Before starting the two month internship at TVS Credit I was chuffed to bits, as I was about to step into a world of unknown – Retail Branding. The internship was truly incredible and was an eye-opener. I was one of the lucky ones to experience the concepts that were discussed in Marketing books to be put into practice.
We were virtually inducted on 4th of May. The group of selected interns were addressed by senior leaders of the organisation. They gave us a holistic understanding of the organisation’s culture and the principles they believe in. We were given a brief overview of the functions of the various departments within the company, their products and innovations. They did impress upon us the new product innovation and helped us understand why it is important for the organisation to innovate and expand their product portfolio.
The marketing interns were then briefed about their projects by Mr Charandeep Singh, the Head of Marketing and CRM. I was then introduced to my mentor, Ms Preetha S, the Chief Manager – Branding and Communications. My project was on the lines of Customer Experience & Retail Branding, which posed me with a lot of challenges. One such challenge was the work from home situation, as it narrowed down the interactions with my peers. And I felt the absence of peer to peer learning. However, in hindsight, I realised that this had presented me with the freedom to explore different ideas and to come up with a feasible solution, all on my own.
As a part of the project, I had to do a fair bit of primary as well as secondary research. The primary research was needed to learn about the behaviour of the consumer at the various branches of TVS Credit and other NBFCs. Primary research was done with the help of questionnaires, by visiting not only TVS Credit branches, dealerships but also that of the competition.
Secondary research was about gathering data and obtaining real-life, understanding about branding, branding guidelines and its various forms as used in banks, NBFCs and other related industries.
The next phase dealt with the concepts of key customer experience levers, moments of truth and customer journey maps, which were quite intriguing for me. This was the moment my belief turned into a conviction that I will become a marketing professional.
The internship taught me not to confine myself to my pre-existing notions, but to have a more open approach towards my work. Brainstorming ideas and executing those ideas is a different ball game as we all will face a different kind of barriers. During these times, my mentor motivated me and helped me keep my eyes on the prize, and never to forget the initial objective of what I was working towards, as it is easy to miss it with all the information overload. This was the wake-up call that I needed and it gave me the final impetus to complete the project successfully.
Finally, after all the hard work I could ultimately see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I came up with a set of recommendations which were in-line with the brand values of the company. I also learned the importance of brand values and that compromise is never an option, when it comes to brand values.
I learnt abundantly at TVS Credit that helped to develop my overall capabilities. And it’s hard to express my learning in mere words. TVS Credit had an excellent support system despite being a virtual internship, and I had the freedom to explore and accentuate my ideas.
A piece of advice to all the budding interns from my side would be “When in doubt – Shout”.
