#CareerGoals: Director of Insight at Labatt Breweries of Canada, Alyssa Rodrigo

Market research is needed across all industries – as the Director of Insight at Labatt Breweries of Canada, Alyssa Rodrigo is challenged with the task of improving the brand’s knowledge of the consumer, the competition, and the industry landscape. Decisions that ultimately end up as that ice cold beer in your hand!

 

What does your job entail?

My job is to be the voice of the consumer, the voice of the industry and the voice of the market to ultimately arm the organization with the right information to make strategic decisions. This drives organic growth in our company. In one sentence, I usually say, what I know, I need to translate to what we do.

How did you get into this career?

I fell into market research by my love of people watching and math. From a young age, I really enjoyed stats and calculus. I wanted to major in calculus as kid but my mom told me no. I always loved people watching, so I found this masters program that married math and psychology together, which is market research.

Why do you love your job?

I love my job because no day is the same. One day I might be doing forecasting on what the volume looks like in 10 years for the beer industry and the next, following a group of friends on a night out and observing what beverages they choose – it never looks the same! It’s exciting and interesting every single day.

How does this career feed into your overall life goals?

I think my overall life goals have always been to set the standard high for myself. What I love about Labatt is that your job description doesn’t mean anything. You always have the opportunity to evolve and grow. They really encourage that. I am always looking to learn and set goals for myself. I am able to achieve my life goals of continuous learning.

How could someone get into a career in market research?

There are a few ways to get into market research. A lot of people have different backgrounds. While mine is very specific to the math and psychology behind it, we have people in the industry that are historians or english majors. It’s really about the passion to understand people and what drives human behaviour, because, at the end of the day, we are selling and talking to people. If you want to get into it, you can look for programs that look at market research or insights, or join the Insights Association and network in the industries that interest you. Every industry has a strategy behind what they are doing, so I think this career is unique because you can work across industries whether that be beer at Labatt or somewhere like Holt Renfrew in fashion.

What type of person is suited for what you do?

The type of person suited for what I do is both someone that is resilient (because you are always going to be challenged by the marketing team or the sales organization) and someone who is very interested in people and human behaviour. If you ever look at the deeper meaning of what someone says, many times it’s not what they say but how they say it.

What are three tips for being successful in this career?

  1. Push yourself beyond the boundaries
  2. Think outside the box
  3. Be open to new ideas and different perspectives

What’s a secret about your job?

I am always on! Whether I am grocery shopping or out with my friends, I am constantly watching what people are doing and bringing it back to what we are doing at Labatt.

Do you have anything exciting coming up?

There are a number of exciting things coming up for Budweiser, Bud Light, Stella Artois and many new innovations from Labatt this summer, stay tuned!

You can connect with Alyssa on LinkedIn and Labatt Breweries on LinkedIn and Facebook.