From the beginning of my second semester junior year I was looking for

a summer internship in my field…

•I contacted every marketing group in the phone book…..

•Sent in a million resumes, emails, applications…..

•Went on interview after interview…..

•Even though I was trying to keep a positive attitude I was beginning to lose hope in finding a summer internship…….

Who?As soon as I almost finished with my search for a summer internship. Darlene Ward, head of the school of business university career center, emailed me about the position at Swedish Match, in the Premium Cigar Division

What?I had visited Mrs. Ward numerous times durring the school year and she was very aware about my interest in participating in a summer internship in the marketing field.

When?After receiving the email, I immediately responded by sending my resume, and shortly set up an appointment with a Mr. Brian Riley, human resources director for Swedish Match, and former student of Mrs. Ward.

“…swedish match is a global group with a broad offering of market leading in smokefree tobacco products, cigars, pipe tobacco, and lighters….”

In 2005, General Cigar Company, the worlds leader in premium cigars, previously based out of New York was bought out by Swedish Match North America and moved its offices to Richmond, Virginia.

The interview took place in 3 different sections

I was interviewed by the core members of the General Cigar Premium Cigar team (minus Dan Carr and Michael Giannini)

Each member took a different approach to the interviewing

process

Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Mr. Gurvin had been with General Cigar Company for 7 years, at young age of 35.

Mr. Gurvin’s interview stand point was what could I bring to General Cigar as a 20 year old college because he is no longer considered the youth of the company as he was before.

Mr. Chandler was considered the “hard ass” of the company,

recently moved to the General Cigar side from Swedish Match. As

head of Villazon brands, Mr. Chandler was a no-nonsense kind of guy who expected nothing but perfection and would soon be known as my sole supervisor

JOB DESCRIPTION1. Closely monitors and analyzes sales volumes, market share

trends and competitive activities

2. Assists in developing and executing promotional initiatives to profitably increase consumption within budgeted parameters.

3. Assists in the identification and development of business building ideas and works with other business unit team members to execute the plans that meet investment criteria.

4. Coordinates product management and/or cost reduction projects with internal and external resources to achieve results (product development, production planning, trade promotion, sales, market research, consultants and advertising agencies).

5. Analyzes consumption and shipment data and compares results to established objectives to assure the effectiveness of marketing programs.

On the first day of my internship, Thursday, June 26, 2008 I was greeted by stacks of paperwork, and about 7 300 page books about cigars. “Because before I could work with a cigar I need to understand a cigar” JT Gurvin

A quality premium cigar contains only tobacco, and the tobacco leaves and wrappings are manually rolled and carefully selected.

General Cigar has numerous plants in the Dominican Republic and in Honduras. Because the industry is so hands on, people in the marketing department as well as other departments in the company take frequent trips to the plants.

The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association, formally known as the RTDA, is the oldest largest and most trade association representing and assisting retail tobacconists. This year it took place on July 11-18, 2008, right in the midst of my internship which allowed me to give input and assist in preparation for this event.

The HARDEST presentation EVER…!

Each individual section of Premium cigar brands were expected to create a presentation about their brands projected sales, and the packages they would be offering at the trade show. This was my sole responsibility to compose this presentation and make it ready to show the rest of the group.

IMAGES, IMAGES, IMAGES, AND MORE IMAGES….

•Originally, the image library began as a small project in compiling loose images together into one general database for other members of the premium cigar section to be able to access, but it became a much bigger project than that.

•Images were needed to be outsourced from all of our agencies (mainly based from the northern region of the US), images were then needed to be categorized by brand name and image type (images from the agencies included advertisement images, internet images, and some free standing logos which were all in different resolutions, shapes and sizes)

•A completely separate drive was made on the computer to contain all these images and so that it would be accessible to everyone in the marketing department form their own personal computers.

•After the first steps of this project were completed, Mr. Chandler and I had the idea that with the new 2009 planning and desperate need to get our sales numbers back up we should create a separate image cd for all sales teams so that they will have references and access to images at their own discretion.

•Because of the size and content of the images it was not possible to fit all of the images onto one disk that would be easy to carry around.

The image library had to be condensed only containing some of the more important images, logos, and advertisements for each brand (not limited to Villazon brands)

What is this??NUB cigars is a new type of cigars that focuses on the sweet spot of the cigar, which is located 3 ½ to 4 inches on a regular cigar

What did I do??This new cigar created an immediate buzz with the cigar industry and it was my responsibility to research their promotional techniques and campaigning to discover what set their brands apart form others

4 what??This was all apart of the researching that we began while in process of creating a new cigar in the Punch line that appealed to younger audiences like NUB cigars did.

Excalibur Legend is the newest edition to the Hoyo de Monterrey family.

Cigarworld.com, is the official website for General Cigar Company and contains brief descriptions of each of the cigars, which include but are not limited to, size, quality, contents, and history

It was my responsibility to make sure that Excalibur Legend was properly displayed on the cigarworld.com website, which means writing up the description, including pictures and researching the history of the cigar.

This will available shortly on the cigarworld.com website (at the link provided)

•Hoyo Golf is a promotional game involving virtual golf and hoyo de monterrey cigars.

•This event will take place in cigar shops located all over the United States, people will compete for prizes by playing Wii golf.

•Although this event was not my original idea, I had a large part in what was to be involved with this promotion: including prize packs, dates and locations, scoring, and what prize and sale incentives would be provided in order to promote an increase in Hoyo cigars.

At the time I began my internship was just around the time that preparation for the upcoming year was beginning

This gave me first hand experience at what it takes to successful execute a business plan which includes: new product development, promotional campaigns, and pricing adjustments.

What did I do?? I was expected to compose price comparisons

comparing Villazon brands to some of our other major competitors

I was also expected to keep track of all of the rising and declining price margins that went along with the fluctuating economy.

What did I do?? Assisted in the planning and preparation

for multiple promotional events

Tracked competing firms to see what techniques could be used to benefit our own promotional efforts.

What did I do?? Although I didn’t get a chance to experience

the cigar plants first hand, I was still expected to know all the vast locations, and all about what goes one in the distributing process

Also, during my NUB research I visited a number of local cigar shops to get a feel for not only what takes place in the shops but also for how they are run and operated.

What did I do?? As a assistant brand manager, the product is

the most important part of the job because you are trying to sell the brand. I had to go very in-depth with learning the products offered and the importance that they served. To efficiently operate in this business it is vital that you know your product 100%