A New Brand of Coffee Achiever

This Kelley grad works at a joint venture of Pepsi and Starbucks. His job: Developing new ready-to-drink products. Here's a typical day

by Brian Smith

Brian Smith
Associate Innovation Manager
North American Coffee Partnership - joint venture of Pepsi and Starbucks
Kelley School of Business 2005
University of Indiana

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I'm the associate innovation manager for the North American Coffee Partnership—a joint venture between Pepsi (PEP) and Starbucks (SBUX) in Seattle. The partnership is focused on extending and complementing the Starbucks brand and retail experience by offering high-quality, darn tasty, ready-to-drink products. My role—with the help of cross-functional experts—is to conceptualize and bring to market new ready-to-drink products for those times when customers can't make it to a Starbucks store (see BusinessWeek.com, 10/14/05, "Marketing for the Long Term").

On any given day, my job can entail writing a brief for a packaging agency, providing feedback to the R&D team, giving the flavor profile of a product, sharing insight on packaging graphics, participating in ideation sessions, crafting decks to help sell product ideas internally and externally, or participating in research. In short, I keep an eye on a lot of moving parts to ensure that great products and new brands continue to hit the market and expand the ready-to-drink coffee category.

Starbucks and, more importantly, the North American Coffee Partnership, have an entrepreneurial undercurrent. Similar to an entrepreneur crafting and launching a new business concept, my role allows me to dream, envision, and bring that idea to life. Tapping into the entrepreneurial experiences of my classmates and professors would certainly benefit me in my current role.

People Prep

Starbucks is a people-driven organization. Within such an environment, organizational savvy is a valuable currency. Refining this through studying the actions of successful leaders and noteworthy organizations would have been an incredible classroom experience while I was at the Kelley School of Business.

My career progression hasn't been linear or conventional. My classroom experience, conversations with classmates, and the opportunity to be surrounded by great business thinkers from a breadth of industries while at Kelley prepared me well for my current role.

Here's a typical day for me:

5:45 a.m.—I'm an aspiring morning person, emphasis on the aspiration. It's not coincidental that I work for a company where coffee isn't hard to come by.

6:45 a.m.—I roll into work. My walk from the parking lot to my desk is about as long as my drive. About half of the North American Coffee Partnership is based in New York, so cracking open e-mail for the first time each day is a little like opening presents on your birthday—you never know what your friends have rounded up for you while you weren't around, but you just hope it isn't another terrible shirt.

7:00 a.m.—First cup of coffee. Mine's very often a grande, sugar-free, quad-shot, nonfat vanilla latte. As a part of orientation, each employee is taught how to craft their favorite beverage(s)...

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Smith is an associate innovation manager with North American Coffee Partnership, and a 2005 MBA graduate of the University of Indiana.