Will Stock

5:30 AM

WillyWeather showed minimal wind this morning so it’s an early ride with some mates before work. This doubles as preparation for the weekly L’Oréal Cycling Club ride. Once toast and water have been consumed, I cruise down to the meeting spot and we enjoy the morning.

7 AM

Dead from my mates insisting “it’s just a hill” I return home, shower, and get ready for the day.

7:30 AM

Most of our graduate year has been at home, thus, I am very keen to get as much office time as I can! Seeing my teammates unpixellated is quite the treat. So, I race to the train and enjoy the morning read of what happened overnight, red, or green day today…

8:15 AM

I arrive at work and check my calendar, urgent emails from the night are replied to and/or information is provided. I check my to-do list and prep for the rest of the day and week. I find this time the most productive as there are usually no meetings before 9 am. I can pull the data I require and start analyzing without additional tasks jumping on my list. My manager is also an early started so if anything urgent has risen we discuss.

9 AM

If we haven’t caught up already my manager and I have our weekly WIP, we discuss the priorities for this week and chat about our weekends. My manger has not been able to make it down to Melbourne due to COVID, he is based in SYD. Our Teams skills have been constantly improving, but we are both itching to have the whole team together in person for the first time.

9:30 AM

I get stuck into the tasks I have for this week. Which promotions work best and why? If we clash with this competitor what will happen? Who is performing best in our markets and why? It is very interesting to deep-dive one of our competitors and find out what makes them tick, aka we monitor and predict their selling strategy. I look at all information I can get my hands on, I then narrow it down to what is useful. The Category team is all about understanding the “why”. Sales high or low we need to understand which factors we can control to maximize our ROI. Being a new grad learning new information systems has been quite challenging at times, but thankfully the team is always there to show me all the tips and tricks to maximise my productivity. 

10:30 AM

Briefly checking that I have not fallen in a rabbit hole. I would normally join meetings with the different marketing team to discuss their proposed plans for next year or advise if any plans need to be changed this year based on the analysis the Category and Revenue Growth Management (RGM) team have done. We discuss and talk about the available options. Follow-ups are noted, the next steps are finalised.

11 AM 

Buy this time, I am so hungry my mouse looks delicious. A banana and muesli bar tire me over whilst I check my emails.

11:15 AM

I update any databases that need updating. This mainly deals with our internal planning tools so we can actively track future promo plans and forecasts. Ensuring we are within our guidelines. Being such a big file, I create a simplified version and send it to the relevant stakeholders, highlighting any points of note.

12:00 PM

I open this week’s catalogues for our primary retailers. Where our products appear, I screen shoot and add to the weekly qualitative PPT I send out. I also collate the off-location imagery from the week that was. This adds depth to our quantitative analysis, off location compliance is highly valued so it is great to be able to visualise it too. Highlighting any points of note I send out to the whole division.

1 PM

Lunchtime/ desk break! We are all encouraged to take a step away from our desk and enjoy lunch. A quick note through Teams to see which friends are in are ready for lunch. Time to go and enjoy the (hopeful) sun outside or the view from the top floor café.

2 PM

Learning webinar - throughout Melbourne lockdown, L’Oréal has offered us many upskilling webinars ranging from Microsoft Office advanced tutorials to yoga and fitness sessions. These are great for learning and keeping morale high whilst in and out of lockdown.

3 PM

You get a heads up that there is free product on another level. Yes, I would like to be the best son, brother, cousin, and boyfriend. So, I get in the elevator and race to where the products are. If the intel is good, you are one of the first people there. Win.

3:15 PM

Further quantitative analysis is continued, Youtube excel tutorials are watched, a formula I have never heard of is found. If it’s handy I let the team know, and check if the resident excel wizard knows of it. Of course, they do, but I rejoice as it’s going to save a tonne of time. Deep diving into the data can be onerous at times but finding a golden nugget of information is what it is all about. It is very rewarding to have a theory in your head and then being able to prove it with the data.

4:00 PM

Most likely something urgent has arisen and takes priority over other projects. L’Oréal life is very fast- paced, which is what makes us who we are. A tight deadline is very conducive to fast learning. Once I have chatted it out with my manager and we work out the best course of action. I complete the first stage and sent it to my manager for his thoughts. We optimize and work out the key points we want to pursue.

5:00 PM

Stage two, I work to gather more insights to help us flesh out the “So What’s”. I then break the information down into bite-size portions which we discuss. We consolidate them into 3 key points that summate the whole topic. With a bit of back a fourth the 3 “So What’s” action items come to the surface.

6:15 PM

I PowerPoint it up and make it look pretty (L’Oréal templates for the win). I shoot the final draft for my manager to sign off on.

6:30 PM

With tweaks noted, we are both happy and call it a night. The fun thing about being in the office during 2020/2021 is that we all must get out at around 6:30 PM when the disinfectant team comes in to spay every level.   

7:15 PM

I get home and enjoy dinner with the fam. A sneaky game of Monopoly Deal usually follows – a great iso game would recommend. Enviably I don’t win, real monopoly is more to my taste.

9 PM

After a few Youtubes (Sailing La Vagabonde and/or The Skid Factory) I’m ready for bed. Good night!