WWF A Learning experience
With the marketing wrestling competition just complete …. a new learning experience for me and many of my classmates. Going through the product launch simulation .. had been a rich experience…….. and here I pen down my experience …don’t know ..if am able to capture all the event in its entirety , but heres a small attempt and a flashback….WWF- a Learning Experience
It all started with a kick off meeting on 31st July 2014 that flagged off the tenthWWF – The Marketing Wrestling. We were informed that WWF is going to take place in two phases; first phase will have 16 teams and 04 teams out of these 16 would compete against each other for the WWF title in the second phase. The products that featured in the first phase were salt, rusk, broom and incense sticks. Teams, Products and Mentors were decided on the fly.
Our team comprised of Arshita, Shalini, Pawan, Ram Rao and Prof. Rahul Kumar Choubey as our team mentor .
We were given ‘Incense Sticks’ as our product – and we had to detail our product launch with every minute details captured. Thus started the journey of my .. in fact our 10 restless and sleepless days and nights.
Phase -1
We initiated with a market research – going to the market, meeting the incense sticks manufacturers we came to know about the process through which incense sticks were made (important because without knowing about the source if making a market survey is incomplete). Then meeting with few distributors listening to their delights, problems and anxieties and finally a few retailers who had the direct contact in the market with the end users that’s the customers who had a different approach towards selling it to them. We decided the name of our Brand as “YOG”. The process of meeting with distributor, manufacturer and retailer helped us in gathering information about distribution channel and margins there problems constrains at each level in case of our product. The day 4th August came when we decided to have a group meeting in DB. We had a long discussion and came up with some final and important decisions. We also enjoyed with Pizza and cold drinks. Since, that day was the last and final day of our preparations for semifinals, And finally the day 5th august came when the selection was to be made from each product …the day started quite early than usual, my team mates, I and our mentor went early to college to showcase our product ”YOG” The product that we created with six different variants (Lavender, Rose and Amber, Blue Lotus, Sandalwood, Guggul, Jasmine) and with two premium variants i.e., Navratna(A pack of Sticks with nine different fragrances under one pack) and Siddhi (a special product meant for meditation and dedication) then after displays we had a Presentations where we told about the technicalities and every minute details of our product. Our key to success has to be presentation and by god’s grace, our teams efforts, led us to the qualifications. We are not over yet, it was just a hurdle that we passed, and more is yet to come.
Phase-2
Days had become more restless after qualifications. We all were very enthusiastic towards our goal i.e., winning. The work got started form 6th august only. The product allotted to 4 finalists was “Packaged Drinking Water”. We started our market analysis from 6th only, met with distributors, manufacturers and retailers of packaged drinking water. Learned the Nitti gritty of this industry also. Again we had a group meeting to decide the strategy and roles of every individual. Product name was decided as “JEEVNI” which means life giving. We chose the most appropriate tagline- “Jeevan mein JEEVNI Layein”, which means bring life to your Life. We decided to launch our product with 4 variants (250 ml, 1 ltr, 2 ltr, 20 ltr). Finally the D-day came 9th August, the day didn’t start well. We got news regarding family problem with one of our group member. We need to reach college as early as possible. After reaching college, we again got hit by a bad news. There’s some logistics problem. We lost our Banners and Flexes. This led my morale down. I got very nervous and lost some of my hope. But thanks to my mentor and friends, who encouraged me to fight till the end. The judgment started from 11:00 am. Judges came and saw our display and product. The next round was Presentations for which we prepared with our whole heart and soul without even sleeping for a minute that night. Presentations started and we got a chance to learn from other groups. Finally, our presentation started, everything went according to plan. Judges threw some questions and these questions were answered very smartly by us. It seemed they liked our presentation. Honestly, was very tensed and kept my fingers crossed while we waited for the results. And then …… came the results …. we stood second ….the first reaction was that of disappointment ……as our expectation was very high.Our mentor made us realize that winning is in learning and rightly so. After all we learned lot many things which would have never been the case had we not participated.
At last I want to thank everyone who helped us in this completion- Our friends who helped us in worst situation and everyone else for their support. And last but not least I would like to end by saying winning is not just the matter of securing a good position but about the final experience that we earn at the end, and I can proudly say that what I learnt in this 10 days journey will help me whole life.
