a day in the life

Adrian manages the delivery of Tesco statement to over 13m customers every quarter.

9.00am - The office is buzzing as the BBC news is on the big screen in the reception and top of its agenda is a report about one of our client’s latest initiatives and how it is going to create an annual £500m of value for the company. Later today we are presenting some work back to this client, including the marketing director. Our work will show how we can generate additional loyalty. Head to the kitchen for a cup of tea and bump into one of dunnhumby’s most respected analysts. He had worked on the project that is being reported on the news this morning and he tells me all about it.

9.30am - Attend the fortnightly ‘Standing Room Only’ meeting for our department (it lives up to its name again) where an update on our client’s latest initiatives and projects we’re working on is given. Also hear the good news that our ‘Shopping Experience’ team won ‘Best use of data in retail’ at last night’s Data Strategy awards.

10.00am - Meet with the ‘Campaign Mailings’ team - who manage the data to allocate the right offers to the relevant customers of the client - to discuss making improvements to the targeting criteria of a mailing so its relevance to the recipients is increased.

10.30am - Take part in the weekly Status Update Teleconference for everybody involved in the mailing (client, client’s IT department, creative agency and printer), which involves going through the project plan and what issues we may encounter during the upcoming week. I contribute a run-down of the latest numbers from the ‘Campaigns Mailing’ team and help solve a tricky IT issue for the client.

12.30pm - Catch up with colleagues from other parts of the company over lunch at one of the many restaurants near the office. dunnhumby has a thriving social scene with organised monthly evening events such as a River Thames Boat Party, Halloween party and the legendary Beer & Curry Night. Tonight’s event is a Heroes & Villains fancy dress party.

1.30pm - Visited the client’s office to present the analysis for a mailing to the marketing director.

4.30pm - Back at the office it is catch-up time with my boss who is pleased with how my presentation went. He also recommends a training course that would be suitable for me in terms of my career objectives. I provide him with an update on where we are with the mailing and what else has happened today before making a final check of my emails. It is then off to the Heroes & Villains party.

Nicky leads the Global Services Hub which delivers across all dunnhumby markets globally.

9.30am - Before the day starts, I catch up on emails received over night from around the world. As one of dunnhumby’s eastern markets, we can take questions raised in the evening by markets in the west and have answers for them by the time people arrive in the office the next day. I found out that the trip to the Hub for my counterparts in the USA has been finalised. This is exciting for me as collaborating across markets and time zones will be the key to our success, but it is also important for our people to see India for themselves and for our team here to meet our business leaders.

10.00am - I welcome four new analysts who join dunnhumby today and talk them through our vision and values. This is a great part of my job and it is always exciting to share our success story, future plans and the opportunities this will present to them. As a small but rapidly growing team, we welcome new starters onto our induction and training programme every two weeks.

11.00am - Meet the Office Services Manager to agree the plan for the next stage of our office expansion. As we are growing so fast in our first year, we need to implement a plan of when we take on more recruits and fit out further space on our floor, order more PCs etc. The next phase of our expansion will take us from a space for 45 to a space for 80.

11.30am - Nip for a coffee in the pantry and have a quick chat with an analyst who recently returned from a training trip in the US. It is great to hear how much he has learnt and to know that he is now working on an important project for Kroger. I also get some advice on where is a good place to go at the weekend to experience a religious festival that is coming up. I then go to interview a candidate for a leadership role in the Hub. Finding great talent is key to our success in all our markets. The interview goes well and we will quickly get an offer out.

1.00pm - Join the ‘lunch and learn’ session in the Analytics Hub and help myself to some pizza whilst I learn about dunnhumby retail media. It is great to hear how dunnhumby continues to innovate and the team is excited how their contribution will deliver huge value to our clients.

2.00pm - The UK is now on line and I dial into a regular Hub Leadership conference call. We use these calls to share our recent achievements, make decisions and discuss issues. The Hub is key to dunnhumby’s future success and the Executive team work closely with us to support us in achieving our goals.

3.00pm - I now jump in the car for a short drive to the Process Hub office. We’re planning the quarterly review with our service provider. These are important sessions where review performance against agreed targets as well as underlining priorities for the coming months. There is definitely success to be celebrated as the team has done a fantastic job of delivering great work over the past quarter. The challenges going forward will be how to work better and faster as well as continuing to expand our capabilities.

5.00pm - Head back to the Analytics Hub and have a call with our HR team in the UK. As a start up business, we were initially supported in many areas from the UK, but now that we are growing in India, the work is being transitioned to the team on the ground. Starting a business in a new market is a fantastic experience as you get to learn about all the elements that make a company work.

6.00pm - My last call of the day is with our office in France. It is important the Hub supports this new dunnhumby market as it grows and we discuss how the Hub can help dunnhumby France to accelerate the growth of their CPG businesses. The learning here will be key for dunnhumby as we quickly expand into new markets, supported by the Hub.

7.30pm - I head out for dinner and a few drinks with someone who started the same time as me. We catch up on what is going on across dunnhumby and reminisce about past all company meetings and Christmas parties. We think back to when we both joined dunnhumby in 1999 when the company had around 60 people. I find it funny to think that, had someone told me then that I would be living in India leading our Global Services Hub and we’d employ over 850 people across 18 markets, I probably wouldn’t have believed them!

Mike analyzes, targets and evaluates direct marketing initiatives to Kroger’s loyal customers.

9:00am - The office is full of energy about a new product from a prestigious national brand. We’re playing a key role, handling a direct mail campaign that’s critical to the launch. So I’m meeting with analysts from our consumer products team to target the best potential customers for the product introduction. We merge the latest real-time shopper data with the brand’s own product definitions to create a sophisticated segmentation strategy. The team is joined by a colleague from the UK, an expert on campaign processes who’s here on assignment, and he shares best practices from other markets that help guide our thinking.

10:00am - Back at my desk, I use our segmentation strategy for initial household targeting. This “first look” data looks promising, but we won’t settle on a final list until we’ve gone through several refinements and quality assurance steps.

11:15am - I check in with a team from our Data Solutions Group to review their entire population of mailable households for the rollout. After making some strategic choices, we schedule the deliverables, once targeting is complete.

Noon Time to feed my stomach and brain at one of our popular “Lunch & Learn” programs. I join my colleagues for a delicious, healthy lunch, courtesy of the company, and a registered dietician shares some great tips on healthy eating. As a member of our office’s Green Team, I remind my colleagues to place their empty drink bottles in the recycling bin at the end.

1:00pm - I head to a meeting to bring our retail partner up to speed on the new product launch. We review the segmentation, making sure that we’re keeping the customer at the center of our work. Then we put this project into perspective in the “big picture,” discussing how it fits into their overall customer communications strategy.

1:45pm - As I head back to my desk, I hear the distinctive sound of sneakers on hardwood. The college basketball tournament is on the big screen TV in the Cyber Cafe and I catch a few minutes, cheering for the underdog.

2:00pm - Back at my desk, I prepare for a client conference call to review the results of a recent campaign. I got great feedback from the partnership management team on the in-depth campaign presentation I created and I want to review it before the call.

3:00pm - On the conference call, the client is delighted with the results. The post-campaign analysis shows a healthy increase in both customer participation and product penetration. While I’m excited by the positive outcome, too, I know we’re always looking for innovative ways to improve the targeting or the product offers to make them even more relevant the next time around.

3:55pm - In the hall, I catch up with a colleague and we compare our weekend plans. On Saturday morning, we’re both volunteering at an event organized by our “Helping Hands” committee through a local social services agency. We’ll be installing a wheelchair ramp, cleaning gutters and doing home repairs to help a needy family.

4:00pm - Catch up on the day’s email correspondence from clients and colleagues around the globe.

5:30pm - A quick-change of clothes and I’m off to nearby ballfields to play for the dunnhumbyUSA softball team. We’ve had a great season so far, winning seven games and losing only one.