Diving into the depths of Trade Marketing at Marico’s internship program, STAMP -By Nishtha Diwakar from IMT Ghaziabad

I was always inclined towards marketing, perhaps since my undergraduate days. And as time passed my love for sales and marketing solidified. I had always been a fan of brand stories, and when I got to know that I was going to be a part of the STAMP (Summer Training at Marico’s Pace), I was thrilled. To be a part of Marico, which is one of India’s leading consumer goods companies, was very special because I believed my work could contribute to the impact that Marico has in the lives of one out of every three Indians. 

The secret of getting into STAMP

Once I knew that I wanted to get a sales and marketing role in the FMCG industry, I started my preparation in the same direction. Apart from having mock GDs and reading about Marico’s product portfolio, financial reports, their marketing campaigns, various interviews of the leadership, I made sure to learn the technical aspects of sales & distribution for an FMCG company, which gave me an edge in the process.

After the shortlisting procedure, there was a case-based Group Discussion followed by a Personal Interview round. The interview revolved around discussing my solutions to the case, followed by some guesstimates and questions based on my CV to understand the level of clarity in my thoughts, to evaluate my analytical mind, and assess my problem-solving skills. 

A well-tailored onboarding and induction

As a process of STAMP, Marico always takes their interns on a market visit every year before the onboarding process, which proved to be very insightful while working on the projects, especially considering the virtual nature of the internship. It was a two-day visit in which I, along with my three fellow interns accompanied by the Sales Officer learned about the distribution process and the various schemes and programs run by Marico for their trade partners. Those two days were exhilarating, and after that, I was eagerly waiting for the internship to start.

I want to address the fact that Marico, true to its values, was very swift to react to the current situation and gave us a seamless and engaging onboarding. The induction program gave us the opportunity to interact with the senior leaders at Marico and understand the company’s structure and operations in great depth. With each passing day of the initial week, our inhibitions and scepticisms vanished because of the warmth and trust felt seeing the initiatives done to keep our onboarding at par to what it would have been if we were all physically attending it. 

Our CHRO, Mr Amit Prakash, made sure to regularly check in on us all through various ice-breaking and fun sessions. I would also like to thank the IT Support Team, which made sure that we had access to the required resources and software tools, which played a vital part in the journey ahead.

Discerning the ins and outs of Trade Marketing 

My project involved simplifying the scheme structure covering all the aspects of schemes (Primary, Secondary and Quantity) and rationalizing it at a brand and portfolio level. I started my project by building an understanding of the Trade Scheme structure at Marico and benchmarking it with other major FMCG companies. Next, I made sure to interact with all the stakeholders like the Trade Marketing Managers, Area Sales Managers, Territory Sales Officers, and others from all the divisions. To develop a new and improved structure, it was essential to understand the team's pain points and do a gap analysis. The project got a new direction with the vision of my super guide, Mr Ramprabhat Yadav.

The project allowed me to interact and learn from the experiences of the members at Marico. It was overwhelming to see the kind of dedication and seriousness they showed towards my work. My guide, Mr Sachin Kumar was a pillar of support and inspiration. I have learned some great life lessons from him that will stay with me throughout my personal and professional life.

Key takeaways from STAMP

Some of the prime learnings from my internship at Marico are:

• Drive & Self Belief- It is essential to show honesty and work rigorously towards your goal. Being driven and having self-belief helped me think differently.
• Sense of Purpose- Creating a positive impact through my work is something fundamental to me, which I could see happening through my project. It gave me a sense of purpose, which helped me stay motivated throughout my internship.
• Prioritising- My guide helped me learn prioritising tasks when every deliverable seemed important. While working on multiple brands and portfolios simultaneously and each work being at different stages, it became necessary to take calls on prioritising work logically.
• Communication- While working on multiple portfolios, I was working under the guidance of various Trade Marketing Managers. Therefore, it became very important to keep everyone updated with my work and, most importantly keep my guide posted on my progress. 

Final thoughts

These two months at STAMP have been one of the most enriching and enthralling ones. It challenged me and helped me get the best out of myself, and now, when I look back at my work, I feel proud and satisfied. Though this was a virtual internship, the members at Marico, with all their efforts, gave me the best internship experience, I will cherish all my life.