For a moment, Parthasarthy Mitra took place in another world. Various television programs delivered over several channels posters dangled from the ceiling of a great team, represented by the “world of television.”

The stocky Mitra was resting before a number of “saints” showered, who, with his sermons and chanting religious songs.

Mitra was one of several visitors, students, Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), conducting a market survey on the Maxi-Mass today.

Pupils and students have tried to provide information on the reaction of people on products, companies had planned to start.

The survey included several games, in conjunction with the marketing research fun.

An annual event, it was the 24 year the fair, organized by members of the Association Marketing Institute.

The sector games are designed so that respondents do not realize that the answer to questions of market research.

“Entrepreneurship decisions on the basis of feedback from visitors by games. Therefore, care for games intelligent and interesting,” said Mehernosh Malia, director of marketing function as a member of the Association XLRI.

After Malia, the fair offers a unique opportunity of learning for students, offering them practical experience to evaluate consumer behavior and use of instruments of market research and advertising.

This year, three companies - ITC, Colgate Palmolive, Reckitt Benckiser - attended the fair. Participants in the years HLL, Nestle and other leaders Fast Moving Consumer Goods companies.

Projecting the theme ‘Know no Woe’, this year’s edition of MARWAR ’07, the week-long flagship ‘marketing war’ game at Bharathidasan Institute of Management, one of the premier B-Schools in India, turned out to be a virtual mirror reflecting to the first-year students what the future holds for them as team players and leaders.

BISMARC, the Marketing Club of BIM, prompted the freshers to grab opportunities to display their and creativity and gain hands-on experience on what marketing and conducting a business is all about. Fourteen seven-member teams from the I-years guided by two II-year students per team were pitted against each other in this marketing battle.

On Day one, MARWAR ’07 asked the students to come up with a product, its concept, name, logo and tagline. Day two followed with a market survey among the BIM students to determine the viability of the product. Each team was required to get authorisation from the virtual Government Boards, constituting the senior students.

After this initial screening process, students had to make advertisements for their product/ service and display them in and around the campus. Following this was an elimination process in which eight teams made it to the next stage. The members of the eliminated teams joined the other teams to strengthen them to accomplish their tasks.

Their next task was personal selling where they had to market their product idea personally to each II-year student. The weekend that followed was more entertaining with the teams setting up attractive stalls for their products and conducting exciting games to woo more people to their stalls.

A formal business presentation was the agenda on the afternoon of the last day when the teams had to present their business plan along with their financial statements to the BIM faculty panel. The last event of MARWAR ’07 was ADZAP. Each team had to advertise another team’s product and answer questions about the competitor’s product and their marketing strategy. The guides were then felicitated and the much awaited results were announced. Team OASIS emerged winners of MARWAR ’07, followed by the runners-up team MADE EASY and team CONNEXION.

PUNE: Understanding the youth, constant innovation, first to the market, projecting ‘desi cool’ through fusion of western and Indian cultures and the motto ‘entertain — don’t preach’ seems to be the mantra behind MTV’s success and popularity in India.

This secret behind MTV’s success was shared by Vikram Raizada, vice-president, marketing, MTV India, during the launch of ET Club — a readership programme for the youth — by the Economic Times in partnership with educational institutions here on Friday. The programme, comprising seminars, lectures and meetings with prominent people, was inaugurated with presentations from Raizada and Kaushik Roy, executive director, Mudra Communications.

Addressing the gathering, Raizada observed that youth were no longer a niche, but a market that needed to be studied carefully. Referring to a market survey done by IBMR for the channel, he said that the Indian youth came across as groovy, independent and individualistic, who believed that success meant money.

Medical and engineering are no longer the first career options and the youth were more open to opportunities like modelling and participating in projects like Star Hunt, he said. Speeding, adventure sports, high-power lifestyle, love-cum-arranged marriages and fusion of western and Indian culture like ‘mehendi’ and tatoo or catch lines like ‘Ye dil mange more’ seem to make the Indian youth tick, Raizada remarked.
He pointed out that although the Indian youth may prefer western outfits, they were still Indian from inside, respected their parents and were not very comfortable with sex before marriage.
“Youth research is important,” Raizada said, but pointed out that ultimately it was creativity that ruled the day. Later, answering questions, he said lot of ideas were coming from India for the programmes, but the concept of ‘desi cool’ — which was a fusion of Indian and western appealed more to the youths.

Giving a presentation on ‘The most important ingredients for effective communication’, Kaushik Roy observed that advertising was getting more complicated because we seem to be talking more and listening less. “Observe, absorb and connect,” is the watchline for those in the field of communication, he said.
“Although the advertisements are based on truism, it is the insight into the truth which is more important for the campaign,” he said adding that the insight made the brand-consumer link stronger and more empathetic.
The communication has to be relatable, it should have relevance, originality and impact, he felt. “Good insight is like an emotional experience,” he said, and went on to explain how the ‘emotion’ used in the ad gave a boost to the growth of McDonald’s. Answering a question about surrogate advertisements, Roy said that hypocrisy of politicians,who put a ban on liquor ads, was responsible for the surrogate ads in media. “Liquor ads cannot be stopped as long as liquor is available in the market,” he said, adding that some rules could be chalked out about the liquor ads instead of banning them.

Vikesh Walia, general manager, RMD, western region, Times of India group, D.K. Sinha, director, Centre for Management Research & Development, B.B. Nimbhone, joint secretary, Sinhagad Technical Education Society, George Judah, director, Rosary Institute of Business Management and Suresh Chandra Padhye, deputy director, Indian Centre for IT and Telecom Management were present on the occasion.

Hospitality was provided by Hotel Pride, food and beverages by Simply Delicious and writing material by Venus Traders.