29 March 1983Van Breestraat 111 (2), 1071ZK Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Native English, MalayalamFluent HindiIntermediate DutchLearning German

Marketing Manager & New Business Development, Afa Dispensing Group, AmsterdamMasters Graduation Project, Biohorma BV, Elburg, the NetherlandsStudent assistant, TU Delft, the NetherlandsBusiness Associate, Vista Car Care / Resil Chemicals, Bangalore, IndiaBachelors Graduation Project / Lighting Designer, AFL Pvt Ltd, Delhi, IndiaInternship (Product Design), BPL Ltd, Bangalore, India

Master of Science in Strategic Product Design (2007-2009)Honours Track* in Design ResearchTechnical University of Delft, the Netherlands

Graduate Diploma in Product Design (2001-2006)National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India

Operating System Windows, Macintosh OS2D software Microsoft Office, SPSS, Adobe CS, CorelDRAW3D software Rhinoceros, SolidWorks, AutoCAD

IDE Ambassador Award**HSP Huygens Scholarship Programme 2008-09Delta Scholarship 2007-08

Date of birthAddress

Language skills

Work experience

Education

Computer skills

Awards & scholarships

June 2009 - PresentOctober 2008 - April 2009

September 2007July 2006 - January 2007

August 2005 - February 2006April - May 2003

*Honours track: Special individual program of 30 credits, in addition to the normal Master’s degree, for students who have shown an excel-lent performance during the first master semester. First student to receive this honour from the Industrial Design Engineering faculty.

**IDE Ambassador Award: Given to one international student per batch who fits the Industrial Design Engineering faculty’s profile of good faculty ambassadors, by making a special contribution to the Master’s program and/or to student life in the faculty

amrita.ajitkumar@gmail.com+31 650 746 736Van Breestraat 111(2), 1071ZK Amsterdam, The Netherlandswww.linkedin.com/in/kumaramrita

Amrita Kumar

Strategy & Brand building

Mapping Afa’s core competencies, business en-vironment, competition, stakeholders and internal goals to articulate the global brand message. Understanding the difference between the com-pany’s brand values and current image. Creating a road map of actions to bridge gap. Obtaining input & creating buy-in within the company.

Marketing Communication (worldwide)

Complete concept and execution (print matter, product information, corporate gifts). Concep-tualizing and managing other designers (product launches, press conferences, trade fairs, websites, videos & animations, photo-shoots). Collaborating with PR agencies on press releases, news arti-cles, press conferences.

Customer & competitor research

Understanding the needs of Afa’s customers across the globe (through in-depth interviews). De-veloping customer-oriented strategies to improve supply chain and service offerings. Gathering competitive intelligence. Organizing & executing quantitative & qualitative research studies with customers and end-users.

Product strategy & positioning

Researching Afa’s B2B business environment to understand the current product positioning and adjusting this positioning through marketing ef-forts. Using market research, in-depth customer interviews, end-user studies and the company’s own brand strategy to define Afa’s next product offering.

Opportunity mapping

Understanding the potential (and limitations) of a new packaging technology Flair®. Finding market niches that maximize the advantages of this technology. Identifying the market potential and prospective partners. University research collabo-rations.

Product line extension for A.Vogel

After extensive user research & brand analysis, a new “Night & Day” packaging concept was de-veloped in response to an unmet user need, to update the brand and help it penetrate the youth market.

Retail experiences for Philips

Developed and tested a tool to improve the cus-tomer’s retail experience, for Philips Consumer Lifestyle. Our team was short-listed for the win-ner’s place.

Launch strategy for Smartcap

Developed a 2008 product launch strategy for Smartcap (a Dutch company) in France. This in-volved identifying target markets, co-branding partners and suitable distribution channels.

Sustainable brand for Proctor and Gamble

Developed and tested a new sustainable clean-ing brand for Proctor and Gamble, Brussels. Used market research, user insights, creative tech-niques and context mapping to create, test and communicate the brand and its values.

Relaunch of Vista Car Care

A systematic re-launch of the brand was proposed and executed, including portfolio management, shifting the market focus, changing the distribution channels and logistic systems, and redesigning the current packaging and image.

Context-mapping for A.Vogel

Conducted qualitative research methods in-cluding context-mapping, cultural probes and in-depth interviews to generate insights into users’ associations with illness & medication. Explored unaddressed needs in the cold and flu medicine market.

Research paper on co-branding

Co-wrote a paper on consumers’ perception of co-branded products. Research involved quali-tative methods including questionnaires and statistical analysis.

L.M. Bouten, A. Kumar, E. Petala, H.J. Hultink (2008), “The Impact of Perceptual Combination Effects on Asymmetry in Co-branded prod-ucts”, The Association for Consumer Research Annual North American Conference 2008, San Francisco, CA, United States.

Customer research - Clocky

Understood the customer’s reactions and buying intention for “Clocky”, an alarm clock produced by Nanda Ltd, using a combination of qualitative (focus groups) and quantitative techniques (inter-net questionnaires)

Creative sessions - TU Delft

Was employed by TU Delft to conduct and facili-tate creative sessions with stakeholders (local & international students as well as faculty) to help design a new combined Biotechnology/ Chemical Engineering building.

Creative facilitation - Royal Haskoning

Learned the techniques and process of creative facilitation. Conducted sessions for Royal Haskon-ing (a Dutch architecture company) to design polyvalent work spaces of the future

Knockdown lamps for IKEA

Developed several ranges of metal, fabric and paper lamps targeted for IKEA, considering pro-duction viability, costing and competition from China. Rigid origami was my inspiration for this particular range. Prototypes were made & produc-tion planning was conducted.

Medical Nose Dropper

Redesign of a medical nose-dropper, considering functionality, hygiene, ease of use, tamper-proof-ing and production.

Ergonomic furniture

Furniture inspired and derived from the form of the human vertebral column, keeping in mind ideal ergonomic postures for work and leisure. Due to the geometric cuts in the pliable material, the rigid chair takes on a fluid organic form when someone sits on it.

Design of Television for BPL

Was responsible for designing the front cabinet of a 21” flat-screen colour television for BPL Limited, Bangalore, after an initial user survey and market study into buyer preferences.

Brailler - Blind Persons’ Association

Design of a portable typing machine (Brailler), keeping in mind the user group (rural, visually im-paired children in India) and their requirements (cost, weight, simplicity of mechanism, easy main-tenance)

Research Project in Argentina

Met with Argentine NGOs and universities to find development projects for TU Delft students. De-veloped an intra-university platform for students to conduct and continue projects in the Base of the Pyramid.

Craft Documentation - NID

Studied a dying Indian craft (Dharushilpam or wood carving), existing means of production and distribution, the traditions and heritage, the eco-nomic potential for the craft and possible means to revive it.

I am intrinsically interested in people - how they think, behave & consume. I bring a multicultural background, a can-do attitude, a belief in the magic of teams and unbridled optimism that we can indeed make things better, if we want to badly enough.I am looking for a challenging work environment, with potential for growth, learning and a positive social impact.