Ana Carolina Ferreira;

PIPS Host Organisation: Gaba Labs;

PIPS Project Title: The Integration of Product Development, Manufacturing and Marketing in a Functional Beverage Company

During her placement at Gaba Labs, Ana gained experience across several areas of the business, including product development, brewery operations, marketing, and e-commerce. She attended team meetings and presentations that provided an overview of the company’s objectives and allowed her to understand how different departments collaborated to support product development and commercial success.

Ana spent time in the small brewery, where she observed the formulation of new beverage recipes and learned about the selection and testing of ingredients. This included understanding the use of natural colourings, botanical compounds, pH measurements, and BRIX analysis to assess sugar content. She also observed how new products were developed and refined before being approved for larger-scale production.

In the main brewery, Ana learned about the commercial manufacturing process. She observed the operation of brewing equipment, temperature control systems, filtration processes, and quality assurance procedures. Ana also gained insight into sustainability practices, including the reuse of spent botanical materials as animal feed for local farms.

In addition to production activities, Ana contributed to marketing initiatives by participating in the filming of educational and promotional videos. These covered topics such as ingredients, neuroscience concepts related to Sentia products, myths surrounding alcohol consumption, and scientific research findings. This experience allowed her to communicate scientific information to a wider audience in an accessible way.

Ana also received training on the company’s digital platforms and customer engagement systems, including Shopify, Klaviyo, Triple Whale, Hotjar, BrowserStack, and Trustpilot. Through these platforms, she learned how the company managed customer relationships, monitored website performance, analysed consumer behaviour, and optimised online sales and marketing campaigns. Overall, the placement provided valuable exposure to the complete journey of a product from development and production through to customer engagement and sales.