{"id":6559,"date":"2013-08-21T14:57:47","date_gmt":"2013-08-21T09:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internshala.com\/blog\/?p=6559"},"modified":"2013-08-21T14:57:47","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T09:27:47","slug":"summer-internship-titan-industries-ltd-ameya-shastri-iift-delhi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internshala.com\/blog\/summer-internship-titan-industries-ltd-ameya-shastri-iift-delhi\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Internship with Titan Industries Ltd. – Ameya Shastri P from IIFT Delhi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daily Winner for: \u2013 \u00a0<\/strong>20th\u00a0August 2013<\/p>\n

Name of the intern: \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Ameya Shastri P<\/p>\n

Institute: –\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0IIFT Delhi<\/p>\n

Organization interned with: \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Titan Industries Ltd.<\/p>\n

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My eyes narrowed as they tried to focus hard on the building in front of me in the darkness. I was standing in front of the Headquarters of Titan Industries in Bengaluru on a pleasant Friday evening \u2013 on the 7th of June to be precise \u2013 trying to soak it all in. A wave of nostalgia swept over me as I realized the internship was well and truly over and I had to head home to Mumbai now. This was where I had spent the previous two months, learning the ropes of the trade and picking up the finer nuances of real-time marketing. It was a time when my learning from the books-and-pencils stage of my management education at IIFT Delhi was put to the test \u2013 all in high stakes environment at the country\u2019s largest and world\u2019s 5th largest watch Co.<\/p>\n

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Exactly 2 months ago, all of us summer interns from different b-schools huddled together with anticipation as we were addressed briefly by the head HR. We were quickly assigned to our respective Departments but before that, phone numbers were hurriedly exchanged, WhatsApp group invites were sent out and assurances were made that we would catch up with each other at lunchtime every day.<\/p>\n

In my opinion, the success and quality of any internship experience depends on \u2013 apart from personal fortitude and sincerity \u2013 the mentor you\u2019re designated to work with and the project you\u2019re assigned. In hindsight, I believe I was extremely lucky in both these aspects. My project deliverable was to anchor a live marketing campaign for Nebula \u2013 Solid gold 18K luxury watches from Titan whose price range varied from Rs. 20,000 at one end of the spectrum to 3.75 lakhs at the other end. The marketing campaign was scheduled for 3 weeks from April 25 to May 19 since the Gold- buying festival of Akshaya Tritiya was being celebrated across India on the 13th of May. It was to be executed at a pan-India level. As part of the scheme, we were gifting our customers free Gold coins of varying gramage depending on their invoice amount. Later, as I found out, handling the distribution of these coins and pulling them back from hundreds of stores across the country after the scheme was over was a major logistical and organisational challenge.<\/p>\n

The second absolutely crucial part of any internship , as mentioned before, is the mentor. My mentor , Aditya, was the brand Manager of Nebula. He was in his mid-30s and was very eloquent and remarkably tactful in dispensing his everyday responsibilities. He was also fun to work with and used four-letter words generously when discussing informal issues! But more importantly, he was a mentor in the true sense of the term- ready to guide me through a delicate situation while always being very polite and approachable. Over the next few weeks, Aditya and I organised and attended various face-to-face and teleconference meetings with the Zonal (Head sales)managers .These meetings were instrumental in helping us zero-down on the BTL(Below-the line) plans for activities in the respective zones, allocating budgets for the same and making sure they were properly implemented before and during the scheme.<\/p>\n

The BTL activities covered the entire gamut of BTL promotional activities possible, unfortunately though, I\u2019m sure Titan wouldn\u2019t particularly like it if discussed them in detail on a public forum such as this one! But, maddening as it got sometimes, what stood out Aditya\u2019s ability to maintain his composure, and yet with equal ease, crack the whip on anyone who missed deadlines and was jeopardising the scheme execution. This, in my opinion, is a very crucial and almost indispensable quality in any budding manager. Also, a risible example of his ability to drive issues in the desired direction came when I returned from a market visit to Chennai with the feedback from World of Titan store Managers that a Tamil Moviestar should probably be used in place of Farhan Akhtar for the ATL(Above-the-line)promotions of Xylys in Tamil Nadu. He replied \u2013 \u201c Arre ya\u2026I\u2019m pretty sure a lot of people in Chennai would prefer Rajnikant to George Clooney\u2026But then Omega wouldn\u2019t go and actually change their Brand Ambassador to Rajnikant, wouldn\u2019t they?!\u201d<\/p>\n

As weeks passed by, I started becomingly increasingly comfortable with the work expected of me. And soon enough, I was enjoying the work and felt a tangible difference in the work and work-culture in Titan compared to the monotonous work in the IT industry where I worked prior to my MBA. Timings were flexible, the hierarchy was flat, the dress code was casual, the senior colleagues were very amiable and the work-hours were reasonable \u2013 in that they didn\u2019t leave you exasperated and frustrated at the end of the day. And it would be gross injustice to not mention the absolutely delectable South Indian lunches that the Titan cafeteria would dish out every day. After all, an impeccable 4-course meal for a highly subsidized 10 Rs. is the stuff wish lists are made of and ensured I gained a few pounds by the end of the internship!<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Paying Guest accommodation I was staying at in Bengaluru had an unbelievably parsimonious landlord and was another colourful character who added spice to the internship story. Every night, while I and my room-mate were sleeping, he would slip into the room in the middle of night and decrease the speed of the fan a few notches! Later I learnt that the rationale behind this bizarre behaviour was that he believed doing so would help reduce his monthly electricity bill!<\/p>\n

On a more serious note, one of the more vital lessons I learnt was that sometimes no matter how well you prepare yourself , certain exogenous events take place which are outside of your sphere of control and which lay to waste all your foresight and planning acumen. A case in point \u2013 the protest against the LBT Tax by retailers in Mumbai (by far our biggest market) for a full week in the run-up to Akshaya Tritiya, due to which all shops in the financial capital were shut. Understandably, our sales figures were hit hard. It was a very incapacitating feeling \u2013 similar to the feeling a team gets in a Test match when they have to score 4 runs off the last 2 overs of the final day to win the match- only for play to be called off due to bad light.<\/p>\n

All in all, the internship was a thoroughly enriching experience where I got quality hands-on experience which tested and helped me further hone my marketing, planning and people-management skills. The learning, the friendly rivalry among the interns, the fun I had at work, the deadline pressures\u2026all contributed to make these 2 months one of the most memorable phases of my life!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Was this interesting? If yes,\u00a0please hit the \u2018Like\u2019 button below and help Ameya become the winner of the month and win the prize (Rs. 5,000\/-) that he truly deserves!<\/p>\n

If you wish to participate, send in your entry here:\u00a0http:\/\/www.internshala.com\/your-internship-story<\/a><\/p>\n