Feature

1st Intra IBA Branding Competition 2008

Tawsif Saleheen

THE auditorium delved into a hushed silence as the judges reentered the room. It was the moment of judgment, the moment when the Champions of the 1st Intra IBA Branding Competition 2008 would be announced. Earlier that afternoon the five finalists had presented their campaigns in front of a panel of judges and an auditorium full of awed audience. Sparks of ingenuity had dazzled everyone as the teams had argued their strategies backed up by sheer creativity. All that excitement had boiled down to this very moment when the winners would be announced.

The anticipation was almost contagious.

The judges gave out an overall feedback on the teams, and finally it was time. The whole auditorium went still as the result was announced, “And the winner of the 1st Intra IBA Branding Competition is…”

Training Day
From the very moment that the idea had been conceived the branding competition generated a great buzz. In fact as many as forty-two teams signed up for the competition, an impressive turnout by any standards. The competition was to be carried out in three phases, each more challenging than the other, and all with the promise to thrill. First however a workshop was arranged to equip the contestants with different techniques that they might need in the course of the competition.

The workshop was held on the afternoon of 3rd April 2008 Friday, and was divided into two parts. Since the first round of the competition required the contestants to solve a branding related case, the first part of the workshop dealt with various techniques necessary for solving a case. Mr. Shama-e Zaheer, a faculty member of IBA, conducted the workshop. As he talked about the different skills required, the contestants took notes and chuckled along with his utter witticism. The next part of the workshop dealt with branding itself, and was conducted by Mr. Shahriar Amin an alumni from BBA 7th Batch, IBA.

As Shahriar Amin started talking about the different branding tools and strategies, the contestants were awed. Once the workshop was over all the forty-two teams were put in six different groups, and were asked to submit their team names. As the contestants came up with team names, each more innovative than the others, they had already started branding themselves.

Cracking the Case
Amidst all the hype and anticipation the 1st Intra IBA Branding Contest 2008 started on 25th April. In the first round of the competition each team was given copies of a branding related case. Each team had only one hour to solve the case and prepare a presentation before they performed in front of the panel of judges.

As copies of Harvard Case Review were brought inside the IBA auditorium a muffled nervousness spread amidst the contestants and audience alike. From the very first round the branding contest was promising to be a rather tense one. Out of the seven teams in each group, only two teams would proceed to the next round!

With each team scanning their respective cases, seeking ingenious angles to solve the case and simultaneously making the presentation, one hour was over before anyone realized. The panel of judges arrived and teams from each group presented in front of the panel at respective venues. The audience and the judges were equally impressed with the synergy of innovation and practicality through which each team solved the cases.

Once the winners from each group were announced that very evening, the entire auditorium erupted with applause. As anticipated, it was a close contest for most groups. The winners however truly deserved to make it to the next round.

Later that evening the twelve winning teams attended an utterly brilliant workshop by none other than Mr. Mushtaque Ahmed, CEO of Net Value and a respected visiting faculty member at IBA. After the workshop each team was assigned to a product that they were to brand for the second phase of the competition.

Brand-Storming Sessions
When the second round of the competition started on 2nd May 2008 each of the twelve teams not only had nifty branding strategies, but also had classy advertisements to support all the way through.

This time the twelve teams were put into two different groups with three winners to be selected from each group. As teams from the two groups started their presentations simultaneously at two different venues, most of the audience faced a major dilemma as to which venue to be in. All the teams were highly anticipated, and all the twelve teams lived up to the expectations and more. The products that were to be branded varied from eggs to bananas, from perfume-boutique to fashion house and so on.

The audience eagerly waited as the result of the second round was announced. From group A Carpe Diem became the champion, followed by Opacity and The Four Marketers. The three teams branded eggs, an ice-cream parlor and a fashion house respectively.

From group B Alohamora became the champion followed by Transformers and Team Forty Two Point Zero. The three teams branded “Taat-er-Sharee”, bananas and a women's university, respectively.

As the second round of the competition came to an end and the victory celebrations started, all the finalists felt slight twinge of restlessness. They have just started to realize how excruciatingly close they were to be the first ever champion of the Intra IBA Branding Competition.

La Finale
The judgment day was set on 16th May 2008. The final round was expected to be the toughest of them all. As far as the contestants were concerned, it certainly was. For the final round of 1st Intra IBA Branding Competition 2008 each team had to design a social awareness campaign on healthy food. The most challenging part about this round was, the finalists were given the topic only forty-eight hours before the presentations.

The judgment panel was presided over by Mr. Shahed Mujahid, a former student of BBA 1st Batch IBA; Mr. Salehin Rashid, former student of BBA 5th Batch IBA and Mr. Shariar Amin. All of them are currently working as Brand Managers of different multinational brands.

Over the course of the next few hours all the finalists successfully identified the different problems that lead to unhealthy foods and unhealthy eating behaviours in Bangladesh. The campaigns designed by most of the teams were smart, sensible and even inspiring. The presentations on the other hand were witty and well executed.

As the presentations came to an end apprehension reached its absolute high. After weeks of anticipation the ultimate champion of the 1st Intra IBA Branding Contest was about to be announced. To increase the suspense the judges decided to start with the second runner up.

The second runner up was Carpe Diem. Led by Khandker Aumio Shahriar, Laila Farzana, and Razia Binte Iftekhar from BBA 14th Batch, and Sadek Jake Alam from BBA 16th Batch, CapreDiem had worked hard over the weeks, brought forward brilliant ideas and truly deserved the position. That brought the judges to the runner up of the competition. The runner up was The Four Marketers.

The team was led by Sadruzzaman Nur, Rowena Afreen, and S.M. Albaab-ur-Rahman from BBA 14th Batch, and Muktadir Shubhro Jinnah from BBA 15th Batch. And marketers they were! From the very beginning of the competition they had set themselves apart with wit and creativity.

That brought the judges to the ultimate announcement. “And the winner of the 1st Intra IBA Branding Competition is…”

The entire auditorium erupted as the champion was announced.

It was Alohamora.
Although the audience clapped, and yelled, no one was surprised. Led by Sadia Musarrat Choudhury, Naziha Sultana, and Asifa Zaman from BBA 14th Batch and Shoaib M Siddiqui from BBA 15th Batch, Alohamora was certainly the most deserving of them all. They have sauntered across the first round of case study, aced the second round of branding, and won over the judges and the audience alike in the final round with their social awareness campaign. What Alohamora had cast over the last few weeks of the competition was more than just a magic spell. It was quintessential brilliance.

As the evening carried on and everyone prepared to leave at the end of the competition, IBA premises glowed with a bright promise for the future. Although Alohamara had won the 1st Intra IBA Branding contest, each contestant was a winner in terms of knowledge, experience and an opportunity to reconcile with the creativity within.