Ahmedabad, 22nd October, 2011:
Insight kicked today with the Inauguration witnessing a crowd of 400 strong students. The event has seen participation from IIMA, IIMB, XLRI, NITIE, MICA and NIRMA among several others. The flagship events that took place in Insight were:
Social Revelations: Social Revelation is a unique event being held at Insight, the Marketing Fair of IIM Ahmedabad. This is a case competition; but unlike other traditional management competitions, these cases are related to NGOs and the challenges they face. Thus, apart from technical expertise and business acumen, the participants also need to exhibit their social consciousness. The NGOs involved with this event include established organizations like Samveda and Yuva as well as college-level initiatives like Prayaas of IIM Ahmedabad. The event is being held in 2 rounds. The first round was conducted offline. Participants had to choose 1 out of 3 cases, analyze it and make recommendations. 40 teams from across the nation, belonging to premiere institutes like the IIMs, IITs, NMIMS and NITIE, sent in entries. These were judged by the heads of the NGOs. Consequently, the best 3 teams in each category have been invited to come to the Ahmedabad campus and present their analysis to the judges. Mrs. Janki Vasant, the Founder and Trustee of Samvedana Trust said “I am extremely pleased with this opportunity to interact with IIMA students. The solutions presented were extremely innovative. We would like to interact more with students who have participated in the competition and implement the solutions proposed.”
Bone – Of – Contention: This is a one of a kind marketing debate competition with students debating on different marketing topics and dilemmas often faced by marketing heads. A total of 70 teams registered for the contest and 6 quarter-finalists were selected on the basis of a written round which asked the question „Is video marketing taking over print media campaigns?. The 6 quarter finalists included 2 teams from IIMA, 2 teams from MICA, 1 team from SP Jain and 1 team from Great Lakes Institute Chennai. The teams were divided into pools of 3 teams each and pitted against each other in a round robin format. Finally, 4 teams were selected for the semi-finals i.e. 1 team from IIMA, 2 teams from MICA and 1 team from SP Jain. The semi-finals will take place tonight post which 2 teams will be selected for the finals which will also take place tonight. The participants have debated topics such as „Is affiliate marketing a cost effective solution??, „Does Ad-Sense make sense for advertisers? and „Can a communication campaign create an artificial lead for a product??
AC Nielson Workshop – AC Nielson the reputed market research firm taught budding marketeers a thing or two about market research today. The event saw nation-wide participation with over 80 teams and 350 participants. Students have come from Delhi, Udaipur, Jaipur, Pune and Mumbai apart from local Ahmedabad students. The workshop lasted for 3 hours and covered the importance and benefits of market research as well as various tools and methodologies used in market research. Students can put their learning to use in a case-study contest which is the culmination of the workshop. Cases will be distributed at the end of the workshop and students will have to present their solutions tomorrow morning.
Ad-dicted – This is a unique event focused completely on advertising consisting of 3 fun filled sub-events dealing with different aspects of advertising. The first sub-event consists of an ad-quiz while the second contains 7 to 8 questions about viral marketing. This tests participants recall for brand and campaigns. The first two sub-events take place tonight. The third sub-event requires participants to make a print advertisement or a video advertisement and develop a jingle for a social cause. The themes include family planning, anti-smoking and raising awareness about female infanticide. This sub-event will happen tomorrow morning. The registrations for the event are on the spot and it promises to be exciting and highly-charged.
Wizards of Barter – This is a marketing strategy event where teams have been given a case study and have to come up with a market entry strategy in round 1. In Round 2, teams come up with strategies to counter their competitors? strategies. This event witnessed the maximum participation for any Insight event with 140 teams registering. 5 teams reached the finals on the basis of an initial evaluation round i.e. IIMA, IIMI, XLRI, NITIE and MICA. The judges for this event include Mr. Ashish Bhavnani, the Brand Manager of KamaSutra India and Professor Mathur from MICA. The first round takes place this evening while the other round will take place tomorrow.
Insight Fair: Tomorrow?s biggest attraction is the Insight Fair – The Great Ahmedabad Dhamaal. Participation from local crowds is expected to top 10,000 footfalls. Some of the stalls that will be set up include KamaSutra, the NGOs who participated in Social Revelations, Party Planet, The Grand Bhagwati, My FM and Aasedh. There are loads of exciting prizes to be won including the Apple iPad 2 to engage the crowd in various events like Antakshari, Treasure Hunt, The Great Race, Music Performances and much more.