Name: Nick Robinson

Title: Marketing Manager at Gatorade

Major: Business Marketing

This interview between Mr.Robinson and I was about a variety of things. We took a deeper look into his occupation and the path that led him to this career. We also, discussed the best ways to succeed in life, regardless what it is you want to do. 

Now for the interview:

• Let’s start by you telling me your job title and a brief summary of what a typical day looks like for you?

I’m a marketing manager at Gatorade. Marketing for a company will typically look different, depending on what company you’re at and the industry that you’re in. My day to day varies, but a lot of what I do is drive the business strategy behind Gatorade. Marketing is a lot of different things; it’s evaluating creative pieces including commercials. We work with agencies that develop the concept behind those ideas. So basically a company will work with an agency and I in order to come up with ideas, then I’ll go back to my team and introduce the ideas. Then, we’ll work with the agencies to narrow down our ideas.  

• Did you already have an idea of what you wanted to do before you got to college?

I knew that I loved sports which made me want to be a sports analysis or broadcaster. Then as I was applying to college, I applied for Pharmaceutical school because I was interested in the money. As I started taking the classes, I realized that it wasn’t for me. So, I decided to change my path to business. So basically, I kind of wiggled around until I found something that fit me. There’s so many options now, so there’s a wider range now as to what you can choose from. I always enjoyed trying to understand why people do the things that they do because I think it’s very powerful being able to use that knowledge, which is why I love marketing.

• What led you to want to choose this career?

I was a business marketing major at the University of Oklahoma. There weren’t a lot of jobs recruiting on campus for marketing, it was mostly for oil, gas, and energy. So I took a job with AT&T, and I was traveling to home to Dallas a lot while performing different roles within the company. It was nice because it introduce me to what it was like to work in corporate America. Then, I realized that it was time for me to go to graduate school at Northwestern University. 

• What advice would you give to someone in high school that is looking towards pursuing this career?

I think you should be very mindful of what it is you think you want to do and be considerate of the future version of you. I think people often get wrapped up in where they’re at in their lives at that moment. If you’re in high school right now, before you know it you’ll be in college. High school will just be something from the past and you’ll have a whole new set of friends. For me at 32 years old, I only take to four people from high school. It just shows that life goes on and there’s other phases to it.