Marketing Management

Evelyn Lee

Recruiter, Abbott

Building on a relationship with Chicago Booth that stretches back to 1987, Evelyn Lee, manager of university relations, is one of many Abbott recruiters who have consider Booth students for internships and the firm's Management Development Program (MDP).

"This is a commercial marketing development program in which participants rotate through three different projects over three years," Evelyn explains. "The program prepares participants for general management and future leadership positions."

"The Booth students we've hired in the last 10 to 15 years have all been solid and consistent performers," says Evelyn. "They demonstrate quite a bit of leadership potential, they work well in a team setting, and they fit into the Abbott culture very well."

Recently named the most admired company in the pharmaceutical industry sector by Fortune magazine, Abbott looks for analytically skilled candidates who can contribute to the broad-based company's full range of health care services, from diagnostics to medical devices to nutritionals.

"This means students have opportunities to work on a wide variety of medical and consumer products and direct-to-consumer marketing," says Evelyn.

"We really want to understand the market and make the right business decisions based on data," she adds. "Because of the strong foundation that Chicago Booth provides, its students understand this, and are able to align their recommendations and their business strategies with this approach."

Noting one recent intern experience, Evelyn recalls the significant contributions a Booth student made to new a marketing initiative.

"Coming to the project with very little knowledge of the specific therapeutic area, she was able to lay the foundation," says Evelyn. "She designed the parameters critical to the strategy, provided details on the partnerships needed to meet the strategic goals."

"Our general manager who hosted her had nothing but wonderful things to say. Basically, he said, she 'created the wheel' for this initiative."

David Appel, AB '81, MBA '82

CEO, Vision, LLC

Before Orange Glo had infomercials with Billy Mays demonstrating stain removers OxiClean and Orange Clean, David Appel, AB '81, MBA '82, was promoting them alongside his sisters and brother at state fairs and home shows.

"It created a culture of demonstrations," reflects David, who returned to the family business with MBA in hand and served as chairman until 2006.

"What I got from Chicago Booth is a combination of intellectual tools and practice in collaboration, which helps me sort through the multitude of key priorities and figure out what's going to make a product fly," he says.

Orange Glo took off in the 1990s with infomercials that created "great awareness," for the brand, recalls David. "But there aren't great data services that track infomercial sales."

"By the time we hit our first retail shelf, we had a meaningful market share, but nobody knew it."

Still, the strategy worked. When Orange Glo was sold to Church and Dwight in 2006, the firm's annual revenue exceeded $300 million and its trademark product OxiClean led the U.S. stain remover category, beating out such industry giants as Clorox for the spot.

Now CEO of Vision, LLC, David continues to focus on bringing new ideas to market. Recently the firm has developed fabric protector Blox, bamboo clothing company Global Ghetto Organics, and a chain of pet hotels called Wag.

"I had a great course on operations research that was about using analytical tools to solve problems that weren't obviously quantitative," he adds. "We ask questions about margin contribution, but also, what are my strategic goals? What am I trying to achieve? Quantitative tools help you make good marketing decisions."

Günter Hitsch

Professor of Marketing

A member of the faculty since 2001, professor of marketing Günter Hitsch has taught the innovative Data-Driven Marketing course since 2004. An economist by training, he became interested in marketing questions while doing research for his dissertation.

Exploring aspects of optimal new product launch for the paper, he started applying statistical tools to analyze the detailed data he collected in such areas as consumer behavior.

Hitsch saw the work as practical, "but also a lot of fun," he says. "It's what brought me to marketing, and ultimately to Booth."

The issues Hitsch encountered - areas like pricing of products, measuring effects of advertising, and how a firm can influence the rate of which a new product is adopted - still shape his research interests.

These questions are "key to a firm's product management decisions," he adds.

In the classroom, Hitsch continues to explore how to analyze customer information with his Data-Driven Marketing course.

"I make the class very hands-on," Hitsch says. "Students analyze actual customer data using statistical tools."

In developing the curriculum for the course, Hitsch builds up from core disciplines like economics or psychology, and introduces students to the type of statistical tools he first started using in his PhD training.

"Of course, it's my job to make these tools accessible and to teach the students the limitations and potential pitfalls of using such tools in practice," says Hitsch.

"Booth students are very accepting of some pretty advance stuff," he adds. "They're willing to work hard and get involved in some fairly advanced, technical, quantitative topics."

Fred Jubitz, AB '85, MBA '89

Vice President, American Express Consumer Charge Cards (2003 - 07)

Working in financial services requires a different approach to marketing from the more traditional packaged goods sector, says Fred Jubitz, AB ’85, MBA ’89, vice president at American Express from 2003 to 2007.

“Financial services marketing is different from traditional packaged goods in that we have a direct relationship with the consumer, and everything we do is driven by data and assessing the value of individual consumers at the customer level,” says Fred.

American Express has recruited at Chicago Booth for more than a decade, and Fred worked on the team that seeks Booth students for positions across the firm’s different divisions.

“We look for people who can take data, draw conclusions, and then build market-winning actions for us,” says Fred. “Chicago students bring a grounding in analytics, decision science, and most importantly, in taking that information and applying it."

“I’ve been increasingly impressed over the years with students we interview at Chicago,” he adds.

The expansion of internet capabilities and the shift toward a direct-to-consumer model that followed is one example where Booth students were prepared to think critically about new challenges facing the financial services industry.

“That type of marketing requires an incredible understanding of data systems and processes and consumer trends,” says Fred. “Chicago students can target that understanding to the right customer audience.”

Pairing that kind of detailed analysis with developed leadership skills is what makes Booth students attractive candidates for American Express, he says.

“If you’re a marketing executive, you want someone who can come up with the next great idea for your business,” explains Fred. “Chicago students have continually proven they can take insights from data and apply them to drive innovation in the marketplace.”

Brandon Swalve, '06

McKinsey and Company, Inc. (2006 - present)

Drawn to Chicago Booth for its alumni network and analytical approach, Brandon Swalve, ’06, enhanced his MBA experience with Management Lab, an experiential course that connects student teams with executives at major companies to work on consulting projects.

“I spent a quarter in Russia working for Citibank,” recalls Brandon. “Not only did it provide the opportunity to apply my classroom education to a real-life setting, it also provided the catalyst for my decision to start a new career in management consulting.

“It was the most challenging, rewarding, and ultimately, the most memorable experience I had at Chicago Booth.”

The project Brandon and his Booth colleagues were assigned to investigated Citibank’s market penetration and branding options in the Russian consumer finance market.

“Getting a grasp of the breadth of the problem we were looking at and trying to get 10 different people aligned toward potential conclusions to make the team more effective was our biggest challenge,” he says.

That kind of intensive teamwork gave Brandon insights to his leadership style, he remembers, and allowed him to refine his approach.

“It teaches you about yourself and how you interact with your colleagues at the same level,” he says. “Learning how I act in that situation was the most valuable takeaway. I was able to apply those skills during my summer internship and also in small group projects for class.”

Now with McKinsey and Company Inc., Brandon has put his marketing concentration background toward building a career in consulting. He has been with the global management consulting firm since 2006.

“Before I came to Chicago, I felt like I had been pigeonholed in information technology,” says Brandon, who studied engineering as an undergraduate.

“Being on the Management Lab project for 10 weeks pulled me in a completely different direction and got me interested in going into strategy consulting – and prepared me really well for it.”

Sean Smyth, '05

Vice President of Business Development, Groupon

When Sean Smyth, '05, vice president of business development for Groupon, wanted to better define and understand his company's VIP segment, he immediately thought of Chicago Booth.

"We wanted to find some smart folks who could really dig deep into numbers and make recommendations about who our best customers were and why," Sean recalls. "We thought marketing students from Booth would be particularly well suited for the task."

Class of 2011 students Vishal Arya, Dilini Fernando, Jillian Gerngross, Stephen Hammond, and Brian Luerssen were delighted to have the opportunity to help the rapidly growing startup.

"They gave us an interesting problem, and the experience provided a fascinating glimpse into a very specific point in time with that company," recalls Stephen.

To better research Groupon's question, the team developed a process for gathering information from purchasing and consumer data, focus group responses, and a custom email survey of Groupon's subscribers.

Sean says the Booth student's findings have become part of Groupon's institutional knowledge.

"We have evolved since this project, but their findings have had a lingering effect," Sean says. "We remember certain statements from the focus group they assembled. We still talk about those customers and their attributes."

Equally memorable was the way the Booth students worked.

"As a team, I think they played to each other's strengths and worked in a manner where we as a client were not wholly dependent on the insight of just one individual," Sean recalls. "They presented a true team effort, and that really worked for us."

Sean explains that as Groupon continues to grow, it generates more questions because it wants to optimize and understand more granular parts of the business. "We know that in Booth we can find people who can make sense out of chaos, to take some data and make an informed decision or a recommendation for a decision," he says. "Of course we would love to have Booth come back."