Students to light the way for cos at Illumina

Mukta Magazine in New Delhi

The Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, is organising its annual marketing fair, Illumina, on November 11. The aim of the event is to facilitate individual companies’ market research needs by studying consumer behaviour and preferences in the format of a ‘mela.’ The event, which has been pioneered by MDI, was first held in 1997 and has become an annual feature ever since, organised arond Diwali time.

‘‘The event is completely organised and planned by the students. It is a tremendous learning experience, providing them an opportunity to interact with companies and study real market situations through simulated games,’’ says Dr Devi Singh, director, MDI.

Illumina offers an opportunity to marketers to test various elements of their marketing plan in a controlled environment, without the participants being aware of being a part of any kind of research sample. The combination of games and festivity penetrate the usual defences of a respondent and help uncover the consumer’s true perspective by eliminating the effect of biases, say MDI sources.

Illumina covers the entire gamut of services ranging from problem conceptualisation, research design, to data analysis and interpretation. The areas covered range from testing product concepts to gauging customer reactions to a new campaign. Some of the areas that have been covered in earlier events include issues like brand personality, brand preference, usage and attitude study, decision-making processes, product acceptance testing, advertising effectiveness, sales promotion effectiveness and awareness study.

Once a company (typically a corporate checking the response to a concept, product or offering) gives the students the marketing problem/objective, a research proposal is formulated and built into an interactive game format. The games are designed in consultation with corporates and faculty. The data collected during the games is analysed and the findings are presented to the company within a period of three weeks. The raw data is also made available to the company to draw its own conclusions and use for future reference.

Besides the games, there are around 30 odd stalls where companies can display their products to increase visibility and brand recall and can serve as a launching pad for new products. One of the earliest public displays of the Santro for instance was at Illumina.

To ensure attendance at the event, targeted methods like direct mailing and advertising on cable TV are used. The annual marketing event has elicited enthusiastic response from corporates and the public, with the event attracting on average around 10,000 people, says Dr Singh. Some of the companies which have participated in the past include Britannia, Eveready, Reckitt & Coleman India, Eicher Goodearth, TRIFED, Ericsson, Sony, Perfetti, Gillette, Maruti, Electrolux and ICI Paints. This year ICI Paints and Britannia have already confirmed their participation.