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The selling point

When marketing stepped out of the confines of textbooks

PHOTOS: S. SIVA SARAVANAN

BACK TO THE ROOTS At Creative Streaks. (below) A basket made of bread

"They need promotion. We have pride," screamed a collage. In a single stroke, it pooh-poohed the rivals and grabbed the eyeballs.

Marketing strategies got a life beyond textbooks and causes got a voice as youngsters battled it out at `Creative Streaks', organised by the GRD School of Commerce and International Business.

For the students of commerce and business, `Window Display', an annual event, is an initiation into the real world, a test of organisational skills and the ability to visualise an idea and market it.

Working with concepts

This year's contest saw the aspiring professionals move away from the promotion of mere products like tea, television and T-shirts. Instead, their persuasion skills were used to rally behind concepts and issues.

`At the Right Place at the Right Time' read a banner in the stall of a group of MIB (Masters in International Business) students. Before you can figure out what it's about, there is a deluge of explanations, ideas and statistics — all about `Brand India.' The opportunities in the booming service, IT and tourism sector and the possibilities beyond were projected through models and presentations. And mind you, at the end of it, `Brand India' seemed like it had an "ignore at your peril" tag!

Interestingly, students also chose to espouse some social concerns in the bargain. A stall was set up to bring alive facts about a tribe close at hand — the Todas. Despite their proximity to Coimbatore, not much is known about the tribe in the Nilgiris. The students recreated their way of life and customs, including their hut and hearth.

Lending a hand

`All in our Hands'— a stall set up by final year B. Com students was about doing a bit to let the hand woven crafts survive. Students pitched in with the craftsmen to make products out of coconut shells, bread and jute.

Drawing attention to a cause close at hand was the Siruthuli stall. A short film on the goals of Siruthuli and the attempts to revive the Noyyal was shown. Environmental issues like the effects of deforestation, the need for promotion of tourism, post-tsunami, and a trifle clichéd marketing of God's own country, all were part of the presentation.

If it was greater concerns that preoccupied a few, some others went by simple marketing strategy. And if it is about kurtas and dupattas, it sure is going to have more than a few takers in a college.

Taking inspiration from palaces being converted to hotels, a few young girls created a hotel décor with the Sheesh Mahal as the model. Mirrors were broken, painted and then artistically placed to fit the arches and other designs of a hotel.

In all this hard-core marketing, there was also space for spirituality. Inside a re-creation of the cave in Kailas, there were lessons on the significance of the Dhyanalinga, meditation and prayers.

Then, there was the `Castle of Horror', the creative idea of a few young minds. In a dark room, you are made to read a passage from a Sherlock Holmes novel using a torch and drawn into a maze, battling spirits and coffins.

There were clichés and at times simplistic solutions offered for complex issues, yes, but a tour of the 45 stalls later, the enthusiasm and earnestness behind the effort was there for everyone to see.

ANIMA BALAKRISHNAN

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