Wednesday 26 February 2014

Pragati and Summer Internships : By Mr. Anand Menon

Date: 30th January, 2014
Time: 6:30 pm.
Location: SAPG class.
With eyes closed, everyone began their journey to a higher state of mind. Breathing in deep, concentrating on the soothing tunes playing in the class, when suddenly 8 phones vibrate and distract everyone. We open one eye to check the message and an exchange of surprised expressions travel between all 8 faces. Team Colloquia received a Whatsapp text that 2 hours from now, our very stylish and charismatic young alumni, Mr. Anand Menon, will be in the building. Not for a friendly visit. It’s a colloquia.

Time: 8:30 pm.
Location: ECR.
Hall arrangements. Check. Welcome speech. Check. Camera. Ready. Mikes. Working. Entire  batch. Informed.
Eight colloquians high fiving on a job well done as we wait for the batch to arrive.

Time: 8:50 pm.
Location: outside ECR.
All first year MBA students have reached the hall and are waiting on our guest speaker, Mr. Menon. We see a lone bike at a distance approaching. It stops right in front of our building and the lone rider takes his helmet off. Mr. Anand Menon is officially in the building. He smiles at us and after a little interaction with Team Colloquia and the seniors, he enters ECR, a place he is very familiar with. Everyone can see the confidence shining off him as he sets himself up for the talk.

9 pm. It’s a go.

Pragati and Summer Internships by Mr. Anand Menon Regional head (South) at SOTC

Mr. Menon started off by setting the mike down and ensuring that everyone at the back could hear him without it. He cleared out that this session was going to be a collaborative one, and not just a one way discussion. As a former colloquia member himself, he was definitely happy with the turnout.
He started off with our B-fest Pragati, and how it was a major part of who we were in ASB and our culture. He wanted to see the wholehearted support that a fest of this magnitude deserves. Pragati has been a dream project for our batch this time, making it the biggest B-fest in ASB till date. The big biz names were turning up and the big brands were following, but all at a price. Funding an event this major was always an issue and it once again proved to be the case now. Mr. Menon narrated how his batch had side-lined funding to be a ‘core committee’ concern, not their own. He did not want us to make the same mistake. He encouraged us to find the right people who can help this mega fest be a hit.
Throughout the talk we could see how attached he was to the topic of Pragati. He was the VP Committees in his Pragati, and that meant handling people responsible for the various back end jobs, the skeleton of Pragati. He was responsible for the accommodation, hospitality, transport etc. and this passion for his work continued as he joined Thomas Cook.
He talked to the present core committee about how reaching out to the alumni would be a great place to start their funding journey, considering Pragati was just 10 days away. As we found out later on, the alumni did become the guardian angels to a successful Pragati.
Once he stopped with Pragati he began with the summer placements and their roles in the future. He started with trying to figure out if we understood exactly how important this internship would be. Sensing a silence and lack of idea, he began with how fresh graduates should aim for the internship for what experience it will provide. He took up every question asked by us and emphasised on how much this 2-3 month internship, will be valued during our final placements and future career.
He was later joined by our beloved Prof. Deepak Gupta, who told us more about how the Placecom was progressing and the sort of projects that were coming along.
The session stirred up conversations all across our batch as Mr. Menon’s insights offered a lot more clarity to what can be expected in the upcoming future, an experience cherished by all.

With a smile on his face, he had a friendly post Colloquia session with the senior batch and left with Mr. Gupta into the night. :)



Shaunak Sinha

(Team Colloquia Member)

Friday 21 February 2014

Marketing Unplugged..:)



                                            Marketing Unplugged
                                                                                          
The session by Mr. MK Chandrasekar was a class apart. He is a very down to earth and joyful person. Mr. MKC made the whole ambience lively. It was a laughter therapy for all the students. But with that he also gave us a deep insight about marketing as well as life.
He started by asking a very simple question to the audience, “Who are you?”
Before getting to know anyone else we should be aware of ourselves, our strengths and our weaknesses. He said, “It is all right to be confused as everyone at some point of their life feel confused.” But one should try to learn from whatever he/she is doing. Don’t learn for a job rather; learn the job, because when you learn the job properly, only then you become a professional.
There is a learning cycle in every process. First we ignore a subject, and then when we start paying attention to it, we become aware of that subject. As we find the subject to be of relevance to us, we develop the interest to learn about it and if we continue the process of learning about a particular subject, soon we become the expert of it
            “If you seek a job only for food then it’ll be a burden for you.”                                                
 So, do what you like, develop passion for your work, and be enthusiastic about what you do.
After bequeathing his advices for life her set out to reveal the success of marketing, which goes as follows:
The main factors contributing to the success of marketing of any product or service depends heavily upon three things, generation of an Idea or Ideas, how that idea is perceived by everyone else (especially the customers), the attitude by which it is taken into account and finally the key to success, the execution of the idea. No matter how great an idea is, if not executed properly then it can even destroy a brand’s image.
The new ideas should be well blended with the brand’s proposition. It should target the customers both internally and externally.
There is an equation of perception:
Unhappiness = Aspiration – Reliability
Hence, one should always see to it that customer’s aspiration about any products/services always matches with its reliability, only then the perception so formed will be positive.
While creating a brand, one should know how to create and use a character. It is important to know how to relate a personality with a brand. Also, while choosing any celebrity for being a brand ambassador one should see to it that the values and personality of that celebrity coincides with that of the brand. There should be an emotional connection between the brand and the customer. Visual instigation also plays a very important role in creating a brand value and for doing all this one needs to understand the core value of his/her brand and the business.
He also showed a lot of clippings of old advertisements as an example of how to choose brand ambassadors and how we can personify even a simple non living thing and use it to spread the message or the core value of our brand.
He winded up the session by one simple advice, “If you need to be on the top, you need to know the whole structure of your organization right from the bottom.”
After this, the students asked their queries which Mr. MKC handled very patiently and effectively.  This session with him was amazing. It helped the students to know what all things go in creating a brand and how it needs to be marketed.

-          Uditi Rawat