These are open-ended questions that test your skillset for:

• Problem-solving
• General understanding
• Strategic thinking
• Analytical skills
• Creativity
• Interpersonal communication
• Structure/organizational skills
• Problem-solving ability

The Four Types of Case Interview

These can include:

• New product launch
• Business state of category/brand
• Creative advertising
• General -- do you have your head around the consumer?

Structure your answer by using:

4Ps

Product

• What does it look like? What would you change?
• How would you describe it? To a buyer?
• Key attributes
• Category it exists in

Price

• Premium vs. Discount
• Pricing across the line, not just that individual SKU
• vs. Competition

Placement

• Channel (this depends on the industry, too!). Especially, are there neglected channels that can lead to cost-effective incremental growth?
• Location in the store & on the shelf -- if you're the big guy, can you own the shelf? If you're the little guy, can you take away space on the shelf from the big guy?
• Any incremental placement?
• How much space is allocated to it?
• What other products surround the product?
• And what do the competitors look like?

Promotion

• Advertised?
• Other ways?
  • PR
  • On-pack
• Circulars?
• Is the retailer giving it "white space"? (That's the throwaway circular at the entrance to the store.)

5th P -- Package!

• Do you stand out on the shelf? Does your brand name?
• What kind of packaging is it?
  • Open
  • Try-me
• Does the package communicate your key features and benefits?
• Does the packaging clearly display the product?
• Are you bundled?
• What's your use of color?
• What's the ratio of package expense & quality to consumer value?

How can you extend where things have been? Can you make a change to move into better territory? How can I prove that we'll make more money in the long term, or save money, by making this change? How would you change it? What is your opinion? What bugs you about the packaging, the product, whatever? Make an observation, you'll stand out -- but put it in their language, not just a complaint but identify the components and the questions that are being asked and must be answered.

3Cs

Consumer

• Always start with the Consumer, because if the Consumer doesn't need this product, no need to continue
• Who's it targeted at?

Company

• Who owns that brand?
• What other brands are in their portfolio?
• What's the cash cow?

Competitor

• Who are their competitors? Compare/Contrast?
• Evaluate the 4Ps relatve to them/you
• What's their share & position? (You can guess share based on shelf space, for CPG.)

Category

• Where does the product fit?
• Are there other needs in their category?
• Is there overlap with other categories?

Always Question!

• Who, what, why, where, when? Don't feel like you're defying authority by asking these questions.
• Start with strategy
• Continue with tactics
• Overall, broad, then narrow
• If it's an ad, start from emotions, then move to tactics
• If it's a question about a brand in general, don't hesitate to pick a brand that interests you from another industry, that can show a valuable second ability that you have
• Don't state the obvious; "well, Wal-Mart's a problem" is not a good statement. "We can better co-exist with Wal-Mart by..." is a better way to go.
• What's the inspiration behind the product
• What is it for
• Who is it for
• Is there an existing target?
• What do our existing customers want?
• Is it in a category? What defines the category? What determines purchase decisions for that category?
• Start with the consumer: do they need/want this product?
• Evaluate the size of the category
• Evaluate the competition
• Estimate market share
• Is it worth it? You can say "it's not a good product, don't go with it" in most cases.
• What's the positioning?
• Determine marketing strategy -- do the 4Ps! Price always comes last, because it's the thing you least want to fool with.

Strive to be:

• Concise/concrete. Don't ramble, and watch the time you have.
• Listen
• Repeat the question & ask for clarification; don't worry about being silent for a moment. Even if you don't need to repeat the question, you can buy time by doing so.
• Stay focused
• Display your past experiences & expertise; show how you've done this before
• Maintain an optimistic attitude, maintain your composure, don't give them funny looks or appear frustrated
• Come back with confidence, even if you're wrong! Sell it all the time! Even if you go down in flames, you show your skillz.
• State your assumptions
• State your strategic thought process
• Less is more!
• Interject quantitative considerations, but focus on the strategy

Don't hesitate to ask if you can take notes, and read them back to make sure you've got it, and feel free to ask questions for clarification. They care more about your thought process than your answer, unless they hand you financials, in which case they may want exact numbers. It's ok not to even have an answer, if you have concrete next steps.