Strategic Marketing Portfolio

Hello, I'm Defne
Göral.

MSc Strategic Marketing at Imperial, studying how brands work and determined to build the ones worth remembering.

+ Contact me Download CV
Based in
London, UK
Graduating
MSc · Imperial · Aug '26
Focus
Brand · Strategy · Analytics
Defne Göral
Rotterdam, Erasmus Bridge
Singapore with family
my dog
About

Who's behind
the work.

I grew up in Istanbul and spent the last four years moving between Rotterdam, Milan and London. Studying markets, switching languages, and realising that the same brand can mean completely different things depending on where you're standing.

At PepsiCo I worked with Nielsen and QlikView data across 20+ SKUs, supported campaign planning and managed purchase orders. At Turkcell I tracked campaign performance across Meta and Google Analytics and turned it into weekly reporting. At UP School I did market research across five areas evaluating demand and competition.

Inside LVMH got me interested in how heritage becomes desire. L'Oréal Brandstorm got me interested in how a single sharp insight can move millions of people. I still can't pick a favourite.

I speak four languages, I've lived in four cities, and I'm finishing my MSc at Imperial this August. Looking for a graduate role in beauty, luxury or FMCG with a team that holds itself to a high standard.

Outside of work: skiing, pilates, and an ongoing argument with myself about which city had the best coffee.

Work

Where I showed
what I could do.

At PepsiCo Istanbul

Tracking the snack aisle, one SKU at a time.

At PepsiCo I worked across the Çerezza brand, spending most of my time in Nielsen and QlikView: tracking market share across 20+ SKUs, monitoring regional sales weekly, and turning that into decisions rather than just reports. I put together the full launch deck for Çerezza's new Muhabbet product covering pricing, marketing and e-commerce, and managed PO requests and agency communications throughout.

20+
SKUs tracked daily
100k+
consumers reached
30+
PO requests managed

The Journey, So Far.

'26
Imperial Business School, London
London · Now
Sep 2025 to Aug 2026

MSc Strategic Marketing

Imperial Business School

Modules: Digital Marketing, Marketing Analytics, Applied Strategic Marketing, Strategic Brand Management, Consumer Behaviour, Market Research.

Brand Strategy Analytics Consumer Behaviour
Milan
Feb 2025 to Jun 2025

Exchange Semester

Bocconi University

Academic exchange focused on consumer behaviour and luxury markets. GPA 28/30. Lived in Italian, took notes in three languages.

Bocconi 28/30 Luxury Markets
Bocconi University, Milan
'22 — '25
Erasmus University graduation
Rotterdam
Sep 2022 to Jun 2025

BSc International Business Administration

Erasmus University, Rotterdam

GPA 7.73/10. Bachelor thesis: "First Impressions That Last: How CEOs Set the Tone for Corporate Culture" (8.7/10).

Thesis 8.7/10 GPA 7.73
'24
Istanbul
Jul 2024 to Aug 2024

Marketing Intern

PepsiCo

Analysed Nielsen data daily across 20+ SKUs, tracked sales in QlikView, built the BAM Awards campaign-review deck, and produced branded content via CreativeX reaching 100k+ consumers. Managed 30+ PO requests and agency comms.

Nielsen QlikView FMCG
PepsiCo, Istanbul
'23
UP School, Istanbul
Istanbul
Aug 2023 to Sep 2023

Market Research Intern

UP School

Evaluated 5+ target markets for expansion (demand, partnerships, competition) and built risk & opportunity scorecards to support business strategy.

Mixed-Methods Feasibility
'21
Istanbul
Aug 2021 to Oct 2021

Digital Marketing Intern

Turkcell

Tracked campaign performance across Meta Business Suite and Google Analytics (CTR, CPC, follower growth, post-click behaviour) and built weekly performance dashboards in Excel.

GA4 Meta Suite Reporting
Turkcell, Istanbul
Projects

What kept me
up at night.

Coursework, competitions and side-projects from Imperial, Erasmus and beyond.

CEO Thesis — financial data visualization
01 / 05
Bachelor Thesis · 8.7 / 10 · Erasmus Rotterdam

First Impressions That Last.

Rotterdam School of Management · June 2025

Do CEO first impressions — measured through cumulative abnormal returns after their initial strategic actions — shape corporate culture long-term? A quantitative study across S&P 1500 firms, 2006–2020.

Read the Project →
Wild — botanical illustration
02 / 05
Digital Marketing · Imperial · MSc

Wild: when awareness isn't enough.

Imperial Business School · 2025

A full digital audit and channel strategy for Wild — the UK's leading refillable personal care brand. Analysed TikTok, SEO, and email to identify where consideration stalls and how to fix it.

Read the Project →
Heineken 0.0 — social circles
03 / 05
Brand Strategy · Consumer Research · Imperial

Heineken 0.0: belonging without compromise.

Imperial Business School · 2025

How should Heineken position its alcohol-free variant without diluting the masterbrand? Mixed-method research — social listening, focus groups, and synthetic survey data — into the stigma driving adoption barriers.

Read the Project →
Towards Awareness — light rays
04 / 05
Founder · Social Impact · 2020 – 2022

Towards Awareness

20+ contributors · 4 charity partners

Founded a social-media collective on gender inequality and educational access. Raised £12,000 for 3 students facing educational inequality during Covid, funded 13 autism scholarships, and produced a virtual exhibition on gender inequality reaching 1,000+ visitors.

LVMH — luxury geometric pattern
05 / 05
Luxury · Certification · Competition

Inside LVMH
& L'Oréal Brandstorm.

2023 – 2024 · Global Competition + Programme

Recognised in L'Oréal's global Brandstorm competition and certified through the Inside LVMH on Creation & Branding, Retail & Customer Experience

Read the Project →
Scroll to explore →
Skills

What I'm
good at,
and getting better.

A working portrait of what I bring on day one, and what I'm actively sharpening. I'd rather be honest than oversold.

  1. 01 Strategic brand managementPositioning, competitive teardowns, and bridging consumer insight into commercial decisions. The spine of my MSc at Imperial. Brandstorm
    Inside LVMH
    Bocconi
  2. 02 Marketing analytics & dataFrom Nielsen at PepsiCo to GA4 at Turkcell. Comfortable turning messy numbers into a one-page story a brand team can act on. Nielsen
    QlikView
    GA4 · Excel
  3. 03 Digital & social campaignsPerformance tracking on Meta Business Suite, branded content via CreativeX, audience reporting end-to-end. Meta Suite
    CreativeX
    Google Ads
  4. 04 Consumer behaviour & researchMixed-methods market research, feasibility scoring, qualitative interviews. Thesis grade: 8.7/10. SPSS
    R (intermediate)
    Python (basic)
  5. 05 LanguagesFluent English, German & native Turkish; conversational Italian, enough to brief a creative team in Milan without an interpreter. EN · TR
    DE · IT
  6. 06 Luxury & FMCG fluencyTwo ends of the marketing spectrum. Inside LVMH for prestige codes, PepsiCo for category velocity. I'm interested in both. LVMH
    L'Oréal
    PepsiCo
Let's talk

Let's make
something
worth sharing.

I graduate from Imperial in August and I'm looking for a graduate role on a marketing team that values both creative taste and analytical rigour. If that's yours, I'd love to hear from you.

+ Email me Download CV (PDF)
Emaildefnegoral@gmail.com
LinkedIn/in/defne-göral
Phone+44 7346 053 154
LanguagesEN · TR · DE · IT
LocationLondon, UK
AvailabilityFrom August '26

Or drop me a message — include your contact info and I'll get back to you.

Thank you — I'll be in touch soon.

Defne Göral.
0