Intern Perspective: Our Annual Global Marketing Planning Meeting

Hey y’all! My name is Rayan and I am a senior at The University of Oklahoma. I am studying business marketing with a track in advertising and I recently added a minor in digital marketing. I am the brand communications and marketing intern at KFC Global! Enough about me, let’s talk about vMPM!

The big “Marketing Planning Meeting” that KFC global hosts every year experienced an adjustment in the way it was presented this summer. An event that usually hosts hundreds of guests in person became virtual with a production team of about 35. As the brand communications and marketing intern, I was assigned tasks to help the team bring the virtual MPM to life. Being an intern at KFC Global comes with great responsibility! I had the privilege to assist the marketing panel of MPM throughout the filming and the live production. I helped the team with simple tasks like picking up Starbucks orders all the way to being pulled into the live segment to bring out my mixology skills. 

I have not experienced the MPM in person but the digital experience was no less of a major production than the live. The online event had a mainstage, market booths, and so much more. Guests were able to go in and ask each market questions about their presentations. When they were finished with the Q&A people hurried over to the photo booth and took amusing pictures from their workspace. The logistics team put together exciting events like “chicken bingo” and even an auction, which I got to help with! I also took on the task of being the chat moderator so I was getting well acquainted with the members of other markets through the chat box function. 

As a marketing student I was very excited to soak in all of the information that was being presented. Whenever I was able to catch a break during the long days I would sit and take notes on what was being said. Amy Durini had a great explanation on the term SOBO, sales overnight and brand overtime. Accompanied by Catherine Tan Gillespie, the Chief Marketing Officer of KFC Global, who spoke on many interesting concepts and gave helpful feedback to the markets after their presentations. A major shout out to the team members Kim Morgan, Tori Carter, Ashley Travis, and Ana Maria Basurto for giving great insight on their perspectives of the market's MPM presentations/taste testings of the global food. If these talented women have a shift in their career paths to becoming news anchors, we can’t say we didn’t see it coming!

The Marketing Planning Meeting, like I mentioned earlier, was a major production. Teal Besson led the project on the production side and I got to follow her along that journey. They hired a production team and crew. There was a set built with professional lighting, big cameras, and teleprompters. I come from a theatre background, so this was super exciting to me! Teal allowed me to assist her with her own director tasks, critiquing the end of event “sizzle reel” and post-production editing. The hard work that was put in behind the scenes was reflected in the success of the team that was on screen. 

Overall, the state of the world pushed KFC Global to think outside the box and create an event that curated the same elements as the in-person Marketing Planning Meeting in the past. The team was able to bring people together from all around the world at the same time to work towards the common goal of building a R.E.D. brand through marketing!