Kate Wheeler, Assistant Brand Manager, Jameson Irish Distillers

What are the main tasks you do in a normal week?

I suppose the best way to describe it is if you think of any brand or product and the box that it arrives in, the label on it, the product within it, my role is to consider all those elements. The design, the label, the product. The other side of the role then is how we communicate that to consumers through marketing

What skills do you need to be successful in your role?

The first would definitely be project management skills and organisation. On a typical day, the range of tasks varies widely, so in order to deliver all of them on time you need to be very organised. The second would be creativity, approaching problems in a different way and having an innovative mindset when it comes to your work. The third would be relationship building, the ability to create viable and sustainable relationships.

What do you love about your job?

What I love about hr job is taking a product from concept to branding and execution. There’s a lot of variety in that and being in the brand HQ is great, as in any one day you could be chatting to the production team about the bottling of a new product, on a conference call with the design agency in Sweden or talking to our Distillery.

How did you get into your job?

I studied Psychology & Italian at the University of Exeter and as I was finishing up and trying to plan my next step I came across the Jameson Graduate Programme. This three year Marketing Programme sounded great so I applied and was successful and spent three years in Italy working as a Brand Ambassador. After that I applied for this position as an Assistant Brand Manager here on the international marketing team.

What skills should students develop for a job in this area?

I think relationship building is something that’s very useful, and will really stand to you in your career. Whether that’s a society, a sports team or volunteering, the ability to build relationships is something that you can always draw on.