It’s Simplified! for IMT-G's Marketing World Cup 2011-12-02

Dumping your mobile provider is easy. Getting a better one is easier – so say the ads. However, if by any chance you do decide to go in for a new company, retaining your old number, chances are your existing provider is going to object. Big time. May even not let you go.

That is exactly what happened at IMT Ghaziabad. Simplified participants of the Marketing World Cup held at IMT Ghaziabad had to create a Defence Strategy for Helliance Comm. They had to convince existing customers of their services and capabilities and even offer sops just to retain them.

The challenge was tough. The rules were simple. Each participating team was given two parameters. Their customers profile included income, age, monthly billing amount, recharge, etc. The teams presented two unique ideas for each of the selected categories and present strong arguments as to why a disgruntled customer should not move.

Pramod Bisht, Product Head at Idea Cellular judged Simplified. He had a wonderful time watching, listening, and judging the competition – all seven teams were good. The competition was close. Bisht saw the confidence level of the participants was high. While absolutely engaged in the event, he took home some learnings as well. “I see lot of challenges in terms of lot of people being here to take my place. As learning I got to interact with lot of new faces and I see that the future of India is pretty secure,” he said.

The teams themselves had interesting names. For example, the winning team, from IMT Ghaziabad, called themselves Monsters with Chivalry. At their heels, literally, and coming a close second were the Shillong Shreks from IIM Shillong. They found the whole concept really attractive. “We paid a good amount of money to travel here,” the Shillong Shreks say, “we choose the events we go to with great care, and Markup was one we wanted to come to. It is such an attractive concept – this whole Marketing World Cup. We met other Marketing students from different parts of the country and that is really good.”

All teams learnt a lot. They got to apply theory taught in the class room into practice. They learnt from their mistakes – lessons only experience teaches. “For us it was like half learning in college and half learning here,” they observe.

Judge Pramod Bisht added, “They need to get out of their own beliefs and study the market.”

While today’s MBA students learn a lot from their institutes and from the experiences they gather via various competitions and case studies, the need for change and the challenge to adapt are a constant. “This industry and the interaction of the industry with students should continue in the future. I told the students that before doing any projects they must study the industry.” Bisht says as he leaves IMT Ghaziabad with fond memories and a new experience.