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

Getting the most out of induction week ?

Induction week can seem a bit of a breeze, with limited contact time and many sessions involving registration and fee payment and the inevitable queuing to achieve all this.  Interactions with other new students can appear too brief, and as experienced masters students it somehow does not feel the same as it did when you were a young, spritely (and probably quite inexperienced) 18 or 19 year old leaving home for the first time.  It is not the crazy excitement of undergraduate freshers week (although the campus is buzzing with this vibe), post graduates tend to be more focused on the concentrated period of time they  have to study for their masters degree. 

The Royal Holloway MBA programme expects students to hit the ground running, having made use of the long grass of the summer holidays to crack on with some of the extenisve pre-reading (see earlier entry in this blog).  The focus is very much on networking within the group or cohort as we like to term groups of students following the same study programme, thus activities are a blend of introductory sessions and team building exercises.

Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs is a popular with MBA candidates

The approach taken by Royal Holloway sees post graduate students expected to take full advantage of the guidance on rules and regulations and expectations that are flagged during intensive sessions.  Students are expected to fully familiarise themselves with the various guides and rules materials that are hosted on the Post Graduate Information Vault (google 'rhul pg info vault' to find this).  Teaching staff do not take kindly to questions pertaining to this basic level of information.

Sporting activities crucial

The induction week provides MBA candidates with the opportunity to assess their peers.  With around 30 in each class, the full time MBA programme is an ideal size, small enough to allow everyone to know each other, big enough to provide depth and bredth of experience and a wide range of personalities and skill sets.

MBA candidates often join one or two of the wide range of on campus student societies, noting that getting an appropriate study, relax, and sporting mix is crucial.   Physical activities to get out and about off campus are often great ways to help fast track team development. 

On the distance learning version of this programme much of the familiarisation takes place at an individual level, students get the chance at the end June/early July during the Introductory Plenary 1 session to personally meet with fellow students and faculty members.  

Six tips to prepare for an effective induction week

(1) Wear your name badge all week, and ideally into week 2 and 3.

(2) Smile and introduce yourself to as many people as you can.  Everyone around you is in the same situation and probably keen to make new friends.  Target 10 or more people each day.  One or two of these contacts may become life long friends....

(3) Practice a one sentence and one minute introduction.  Look to include a combination of useful and memorable facts about yourself.  "Hello, I'm Justin.  I'm into marketing, in fact it was my passion for visiting McDonald's to understand it's global product offering during my travels with British Airways and my MBA that encouraged my career change into university lecturing."

(4) Try to identify people who share interests with you, sports, socialising, cultural pursuits and look to set up a couple of activities before the end of the first week.

(5) Use a nickname if others find your name is hard to pronounce or tricky to remember. 

(6) Try to avoid drifting into default friendships with same sex, same culture backgrounds.  The international experience offered at Royal Holloway, University of London is a fantastic opportunity to develop deep understandings of the many different cultures represented.