IIM Calcutta Organizes "Mandi-09"

IIM Calcutta Organizes "Mandi-09"

Sunday, 18th Oct, saw the otherwise calm campus of IIM Calcutta buzzing with activity and bustling with energy. As the day drew to a close and the evening grew darker, the final round of the experiential marketing based event “Mandi” was launched amongst much fanfare.

The event, having a footfall of over 600 students of IIM C, saw the final 8 teams selling, bargaining and promotingvarious items at their chosen stall locations. The uniqueness of such a common occurrence lay in the fact that these stalls, run by the students of IIM C, replicated the typical energy and commotion filled “bazaar-type” atmosphere which is usually seen in the local market in the city.

Team Census of IIM Calcutta known for its famed marketing research fair, Ulhaas continued its foray into experiential marketing with its event Mandi which was initiated in 2007. This year’s Mandi tested the participants on their marketing, advertising, selling and strategic skills.

The week-long event was conducted in two phases an elimination round and the final round. The elimination round required the participating teams to submit ideas for advertisements to promote quality education amongst children. The ideas had to be submitted in a poster / video / power point presentation format along with an appropriate slogan with the theme being “Is education really for all?”

The submissions were judged by a panel represented by the Marketing faculty of IIM C and representatives from CRY and ITC – the corporate partners of Team Census for “Mandi”.

The finalist entries would later be used by CRY in their campaigns. Only 8 teams were selected for the final round. Designed as a simulation of the real marketplace, this contest allowed the finalist teams to select their own product and bid competitively for promotions and stall location.

The final round event saw innovative methods being used by the teams to sell a variety of products such as kulfi, coke float, chaat, tandoori dishes and sweetsas well as services like making personalized name plates for the participants andholding dart competitions.

For competition and employing innovative methods for product promotion was the use of mimicry of various personalities such as Sachin Tendulkar, Dharmendra, Ajay Devgan, Shah Rukh Khan .

The event continued the tradition of issuing its own currency “Tau” (1 Tau = 1 Rupee) for the purchase of various products. An initial free sum of 20 “Tau” was given to all the visitors to kick-start their spending sprees.

A D.J., with the help of the Cultural Secretary of IIM C, dished out popular remix songs which added to the boisterousness and joie de vivre of Mandi

Aravind Tambad, overall coordinator, Team Census says “It was one of the liveliest events that IIM Calcutta has seen in recent times. We were determined to make the event bigger and better than last year and our hard work paid off wonderfully. The challenging task of organizing and executing the entire event without any glitches was made possible by our 40-member team which worked tirelessly in order to ensure that the event was a grand success.”

Concluded.

* Contributed by -
Paul Savio & Rohan Mahajan,
IIM, Calcutta.

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