Viplav Singh: Our second year MBA student specializing in Marketing shares his Internship Experience at Puma
Let’s see how it all started. The entire buzz
surrounding summer internships in the college was about big brands that could
decorate one’s CV. I vividly remember opening an e-mail with a glimmer in my
eyes and a sudden rush of blood in my heart. The e-mail said that PUMA was
hiring summer interns. The entire college was abuzz with discussions on the
brilliant marketing strategies adopted by the brand and names like Virat Kohli,
Usain Bolt, Rihanna and many more. The marketer in me was looking forward to
being a part of the world’s leading sports brand but it was the sports-lover in
me who was excited to imbibe the energy that is associated with the name!
The rigorous selection process began with an
aptitude test which was the first screening of the candidates. It tested a
candidate’s ability to think logically, his/her time management along with
uncompromised accuracy with speed. I was a little anxious at first about
getting into the next round but after the results were announced, I gained a
little confidence. I had cleared the test. The next round was the submission of
a one-minute video with a brief introduction of mine and my idea of my first
day at PUMA. The video tested creative thinking and out-of-the-box mode of
presentation of the content. This was followed by an array of interviews. The
process went on parallel to my semester exams taking the rigor a notch higher.
The target was huge and time ran quicker than usual, much like the famous
Commonwealth Bank Series in Hobart in 2012. The game was India versus Sri Lanka
and the men in blue needed to chase a mammoth 321 under 40 overs wherein Virat
Kohli, who happens to be a brand ambassador for PUMA, played a pivotal role in
India’s win scoring his ninth ODI ton (133 Not Out). In the post-match
interview Virat spoke about his strategy during the match – “Chasing 321 under
40 overs was tough if you look at it from the outset. We just took it as
playing two T20 games, chasing 160 in each, which is not that difficult.” Sport
has the answer to every problem in the world, isn’t it? It was all about
planning and how you look at the problem and keep yourself motivated. After a
set of multiple interviews and a period of interchangeable anticipations and
apprehensions, the results were announced. I had made the cut and was ready for
my hustle at PUMA.
One of the largest sports brands in the world,
PUMA has essentials of sport deeply embedded in its work culture. This was
evident even before the internship began. A team of 16 interns from premier
B-schools of the country was on its way to experience corporate life the PUMA
way. The interns were gifted a coupon each to buy their fitness gear before
embarking upon their pursuits as they were to be greeted with a heavy-duty
workout session as the first thing when they join. That set the tone of what
was going to be an amazing journey as it had us pushing our limits on the very
first day. The HR team of PUMA broke the ice with a ‘Bring Your Own Talent’
event wherein the interns got to know a lot about one another. The event left
us a lot closer than we were before we walked into the organisation.
Throughout
the course of my internship, I saw how things become easy when you do what you
love. PUMA is a place where meetings happen over a game of ‘passage football’
(a football game played inside the office in the passage between desks), people
hustle to make the brand what it is with upbeat music playing in the background
and you don’t just work when/because the boss is watching. PUMA is an epitome
of how an organisation with a very flat organisational structure makes you your
own boss.
I got an opportunity to be mentored by Mr Rishi
Arora, the National Key Accounts Manager for PUMA India. The project that was
assigned to me was Competitor Analysis
and Product Strategy Recommendations for PUMA’s Running, Training and
Fitness footwear which boast of quite a huge market in the country. The project
tested almost all of the core competencies a manager needs to have – right from
interaction with various sales personnel to a detailed study of markets and
sales channels. The project gave me an idea of how things work in the real
world and more importantly, how do you make it work when they don’t. The
challenges that it threw towards me were varied – from learning certain
statistical techniques from scratch to gauging customer perception of the brand.
It was testing, it was challenging but it was never dull. That is the most
peculiar thing about PUMA, if I had to define it in one word, I would say
‘Energy’. The energy that propels you forward in those late nights when you
burn the midnight oil, those days when nothing goes your way and during those
weekends when you don’t go out with your friends but are paying your dues to
make it big. The undying, unrelenting
spirit of getting the job done, of realising what we dream of, forms the DNA of
the organisation.
The Summer Internship Program is a peephole into
the corporate right before the future managers take the bull by the horns in
the real world. My two-month stint at Puma Sports India Pvt. Ltd. did just
that. It was as challenging as it was fun. The professional learning and the
personal growth, both competed for equal proportions as the internship drew to
a close with one key takeaway for all of us – The Art of Getting The Job Done!