A very Japanese approach to marketing a Kit Kat

Regulars to this blog will know my interest in all things Japanese, marketing and confectionary, and particularly the recent trend to reinvent (I would say 'sex up' but that does not have a very academic chime to it ?)  long standing stalwart brands, such as the Snickers bar and even old faithfuls from days gone by like the traditional custard cream biscuit.  

I have an inkling of looking into retro sweets, you know, those old fashioned boiled sweets you used to buy loose from a big jar, like strawberry bons   bons, pontefract cakes and mint imperials.  It seems sales of these products grew significantly last year (nothing to do with Wolworth's demise I suppose ?).  My old favourite 2p priced liquorice stick is now retailing at an eye watering 25p, supposedly because suppliers are hard to find according to our local olde worlde sweet shop.  

Imagine my delight when Hayata-san, over to visit Royal Holloway before putting in an application for the full time MBA programme, presented me with a gift set of unusually tailored Kit Kat special editions.  Since my last visit to Japan, when we picked up sakura, green tea and wasabi flavoured gift packs using our last Yen currency at Narita airport, the clever marketing people in Nestle' Japan have taken the ideas further and developed a wider range of options.  Some leverage an interesting flavour, so chilli draws from the ancient Aztec {savoury} dish that sees chilli and chocolate blended together for the adventurous palette. Strawberry cheesecake uses a white chocolate coating and biscuit infused with red goo.    Both have got to be winners with a clear appeal of dare and hedonistic pleasure.  Others that purport to regional Japanese differences allow for a Tokyo product to boast its own geographic credentials, and fit effectively in the Japanese gift giving culture that seeks to venerate an element of the local culture.  

Hurrah ! say I.  In a world that is increasingly homogenious, seeing a global brand localise in such a manner is genius innovation and that just has to be congratulated.  

Not forgetting that the simple and relatively cheap, packaging adaption (four large bars are wrapped together using a four colour, gloss printed, cardboard sleeve) repositions a generic and ubiquitous fmcg item into a bundle that makes it suitable to give as a gift for family or in a business context.  Added value, marketing premier league style !

Arigato Hayata-san !    

Reasons to study for an MBA ?

Why study for an MBA ? 

As academic Director for the prestigious Royal Holloway MBA this is a question I get asked quite a lot.  Glass ceiling ?  Change of direction ?  Broadening in preparation for a C-suite role ?

High Flyer ?

The School of Managements dedicated MBA careers advisor asked the MBA group exactly this question "Why study for an MBA ?" and this is what he got in response, graphically displayed using the highly visual www.wordle.net word cloud application.  The simple to use web tool strips out common words from a body of text and displays duplicated words in proportion to the number of mentions, essentially the more mentions, the larger the word.

The careers advisor team was awarded a rare teaching, recognising the Royal Holloway careers team innovation of designing and delivering a day long assessment centre experience for 200 post graduate students which saw MBA students role play recruiting line managers in a very realistic range of selection exercises that included a one-to-one interview and group discussion exercise.

Why study for an MBA ? Happiness, personal growth & thinking differently

Analysis of the MBA cohorts feedback on why they had chosen to to study for an MBA was summarised thus:

• Desire to buy into the MBA brand

• Learning theory from experts

• Worried about reaching the glass ceiling in their corporation – wanting the keys to the Exec toilets

• Build credibility· Share an international collective learning experience

• Seeking a return on investment – salaries in some countries can triple if you have a MBA

• Change of lifestyle / career break

• Set up a new business

• Making new friends & learning about new cultures

•  Career development, industry exposure & networking

• Personal growth & happiness

• Making a difference

• Turning dreams into reality

•  Learn leadership and management skills

• Learning to think differently

MBA Graduation 2012

Tina Maratilova and Justin O'Brien, RHUL MBA graduation 2012

As you will have noticed, I am not a keen self-publicist & do not often choose to put up photos of yours truly up on this blog.  However, thanks kindly to shared photos from Tina Maratilova (pictured to my left), who graduated at this summers Royal Holloway MBA ceremony on campus, I have a couple of photos to share that give a little sense of the pride graduates have during these festivities.  

I always enjoy seeing the happy, smiling faces of former students who are often celebrating their success with close family members.  It is also great to hear how everyone is getting on, about their new jobs and promotions.


Royal Holloway Distance Learning MBA/MSc students are given the choice of  graduating either at one of the two central London University of London ceremonies or joining with other School of Management post graduates in the stunning Founders building.  I still get tingly feelings down my back as part of the academic parade, we lead students through the amazing picture gallery and into the stunning golden chapel, where the graduates are formally presented with their awards.

Royal Holloway chapel

This year as part of a team working with Dr Romano Dyerson and Chris Howorth, we were awarded a prestigious team teaching prize for the innovative business engagement consultancy we undertook with the campus MBA students and Thorpe Park. 

The photo on the left shows the College Principal, Professor Paul Layzell presenting the award, which now hangs proudly on my office wall.

Royal Holloway Distance Learning student featured in Styling magazine feature

Olga Zhukova, pictured presenting here during the recent Egham based distance learning plenary, was invited by Styling magazine to be interviewed for a photo story concentrating on her work and Royal Holloway, University of London distance learning MBA.

Click here to read the piece

Employability - where do MBAs end up ?

I thought it was about the right time to try to answer the question about MBA careers I am often asked in my admissions role.  Unfortunately over the years we have not tracked in detail where our MBA students end up after graduating.  Some come from family businesses and return home for this.  Others are keen to get a couple of years work experience in London & head off to do this.  Others have their company support them (at least in allowing time off - relatively few are paid by their employers) & they return to their old companies.  Others want to use the MBA as an opportunity to break the glass ceiling & move up a level in their industry.  Some again look to move from their old role and industry  into something entirely fresh.  We have had entrepreneurs, corporate jobs, charities - I've been impressed how MBA graduates approach with confidence and maturity  the whole job finding experience - they tend to know what they want and go about getting it - even if this isn't falling at their feet.  (Let's be honest...the job currently market is ok - but not great.)

About a year ago, Fiona Redding was appointed to a new role in the School of Management as Alumni Officer and she has been building up a powerful alumni network organisation that means we are beginning to have a much stronger line of sight of our MBA's once they leave us, and hopefully we are offering a useful service to enable enduring MBA networking to continue well beyond the campus experience. 

Chart showing RHUL Management Alumni Industry specialisation as at May 2012


I am not a big fan of the statistics used to measure post graduate employability - often it asks "are you in a job ?" - to which the answer is generally yes - but this has not dimension of "the right job" or "the job you were hoping for".  Other programmes use a crude measure of salary uplift before and after the MBA.  Again this seems to measure 'success' and 'life changing learning' in a very short-termist fashion.  Hopefully one of the learnings that comes out of an MBA programme is a deeper understanding of the self & the need to find an appropriate balance.  The benefits of studying an MBA come out not the day after graduation, symbolised by a swanky company car, fat travel and entertainment budget and a 'with bonus' salary package - but unfold slowly over a 2 to 3 year period as difficult situations (managing conflict, working with challenging colleagues, dealing with ambiguity, making big presentations, winning customer tenders, handling stressful situations) are handled in a more assured and confident manner, often ending in very positive outcomes - when in the past these kinds of situations had left mental and emotional scars and resulted in periods of extreme discomfort.

Quite a few of our current and alumni students have profiles on social networking sites e.g. LinkeD-In - I think it is possible to view these and glean quite a bit of information about what people have done.  The following link shows the profiles of some MBA alumni and also on the right hand side is the offer on how to link up with the alumni network in your country.