I first heard about the European Centre for Monitoring Alcohol Marketing (EUCAM) from a friend of mine, Giulia, who decided to start her internship there a few months before me. She told me how engaging researching for this organisation was and that she actually was having a lot of fun; and, I have to admit, I thought to myself ‘how can conducting research be so exciting?’. I have always been interested in the strategic marketing that, especially big companies, successfully engage in to promote their products and activities; but I never really wondered ‘how would it be to look at it from another perspective?
A little about the organisation
EUCAM is a non-profit organisation which is set up to collect, exchange and to promote knowledge and experience about alcohol marketing throughout Europe. Clearly, EUCAM is fully independent from the alcohol industry and in no way connected or supported by the industry. In this way, EUCAM aims to create opportunities and to promote monitoring of alcohol marketing in Europe in order to gather reliable information about the volume and content of alcohol marketing and about the functioning of the existing procedures related to the regulation of alcohol marketing.
My experience
When I learned what was the primary objective of EUCAM I decided that it would be a great experience for me to see things from another perspective; let’s say, the perspective of the ‘good guy’. EUCAM is committed to monitoring marketing activities of the bi
ggest alcohol companies in Europe, with the aim of exposing misleading and wrong information about the risks of alcohol consumption. So well, I thought it could have been really interesting to get to know this point of view on marketing activities, which is the perspective that not everybody takes into consideration. I decided to apply an
d I eventually got the job!
My role
During the time I worked for EUCAM, my main role was conducting research on the corporate social responsibility activities (CSR) of alcohol industries in Europe. I have to be honest, this was a hell of a job! Besides researching scientific literature on the topic, I had to look for and discover so many concrete examples that would support the claims made by the research. Also, I with my literatur
e review I contributed to the update of the brochure “The 7 messages of the alcohol industry”, created by EUCAM in 2010. This was challenging, especially because doing research is never easy, but also I was not expecting to perceive this experience as so interesting. I improved my research skills, learned marketing techniques and developed a strong interest for the sector.
Will I start my future career in research? I don’t know, but I can tell you this: yes, research can be exciting and fun, especially if you do it in a sector that you are really interested in.
I hope my experience can help you to realise that sometimes the unexpected can become one of the best experiences of your life, and to always try new paths; because you’ll never know in what amazing places you’ll get!