What's your job about?
I’m in my second-year rotation at bp in the sales and marketing graduate programme. This year I am placed in the brand, communications & design team as a communications & campaign advisor.
bp is a global energy company that is on the journey to reimagine energy and become net zero by 2050 or sooner. We are transforming what it means to get people from one location to the next, and what role we can play in their journey. Deliver experiences that exceed our customers' exceptions before they even enter our stores.
I am responsible for supporting campaigns that run in our retail stores, leading local area marketing plans to support our sites being upgraded and ensuring our new Wild Bean Café brand is smoothly rolled out across our network of stores.
The core of my role is centred around creating and communicating value for our customers when they interact with bp. It’s an anchor in our team and allows us to work both short and long-term with the goal of uniting us all. I will work internally to understand the customer's problem, come up with a solution and then produce and deliver the solution. After the work has been in the market and visible to our customers, I will review and look at what can be improved on for the future.
It's this process that allows me to understand our customer segment’s behaviour, drive loyalty and brand retention and make our customers hopefully feel that they are recognised and rewarded for choosing bp.
What's your background?
Born in Melbourne and grew up in the inner-city suburbs of Melbourne. Surrounded by tree-lined streets and an abundance of cafes/restaurants.
At Swinburne University, I got to understand the fundamentals of marketing, excel, and thrive in subjects. I embraced what I learnt in lectures and tutorials and applied it to real-life examples throughout the various internships I completed. I also got the opportunity to compete in an internal advertising competition that saw me travel to Paris for the finals representing Australasia and present our teams' ideas in front of Cannes Lion film festival judges! An amazing experience that came about by learning to embrace every opportunity!
My part-time jobs and internships have allowed me to solidify my passion for the customer and create a memorable experience in-store and across various touchpoints. Each role has built me to be the individual that I am today, helped me understand what my strengths are and steered me to be driven in my career.
I have been with bp for now three years! Time flies! I joined as a co-op marketing intern in 2021. Then I applied for the graduate program 2 months into the internship, knowing that I wanted to build my career at bp and was gratefully successful!
2022 was my first rotation in the sales and marketing graduate program as a category in our food team. Flash forward to today in my current role (which is my second rotation), I carry over a wealth of knowledge from my first rotation and am keen to understand how we can influence, retain, and drive loyalty for our customers in delivering unforgettable campaigns!
What advice would you give to someone who is interested in a similar role?
My role is geared toward someone with a tertiary background in marketing and communications and I do believe demands the candidate to be passionate about our business and customers. It’s a fast-paced role in which you are interacting with various stakeholders and therefore requires you to be highly organised and adaptive to ways of working. While I am very connected to my team, there is an element of autonomy that allows me to develop skills in time and project management to ensure I am delivering.
Therefore, I do think there is the possibility for someone to do my job with a different background, but passion and putting the customer first is a non-negotiable!
What's the coolest thing about your job?
Where do I start? bp is an extremely unique place to work let alone start your career. The people bring curiosity, a wealth of experience and belief in our strategy. The energy of the people you interact with wants to see you succeed and thrive and always have time for you. There is support to work hybrid, agile and any approach you can think of.
I personally feel very connected to our strategy and am grateful for the ownership I am given to try new things for our customers, to add value to their experience with bp and learn continuously. Having a depth of impact on how people move from one place to another is an extremely privileged position and I love working with my team to think about how wan we make someone’s day brighter and better.
What are the limitations of your job?
Marketing is often associated with people-facing and the hub of activity promoting a product or brand. I think it’s important when considering a career in marketing to understand the breadth of skills you can develop in a marketing career that isn’t always creative or promotions based. Fortunately, in my time, I’ve been able to develop skills in commercial and budgeting acumen and presenting concise information to senior leaders. My role is fast-paced and sees me communicating with a large variety of stakeholders, and I’ve already found myself building interpersonal skills which are so important in the early years of your career.
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...