Athens, a nice location for a meeting

Since Lilleborg and Unilever collaborate within some business segments (toothpaste for example), I have to be updated on the latest R&D from Unilever to be able to take advantage of this cooperation. As a mean to achieve and attain these benefits me and Stian (my boss) went to an Oral Care Meeting in Athens, organised by Unilever.

The meeting was well organised and the location was fantastic. To have a meeting at a luxurious resort, 200 metres from the warm Mediterranean Sea is something I definitely can get used to ;)

The food was delicious and here you see Stian and the brand manager for Pepsodent in Scandinavia, Carl-Gustav, relaxing at the patio after enjoying a nice meal. I learnt a lot during the two days the conference lasted and I definitely gained some relevant insights in addition to the useful and interesting update of Unilever’s innovation funnel. But it was not all work and no play….

In the evening we participated in a fun and challenging teambuilding activity held at the beach. Our team was called Dionysus and we did well in almost all of the six different disciplines in the so called “Olympics”.

Our great team-performance was rewarded with a bronze-medal later that night at the barbeque dinner.

Time to face the experts..

Last week it was time for the yearly Nordental exhibition, an event that attracts more than 6000 dentists from all over Norway. This year the exhibition was very conveniently located in Oslo.

Solidox had of course a stand at the exhibition; since we are interested in continuing building a good relationship to the odontological sector. This to get input from dentists about our current products, to have a beneficial discussion and last but not least to get insights about existing gaps in our current portfolio.

To get hold of this information we had to attract the dentists to our stand with nice design and
free samples ☺

Here you see me, Camilla and Randi at our stand, nice and calm just minutes before the exhibition opened!

This is what the stand looked like for three days…a lot of people! Our plan worked out well but gosh what I was tired in the evenings. To give out thousands of goodie bags and answer tons of questions surely took its toll on me.

But our hard work paid of in more than one way. Not only did we get many useful insights from dentists all over Norway, establish a good relationship to odontological sector with free samples and nice conversations. We also got nominated and awarded (3rd place) for “best stand 2008” ☺

There is more than hard work..

After a long day at work it is nice to relax and socialise with my co-workers under more informal circumstances. Not very long ago the girls at my floor had a “cheese & wine” evening which was a great opportunity for me to get to know the people I work with on a more personal level.

To work at a company that spends 300 Mnok each year on commercials, print, outdoor etc. has many benefits. One of them is invitations to fancy premiers with free food, drinks and celebrities. Below, you see some pictures from the Top Model premiere in Oslo where Sunsilk was one of the sponsors. The premiere was located at SAS Plaza where the view from the top floor was amazing.

The event was well organised but quite crowded as you see in the picture. Nonetheless it was nice to get in touch with fashion and glamour a cold and ordinary Monday night in September.

A smelly job

When developing new products there are many things you have to consider. Not only do you have to decide what the product should look like and what benefits the new product is going to give its consumer. You also have to create a whole concept based on the specific and fundamental consumer insights that influences the whole development process. The development of the product’s key characteristics such as function, taste, smell, colour etc is critical for its success and this is something we are all aware of at Lilleborg and something we try to help each other with.

In this picture you see Elodie, brand manager for Axe and Sterilan, who wants my opinion about various fragrances for deodorant. I don’t know if I need to say that I had quite a headache after smelling at 20 different fragrances in my office.

This picture shows a more planned and organised “smelling session” where a number of fragrances were tested against each other. The purpose was to identify which fragrance to pick for a specific product.

There is no such thing as a typical working day

To try to explain what a typical day at work looks like is going be difficult since there is no such thing as a “typical day at work”..none of them look the same and that is what makes this job so interesting and fun. Yesterday I spent the whole day in supermarkets, helping a sales consultant with the new big hair campaign for Define and Sunsilk. This to enhance my understanding of what a sales consultant do and to understand what a great job they are doing in stores to increase sale and present our products in an attractive way.

In the picture you see Dag, a very nice sales consultant that made me understand the key basics of how to attract potential buyers in the store!

This masterpiece took me over two hours to build…you know it is hard work, unpacking products, putting them on shelves and then the most important..to make it look good!