Plz analyse the goal

Hi there,

Great questions! When it comes to articulating your goals, you want to balance specificity with flexibility. By that I mean that it’s great that you know exactly what you want to do (the adcom is looking for that) but you don’t want to appear too narrow or inflexible which could then make the adcom question if you’ll be unemployed if “plan A” doesn’t work out. So in your case, specifying the role and industry is great and you could also include a couple of companies as examples – i.e. brand manager at a CPG company such as Unilever or Mondelez.

I’m the co-founder of an admissions consulting firm now but prior to joining that venture full-time, I was a brand manager at a large beauty company (take a wild guess which one!), so here are a few more tips from my experience:
- CPG and retail are different industries. CPG companies are manufacturers and are typically marketing-driven organizations. Retail companies specialize in delivering products to the end-consumer and are retail-driven organizations (think merchandising, planning, buying, etc.) Some CPG companies do have retail operations (i.e. L’Oreal owns Kiehl’s which sells direct to consumers) and some retailers also manufacture (i.e. J. Crew) but you get the idea. My point is that I suggest picking one or the other as you articulate your goals. If you’re truly open to both, then that’s OK too, but I would make it clear that you know these are two different things.
- I would double check the title in your LT goal. In many companies, the title “marketing director” is only one or two levels above “manager”. I would encourage you to aim higher or at least provide a bit more detail behind what you expect to do/accomplish as a marketing director so it’s clear what your vision is.
- Whether you go with CPG, retail, or both, what will be even more important than the goal itself is the “why” behind it and what you hope to achieve. Why are you passionate about brands? How do you see yourself making an impact? Or is it more about a sub-segment of the CPG industry – personal care, food, beauty, etc.?

To answer your final question, I see nothing in the information you provided that would lead me to believe that your goal is not realistic. Your job in your essays, though, will be to clearly and succinctly explain how your goals relate to your past experience and again, what’s driving you in your pursuit of your goals. (I actually faced this same challenge when I applied to business school as I had been working in investment banking for 5 years and was looking to move into brand management. Luckily, I was able to connect those dots through my essays and interviews.)

I hope this was helpful! Best of luck to you! If you’d like to chat more about all of this, please feel free to reach out.

Best,
Melody

P.S. Here's a helpful summary of the MBA recruiting landscape for brand management if you’d like to check it out: MBA CAREER SPOTLIGHT ON: Brand Management