KIP Ireland!

Hello Again!

I am now back in Bloomington for my last seven weeks of business school! I'm terribly sad to be graduating - but thrilled that Spring is here! Bloomington in the Spring is simply amazing, and if you've never experienced it I encourage you to visit!

But! Where I have been? I have been with 16 other IU grad students traveling around Ireland! The full roster was 13 MBA students and then 3 other students (partners of MBAs who also happen to be grad students at IU). In any case, we had a great time!

The whole purpose of our KIP (Kelley International Perspective) Trips is to get a sense of what it's like to do business in other countries. This includes cultural as well as business experiences. KIP Ireland was completely student led - with guidance from our faculty advisor.

We made three stops on our journey - Dublin, Cork and Galway. There were some heated debates among our group as to which city was "the best" - but I don't think a winner was ever designated. Most of our company visits were in Dublin or near Dublin - so that was the largest portion of our trip. We were so lucky - our company visits were stellar! Each company rolled out the red carpet for us - and gave us great background and information to really get a sense of the challenges and opportunies each company faced. I'll only mention three - but we had great visits across the board!

Our first stop was Arnotts - a department store in Dublin! If you ever are in Dublin, I *highly* recommend you take the time to visit! The store was HUGE! And just enjoyable to walk through! We met with representatives from HR, Stores, Merchandising and Marketing - we got a great sense for their business. My classmate/tripmate Bill and I come from retail backgrounds, so it was very interesting to understand their model, vs the US ones we were used to. THEN! They invited us to their Spring/Summer Fashion Show! SO much fun! When I was working at Macy's, I'd attended a few fashion shows (in house at Herald Square, at other stores and then even Fashion Week) - and I have to say this fashion show was definitely up to our New York City standards - perhaps even a bit better than a few of the ones I've seen!

The second company I'll mention is the Cooley Distillery (the Kilbeggan Distillery). SO MUCH FUN! And so informative! We learned about the distilling industry, entering this industry and developing new brands within the industry. We also tasted what my boyfriend (also on the trip) declared to be the best whiskey I'd ever taste in my life. We spent time with the CEO and other key people in the business - we couldn't have even imagined this level of access! A tremendous visit, and I think each of four brands we tried - Kilbeggan, Connemara, Greenore and Tryconnell - walked away with some new loyal fans. For you future Ireland tourists out there - the Kilbeggan Distillery is 1.5 hours from Dublin (on your way to Galway) and it is definitely worth the visit.

And finally, before you lose interest and stop reading completely! we closed our company visits in Dublin with Facebook! Perhaps there's more to it than just poking, friend-ing and tagging. Rick Kelley from Facebook spent over an hour with us - and answered all of our questions - No we didn't ask them about a "dislike" button. We learned about all of the marketing capabilities companies have with Facebook - and especially for me, headed to a Consumer Products Company, it was great to see all of the opportunities that exist with this great social media site!

(I can't seem to find my picture of this... so please refer to www.kipireland.com for the picture & more details!)

Looking at this post, I've already taken up way too much space... But! I do need to do my shout-outs to Cork and Galway - beautiful cities! We ended our trip in Galway for St. Patrick's Day. We kicked off the day at the St. Patrick's Day parade and then celebrated with the rest of the city! We had a great time and hopefully the pictures help tell the tale!

Until next time...

xoxo

VitaCraves

Hello Again!

I have added Blogging to my weekly to do list so I'm hoping to post a decent amount this spring! (Well possibly a brief hiatus during my trip to Ireland and London... but more on that later!)

In any case, the purpose of today's post is to recognize what I consider to be the greatest product innovation in recent history... VitaCraves.

Have you had these yet? They are Gummie Complete Adult Multivitamins - and you know, I think they've changed my life. I've always bought into the vitamin thing - and I go with One-A-Day vs. Centrum and I'm actually a loyal One-A-Day consumer. I will say however, I do switch around on which vitamin variant I choose to go with, sometimes the Energy, sometimes Women's Health, totally depends what I'm doing when I go to buy my vitamins. Let's be real though, these are BIG pills, big guys with a moderately nasty aftertaste and you cannot eat these on an empty stomach - ick, not a nice feeling if you do. So that being said, I try to take them after breakfast and with Orange Juice because that will nearly (but not completely) cover up the taste. Still, it's something I don't look forward to in the morning.

Right after I graduated college, I used to switch it up with Flintstones Vitamins (yes, they are for kids) in the rotation as well. I would take two a day hoping that would do the same job... but I knew that wasn't exactly right. So in my mid-late twenties, I am stuck with the BIG vitamin pill.

Enter VitaCraves. God I love these things. They taste like Gummies! I like Gummies! Who doesn't like Gummies? Orange, Cherry, Some sort of other Berry that looks like a Raspberry but is Blueberry Blue? Unclear what that flavor is but don't worry, it tastes good too! These are fun to take, they taste great, and I can chew them - it's like they are a treat! I've actually recently had a problem because I suspect my boyfriend is eating more than two a day... hummmm

In any case, today, I salute you VitaCraves for revolutionizing the Vitamin Industry.

License Plates

And we're back... back from our holiday break and ready for recruiting season to begin!

Well internship recruiting for the first years that is! More on that later... first something that I noticed over the holidays.

Driving back and forth from Bloomington, I covered a lot of ground through many states and that's when I noticed it: I was a stranger. I'm from New Jersey, and my car still has Jersey plates. Now, going to school in Indiana, you'd think that I'd be quite aware that I was a stranger every day that I drive to and from school. But that's the funny thing, I'm not. I am one of MANY cars on the road with NJ plates... and although you'd think even with some of my NJ pals out there, we'd still be overwhelmed with Indiana drivers - we're definitely not! In addition to the NJ and IN cars in Bloomington there are Ohio, Illinois, New York, Maryland, California, Oregon, Texas, North Carolina and Kentucky cars! (There are more out there, I just listed the ones I've seen within the last few days).

In Bloomington, with all of these license plates proudly proclaiming the home states of many of the students, faculty and guests that travel here - it's very hard to feel like a stranger. It's quite funny actually, with all of this home state diversity, I feel just as at home here as I do in New Jersey. It's only when I leave Bloomington and drive through Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York that I realize that I am the only car with New Jersey plates around me - and that's when I'm aware I'm not in New Jersey anymore.

No Holiday Love for Coke Zero?

It's official - we're finally in the full swing of the holidays and as a holiday fanatic, I'm terribly excited! As per my last post, I enjoy my Starbucks holiday cup every chance I get and I've been looking for other products that have embraced the season. But recently, I've come across a bit of a situaiton.

A few days ago I was at our local Kroger (the big, nice, new one in B-town) and I walked by the Coca-Cola display. Coca-Cola (classic) is all festive with Santa - and I'll give it to them, I do relate the two together. But see, I'm not a frequent Coca-Cola drinker. So then I looked at my low cal options - Diet Coke and Coke Zero. Diet Coke has some snowflakes on it, that'll do. But NOTHING on the Coke Zero?! This is a huge problem for me. I am NOT a Diet Coke fan. I mean, I'll drink it, but it is not my first choice. In all honesty, I enjoy Regular Coca-Cola and Diet Pepsi, but as of late I've really enjoyed Coke Zero. I'm unclear why there isn't a festive holiday option for Coke Zero. Could we not put snowflakes on that too? Maybe a little scarf on it? A mitten? I'm not asking for much here... As much as I want my festive holiday can and/or bottle, I just cannot bring myself to purchase Diet Coke over Coke Zero. So, I'm asking... if anyone out there has influence over this situation - please, can I have a festive Coke Zero can and/or bottle?

Holidays & Starbucks!

Hello again!

So after reading some of my classmates' blogs I noticed that everyone seems to have something to say about Starbucks... and so do I!

I'm not going to discuss the new Via instant coffee - which in general I think is a good idea - instead I'm going to discuss the way my love of the seasonal Starbucks offerings. I know I am not the only one who knows that it's Fall when Starbucks brings back the Pumpkin Spice Latte. This little latte (PSL - to keep it simple) is now a part of fall for me. The weather starts to cool off, the leaves turn, football is on - and the PSL is here. I look forward to this every summer.

Starbucks doesn't stop there... oh no... on Monday, November 2nd I walked into my Starbucks and they were back! The Gingerbread Latte (GL), Peppermint Mocha (PM) and the Eggnog Latte (EL) - the entire Holiday Lineup brought to me direct from my favorite barista! The signature holiday cups were also there - telling me that yes, the holidays are upon us! I'm a big fan of the holidays in general - so having Starbucks on my side helps. I, also, now frequent the Starbucks more because of the holiday cups. I can't always afford the calories of the GL or PM or PSL for that matter... but somehow my Vente Chai Tea (1 teabag) somehow tastes more festive in that red cardboard cup.

And then finally... which helps the most... is how Starbucks transitions from the holiday season. I won't lie... I'm one of the many who hits a bit of a slump on January 2nd (okay I won't lie my mood starts to decline on Dec. 26th... but it doesn't really set in until Jan. 2). But Starbucks is right there with me. As I enter my local starbucks - don't worry! It's all gone! We've transitioned to the Dulce de Leche Latte! We're in Valentine's Day mode! Phew!

I don't know about you, but these are just some of the many reasons I love Starbucks - and I felt I needed to give credit where that credit is due. True... I may be their target consumer... but I know mentioning "Pumpkin Spice Latte" to any of my classmates in early fall gets them excited.

That's my 2 cents on the matter... I'm going to go back to my work now... with my Chai tea... but since I travel to Minneapolis tomorrow for the weekend I may treat myself with a PSL or a GL to help make that flight a little more pleasant!

Until next time...

Women's Weekend @ Kelley!

Just as that new bunch of 1st years start, MBA recruiting season is in full swing again! At Kelley this is no different! Our Student Admissions Council has been selected and we're already starting to have prospective students come to visit for a day. It's very exciting to meet these impressive women and men who just might make up the Kelley MBA Class of 2012.

One thing that impressed me, even as a prospective student, was Kelley's commitment to new and creative recruitment events. While I was in New York, my first introduction to Kelley included a tour of the Food Network Kitchens! That was an event I could not miss - and thankfully I didn't, or I might not be here right now.

On our latest and greatest new recruitment event is this November 6th - 8th. We will be hosting a weekend focused on bringing more women to Kelley. It looks to be a great event! On Friday we will dedicate the day's programming to understanding more about MBA programs in general - and then Kelley specifically. Friday Night there will be a cocktail reception at one of the best restaurants in Bloomington following by the Annual Faculty Auction (sponsored by Kelley Women!).

Saturday's programming is really to highlight the many opportunities available after your time here at Kelley. We'll have alumnae panels on different topics and many of our alumnae will remain with us for the evening where our prospective students will have the opportunity to begin networking with many great companies.

One of the major highlights of the event is our keynote speaker - Maggy Siegel. Ms. Siegel is currently the COO of Dylan's Candy Bar in New York City. Not only has she had a very exciting career, but she is also one of the most interesting and fun speakers that I've seen/heard in my life. It will truly be a great weekend - and I hope, if there are any prospective women out there, that they will click the link below to apply!

http://kelley.iu.edu/mba/kelleyLife/womensWeekend.cfm

It's Fall in Bloomington!

Okay, well it's almost fall! The weather definitely got a lot crisper and we needed sweatshirts this weekend. But, that's okay - I think I'm ready for Fall.

If you've never been, this is probably one of the most beautiful times of the year here in Bloomington. The leaves turn, the weather cools, and we all settle into our classes. For the MBAs though, by the time we settle in we're almost done with our first seven week session! Time just flies!

This seven weeks one of my favorite classes is Channel Management. Due to my retail background and my experience over the summer in Brand, I really see the relevance in this class. It also built very nicely off of CMA Academy Intensive Week 3 - our closing session was by P&G on store-back marketing. As things continue to change, it seems the only way to truly be successful is to have a strong partnership between both the vendor and the retailer. I'm pretty sure my classmates are enjoying this class as much as I am - we have some pretty engaging class discussions over some of the cases. And, to supplement those cases we also have some guest speakers. Last week we actually had Target come to talk to us about their new own-brand up & up!

It's been an exciting few weeks here but I need to get back to it! More to come later!