more ideas on plans and working with the marketing team (who actually needs to approve of our ideas)

We were really well looked after whilst we were there and had lots of time and attention - sessions were well organised and we had a good variety of things to do e.g. project planning, insights session, market stalls etc. Danone were really keen to hear all of our ideas and we got to meet a lot of different people during our time there which made us feel like our voices were being heard. But, it was mostly placement students and not actually people at Danone which I would have way preferred (would have learnt a little more as the placement students were quite new!) I felt so well looked after and that the company will fully support me even after the insight has finished.

We got given a lot of support and guidance. Instructions were clear for what we needed to do during each task, however I feel as thought a whole day for planning was extremely excessive as many of us had obviously come up with all of our ideas prior to the day to impress. Would have been better to actually sit down and get the ideas already rolling and set up before term started. Perhaps better to have this earlier in summer and give us support before uni rather than waiting until uni starts in a few weeks and not being able to support what we want as it takes time for stock to be delivered We also will be given a lot of support beyond these days through emails/ a spreadsheet and quarterly calls which is great!

The insights was about the only useful thing I could carry forward to my group projects and to have a better understanding of myself and how I work - I absolutely loved this. Bar that, I didn't really learn anything more from Danone apart from what the office liked and a bit more of a feel on the company culture. It gave me a good understanding of the FMCG business and different CBUs. It won't help me much further though!

Everything was organised in advance and we were given a full itinary of what to expect. We had a good variety of different things to do throughout each day, however I think 3 days was a bit excessive for what the wanted to do. I felt I knew exactly what was going on and what to expect which was really nice and I felt well looked after throughout my time there! Everything was clear and the two recruiters running the day were so so friendly and always there to help with any questions we had! I would have either preferred to have done a mock assessment centre or to have it only as 2 days.

General atmosphere was super supportive. Everyone was very friendly and loved their jobs which was great to see and really made me want to apply. The office culture was really open plan and seemed pretty relaxed. Everyone was friendly and always opened doors for me or happily directed me if I was looking for something. The office also gives its employees free yoghurts and waters in the kitchen and the space is bright and airy! Everyone was willing to listen to eachothers ideas and seemed excited to get the brand ambassador role going! All of the brand ambassadors were also really proactive and excited to get things going.

They invested a lot of time and effort into what we were doing and gave us materials to work with to facilitate planning/idea development, helped support our travel and expenses and made us feel really welcome. They also gave us all an insights profile which was great for us and also, hopefully, a future investment for the firm as they will have our insights profile ready to go if we work there in the future!

It helped me understand what the culture would be like, rather than what projects/the actual work there would be like. I would have preferred to speak to some brand managers or if they had put a questionnaire out at the beginning to ask us which guest speakers we'd like to hear from to learn some company specific cool stories/ things they had done/ were working on! Apart from that, it gave a full insight of the overall company culture during lunch time/ around the office.

A lot. We worked in the space everyone else worked in on the last day, however the other 2 days we were secluded (which I didn't enjoy so much). We also got loads of opportunities to speak to past placement students to ask what it was like to work there and learnt about all the massive perks Danone has that extends beyond the office job! They also hand out free yoghurts and drinks in the fridge that is available for everyone!

I already had solidified my career interests, so not so much. Perhaps if we got to speak to more specialist roles within the CBU's/ business departments this would have given me a better idea of specifically WHAT part of marketing I wanted to get involved with. One girl mentioned she worked on strategy and insight which I found interesting, but when I asked her more she didn't have much to say (as she was a placement student new to the role) - so that was a bit disappointing!

They were super generous and gave us £20 for dinner, £5 for breakfast and included lunch per day. They also expensed our travel and put us in a Travelodge for the night.

Yes lots of opportunity to meet placement students, but again, its better to network with current employees so would have much preferred this! Was obvioulsy great to network with other brand ambassadors and meet the recruiters to ask what they were looking for and to give us clarification of the process of applying. We got to meet placement students from all CBUs which gave a good variety (apart from advanced medicial nutrition). Lots of chances to speak to people, but I think we kept gettign placement students to speak to and it got a bit awkward because we'd already spoken to them 3 times and ran out of questions - might have been more productive of everyone's time to bring different kinds of people in.

We could talk with a lot of placement students which was super useful. There weren't any social events. Some grads were asked to come and socialise with us during lunch which was also useful, however it was more about the application process and less about what they actually did within their roles! I was looking to maybe connect with more grads and other older employees as well for diversity - rather than just young people. So perhaps that would have been better too.

Yes! Chiswick business park arranges loads of cool events on site like zipwiring, kayaking etc. Also, everyone is super tight so they went out for a lot of team socials for food and drink each week which seemed like it would be really good fun and good for team morale! They also get £250 towards health and welfare - so can spend this accordingly. I can't think of what else was mentioned, but this was purely from a placement perspective. I can't remember anything else!

Yes I would! I think its a great way to meet new people and get a glimpse of the office life. Also, the insights material was an invaluable piece of analysis which I will use a lot in the future and I think lots of my friends would also love to have and benefit from. I would only recommend it to people interested in mostly Marketing as I believe its mostly a marketing & sales role (being all about promoting the brand on campus) I think my friends would really enjoy this insight. It gave me a really good idea of whether I want to apply and how to go about it.