Welcome back, AMA! After a fantastic Spring Break, our officers organized an excellent event for our AMA members and readers with a very familiar brand!
This past week, AMA was visited by Brittany Ballou, Mike Johnson, and Drew Ricketti from Keurig Dr. Pepper (KDRP) ([mostly] everyone’s favorite drink)! Brittany has been a Territory Sales Manager – CASO since June 2021. She started as a sales concentrate intern during the Summer of 2020. She is even a McCombs graduate with a Marketing major and MIS minor. Mike has been with KDRP for seven years and is currently a Bottler Activation Manager (I promise it’s a real thing.) As a Bottler Activation Manager, Mike is responsible for ensuring thorough communication of annual plan priorities and subsequent targeted aligned commercial plans. He has also been a customer marketing manager, associate brand manager, intern, and brand management. He has been through the processes of cold calling and brand marketing. Drew is currently a sales strategy and capabilities manager.
A survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) revealed that 70.4% of interns are offered a full-time position with the organization they interned for.
What is Keurig Dr. Pepper?
Please tell me you know what this brand is or else we may have failed as a society. Keurig Dr. Pepper, formerly Keurig Green Mountain and originally Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, is an American beverage company. For reference, this is what their drinks look like:
You must know what I’m talking about now. But what you probably didn’t know is that in 2020, KDRP generated over $11.6 billion in net sales. According to LakeOswego Review, if you made a dollar a second, it would take you almost 349 years to make that amount of money. Keurig Dr. Pepper is the 8th largest food and beverage company in the U.S. and the 267th Fortune 500 company. They also have over 27,000 employees and over 125 different hot and cold beverages.
If you don’t know Dr. Pepper, you must know their other brands! Sunkist? 7UP? Schweppes? Bai? Evian? (for my fancy water people) Peet’s Coffee? You have to know at least one of these drinks, and if you do, you’re drinking a Keurig Dr. Pepper product! Which is *a beverage for every need, available everywhere people shop and consume.
About their Beverages
Each KDRP product has a different route-to-market mix, depending on demographics/market. Our speakers say KDRP and Coke have a “Frenemy Situation” since their consumer segments are also consumers that DPK wants to market to, so they share the same distribution routes.
The Beverage Concentrate Organization, our speakers’ sales team charges for building programs that sell more cases, meaning they sell more concentrate. The Sales department at KDRP is a partnership model with a mix of sales, influence, brand, marketing, operations, and much more like an entrepreneurial aspect such as managing your own business!
Fun fact: One of Keurig Dr. Pepper's Market Partnership is the Country Music Association (CMA) Award show!
Strategic Partnerships
These strategic partnerships with organizations like Music City Midnight and Brad Paisley’s Grocery Store help drive store activity for KDRP’s products. Think about how employees will create shelves of soda cartons at grocery stores that spell something out or are arranged in shapes for football seasons like SuperBowl. These small placement opportunities help interest customers and build traffic to their products. And folks, that’s what we like to call marketing! KDRP utilized influencer marketing, “pop-ups” or trucks for tailgating events, and scholarships to increase brand visibility. For example, KDRP had well-known Tik-Toker Dakota Wright create an Instagram post with Dr. Pepper sodas.
And What You Have Been Waiting For… Internship Program
As a McCombs student searching for an internship (much like many of the current AMA students), Brittany was looking for a company with a well-loved, exciting brand and tangible products. Fortunately, she became an intern with Keurig Dr. Pepper. She had the opportunity to amplify a launch of Dr. Pepper Zero Sugar at a local level and understand the market analytics behind the launch. These findings were incorporated in local Nashville assets and were presented to senior leadership. Additionally, she was able to
- Partner with bottlers and retailers to bring value to the company
- Build internal and external relationships
- Become a continuous learner
- Utilize creativity in marketing analytics techniques
- Activate national programs with local assets
Apply to Keurig Dr. Pepper (Now!)
Wouldn’t it be so satisfying to be a part of a team that’s products are used and known by everyone? Yeah, I do too. If you’re interested in applying for opportunities at KDRP, please visit https://careers.keurigdrpepper.com/ and reach out to Drew Ricketti at Drew.Ricketti@kdrp.com. Feel free to mention that this blog referred you!
WRITTEN BY EMA ZORONJIC
TEXAS AMERICAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION 