My first Marketing Placement on the Centrica Graduate Program
I’m now two months into my second placement on the Centrica Marketing Graduate Programme. My first placement was customer facing and involved working in a contact centre for three month, so I’m now getting my teeth into some marketing related work having gained some insight to the customers’ experience.
I’m now working in the Brand Team (more specifically in the Brand Experience Team) which manages the British Gas face to face activities at venues and events. I’m mainly concentrating on the retail aspects of face to face activities, for example the British Gas kiosks within Westfield shopping centres.
It’s an exciting and fast paced area to work. It can be difficult at times, being new to the company and working on something as important to the brand image as face to face activities. However, my manager and team have been extremely welcoming and supportive since I started. I’ve learned so much from them already. One member of my team has just completed the graduate programme and started their first permanent role, so they know exactly what I’m going through.
Some of the projects I’m working on include the creation of a monthly dashboard to measure the success of our face to face activities. This involves working closely with our insight team. In addition we are also conducting a review of all literature available to customers at our face to face activations. This is an extremely important project as we need to ensure the literature meets the needs of all customers and prospective customers.
The job involves regular trips out of the office, whether it is to visit agencies, the Westfield shopping centres or any other events where British Gas has a presence. I’ve been on some pretty interesting trips so far which means I’m far from being based inside the same office every day. Within my job there are also opportunities to get involved with the wider brand team and their work; such as the Swimming Sponsorship team, or the Generation Green team. It’s been made clear to me from day one, if there is something I’d like to help out with or learn more about, I only have to ask.
People tend to think of brand as the most “glamorous” element of marketing; and it can be to an extent. There is however a lot of hard work involved, a lot of stakeholder manager and a lot of organisational skills needed. However, I know if am ever struggling or I’m not sure how to do something, my team and those around me are more than happy to offer me help, guidance and support. I feel I’ve been lucky to get the opportunity to work in the brand team with British Gas, but I know many graduates feel the same way about their placements as there are so many exciting opportunities for us grads across the business.