3. But… not at the cost of comfort of working with each other
No.. I am not talking about gender diversity or quota system, which everyone absolutely abhors!
4. Play the Devil’s Advocate!
Cross Question each-other’s idea until the entire idea is completely fleshed out !
Keep your egos aside even if your ideas are being thrashed by a team-mate!
Remember, it is better to be thrashed behind closed doors rather than being thrashed on stage or not
winning at all!
5. The devil lies in the … Details!
Think from various perspectives – the market, the economy, the company, the protagonists
(sometimes – if the case is given in the form of a story), the current happenings!
Don various hats and read between the lines – why is the company asking such questions!
6. Ideas are many… few are realistic!
Make sure that your ideas or solutions fit in with the company’s goals, vision and mission statements!
Don various hats and read between the lines – why is the company asking such questions!
OH YES, THEY ARE NOT CRAP!
7. Marketing has no connection whatsoever with numbers!
Any marketing competition values hard-work and the eye for detail
Getting your hands dirty by going to the market will only help you understand that the case is a reflection of
the reality ! The insights you get are … PRICELESS!
Faking Primary Research i.e. creating a questionnaire and faking the numbers seldom works.. Because its
like .. SHOOTING IN THE DARK!
8. Step 1: Come up with a questionnaire – use online, offline modes and capture the data
Step 2: We suggest using “Qualtrics” – brilliant tool to analyze the data captured
Step 3: Try coming up with a trend/graph/gap in demand –supply etc. based on the data captured
Primary Research!
Interrobang – 180 (100+80) surveys – EITHER ON THE STREETS OR THROUGH
ONLINE CHANNELS ACROSS INDIA
9. Imagine hogging at the restaurant only to realize you forgot your wallet at home.
You’d be in similar trouble if you forget including the financials.
It’d be really awkward standing on the stage with empty hands when the panelists ask “So what about
the financials?” This is because most of the panelists tend to give a lot of importance to the financial
feasibility because at the end of the day, money is what drives the idea.
While you don’t need CFA folks in your team, having a team mate who is good with the basics of
Financial Management helps a lot
10. Sadly! you never get those reports for free! However, there are other
useful reports available for free(from sources like Euro
Monitor/Market Line. You just need to search/jugaad them
Moving on to secondary research!
11. Not undermining them: Try to come up with the content and structure your thoughts based on them
BUT HEY,
you can come up with your own 2*2 matrices! Or even 3*3!
Example: ITC interrobang – based on the data analysis we came up with
a positioning matrix
12. Product StrategyNeed Gap Analysis Customer Preferences Concept Testing Brand Architecture Stakeholder Speak
Step 1: The percentage of respondents
for whom the respective cookie
satisfied a particular need (hunger,
taste etc.) was calculated
Step 2: Within each sub-group
obtained in step 1, the occasion wise
percentage consumption was
calculated
=x
COMPOSITE
POSITIONING
INDEX SCORE
POSITIONING MATRIX
16. You need to know Photoshop or some Fancy Software to win!
Aesthetics are important, it helps but CONTENT IS … the KING! –
Some of the people might disagree – but its OK!
17. More than half the battle is won by the way you deal with the Q&A of
the judges
18. Make it a point to attend the stage rounds
At the end of the day… There is no harm in accepting your
deficiencies, learning from your mistakes and applauding your
colleagues who would have deserved to be there!
19. Enjoy working on the Cases!
To cut a long story short, everyone out here is ambitious – more or less comes here hoping for
a good placement.
We can tell for sure – that all these case competitions are very relevant to the times we are in
– thus it gives a lot of talking points in the interviews!
Basically, whether you win or not – it HELPS!
20. ONE SIZE DOESN’T FIT ALL!
Maybe what we did right, might not work for everyone…
So hoping to see some of you here… Next Year… with some of your own Stories!
Editor's Notes
I think the best example of this would be the BAAP army themselves! They have worked together for the entire two years and they have won several laurels!
Diversity, not only in terms of Gender which is a cliché for IIMs and the shortlisting criteria but in terms of qualities
For example: During our Interrobang competition
Chirag is a master at coming up with new ideas and marketing related things, has a wide and diverse knowledge base when it comes to working in the industry
Saumya is a complete finance person and it helps to have a finance person look at those aspects
Neha is great at putting together PPTs and coming with a wide array of ideas
And though, I also put in my inputs in the marketing aspects; for Interrobang I donned the role of Analytics as there was some amount of number crunching that we decided to do!
Oh, we worked with Ankita as well – and she is a superfast data-miner! Any data, any report, anything on earth – and she will dig it all up! Ofcourse, she has great ideas too
But, the point is: “Be complementary in your roles and don’t hesitate to call a spade a spade when you are working with each other!”
Why is the case asking us such questions
What is it that the company wants to achieve?
What is the current strategy of the company? Is your idea in-line with the strategy?
What will the company have to do to implement your idea? The road-map!
Any reports or current happenings that help you support your idea/solution?
Why is the case asking us such questions
What is it that the company wants to achieve?
What is the current strategy of the company? Is your idea in-line with the strategy?
What will the company have to do to implement your idea? The road-map!
Any reports or current happenings that help you support your idea/solution?
Why is the case asking us such questions
What is it that the company wants to achieve?
What is the current strategy of the company? Is your idea in-line with the strategy?
What will the company have to do to implement your idea? The road-map!
Any reports or current happenings that help you support your idea/solution?
Why is the case asking us such questions
What is it that the company wants to achieve?
What is the current strategy of the company? Is your idea in-line with the strategy?
What will the company have to do to implement your idea? The road-map!
Any reports or current happenings that help you support your idea/solution?
Why is the case asking us such questions
What is it that the company wants to achieve?
What is the current strategy of the company? Is your idea in-line with the strategy?
What will the company have to do to implement your idea? The road-map!
Any reports or current happenings that help you support your idea/solution?
Why is the case asking us such questions
What is it that the company wants to achieve?
What is the current strategy of the company? Is your idea in-line with the strategy?
What will the company have to do to implement your idea? The road-map!
Any reports or current happenings that help you support your idea/solution?
Why is the case asking us such questions
What is it that the company wants to achieve?
What is the current strategy of the company? Is your idea in-line with the strategy?
What will the company have to do to implement your idea? The road-map!
Any reports or current happenings that help you support your idea/solution?
Why is the case asking us such questions
What is it that the company wants to achieve?
What is the current strategy of the company? Is your idea in-line with the strategy?
What will the company have to do to implement your idea? The road-map!
Any reports or current happenings that help you support your idea/solution?
Content:
Last couple of months, a lot of PGP1s have come up and said that all these competition PPTs have so much content fit into each slide – isn’t it against the principle of “Speak more, Write less” principle of delivering PPTs!
My clichéd answer to this:
If it’s a submission, make sure you get in as much details and as much masala into the PPT!
However, if it’s a second round stage presentation – yes, follow the principle!
Also, most of the time there is a limit in the number of slides and hence one needs to have enough content to back-up your ideas/solutions. Thus, a cramped up – shitty looking content filled PPT is all you see! But mind you, that’s a lot of work in there :P
Last couple of months, a lot of PGP1s have come up and said that all these competition PPTs have so much content fit into each slide – isn’t it against the principle of “Speak more, Write less” principle of delivering PPTs!
My clichéd answer to this:
If it’s a submission, make sure you get in as much details and as much masala into the PPT!
However, if it’s a second round stage presentation – yes, follow the principle!
Also, most of the time there is a limit in the number of slides and hence one needs to have enough content to back-up your ideas/solutions. Thus, a cramped up – shitty looking content filled PPT is all you see! But mind you, that’s a lot of work in there :P
Last couple of months, a lot of PGP1s have come up and said that all these competition PPTs have so much content fit into each slide – isn’t it against the principle of “Speak more, Write less” principle of delivering PPTs!
My clichéd answer to this:
If it’s a submission, make sure you get in as much details and as much masala into the PPT!
However, if it’s a second round stage presentation – yes, follow the principle!
Also, most of the time there is a limit in the number of slides and hence one needs to have enough content to back-up your ideas/solutions. Thus, a cramped up – shitty looking content filled PPT is all you see! But mind you, that’s a lot of work in there :P
Last couple of months, a lot of PGP1s have come up and said that all these competition PPTs have so much content fit into each slide – isn’t it against the principle of “Speak more, Write less” principle of delivering PPTs!
My clichéd answer to this:
If it’s a submission, make sure you get in as much details and as much masala into the PPT!
However, if it’s a second round stage presentation – yes, follow the principle!
Also, most of the time there is a limit in the number of slides and hence one needs to have enough content to back-up your ideas/solutions. Thus, a cramped up – shitty looking content filled PPT is all you see! But mind you, that’s a lot of work in there :P
Last couple of months, a lot of PGP1s have come up and said that all these competition PPTs have so much content fit into each slide – isn’t it against the principle of “Speak more, Write less” principle of delivering PPTs!
My clichéd answer to this:
If it’s a submission, make sure you get in as much details and as much masala into the PPT!
However, if it’s a second round stage presentation – yes, follow the principle!
Also, most of the time there is a limit in the number of slides and hence one needs to have enough content to back-up your ideas/solutions. Thus, a cramped up – shitty looking content filled PPT is all you see! But mind you, that’s a lot of work in there :P
Last couple of months, a lot of PGP1s have come up and said that all these competition PPTs have so much content fit into each slide – isn’t it against the principle of “Speak more, Write less” principle of delivering PPTs!
My clichéd answer to this:
If it’s a submission, make sure you get in as much details and as much masala into the PPT!
However, if it’s a second round stage presentation – yes, follow the principle!
Also, most of the time there is a limit in the number of slides and hence one needs to have enough content to back-up your ideas/solutions. Thus, a cramped up – shitty looking content filled PPT is all you see! But mind you, that’s a lot of work in there :P
Last couple of months, a lot of PGP1s have come up and said that all these competition PPTs have so much content fit into each slide – isn’t it against the principle of “Speak more, Write less” principle of delivering PPTs!
My clichéd answer to this:
If it’s a submission, make sure you get in as much details and as much masala into the PPT!
However, if it’s a second round stage presentation – yes, follow the principle!
Also, most of the time there is a limit in the number of slides and hence one needs to have enough content to back-up your ideas/solutions. Thus, a cramped up – shitty looking content filled PPT is all you see! But mind you, that’s a lot of work in there :P
Last couple of months, a lot of PGP1s have come up and said that all these competition PPTs have so much content fit into each slide – isn’t it against the principle of “Speak more, Write less” principle of delivering PPTs!
My clichéd answer to this:
If it’s a submission, make sure you get in as much details and as much masala into the PPT!
However, if it’s a second round stage presentation – yes, follow the principle!
Also, most of the time there is a limit in the number of slides and hence one needs to have enough content to back-up your ideas/solutions. Thus, a cramped up – shitty looking content filled PPT is all you see! But mind you, that’s a lot of work in there :P
