GSK E^3 2018 National Winner Nikhita Ramakrishnan’s Story
The marketing plan presented by the competition was challenging and innovative. Moreover, the given case was socially and contextually relevant and impactful. This motivated me to contribute in my own small way to the larger objective by participating in the competition.
We initially conducted primary research, followed by thorough secondary research. We analyzed the activities as well as the apprehensions of the various stakeholders involved. Accordingly, we designed a marketing plan to help increase awareness regarding vaccination as a measure of preventive health, with a particular focus on modern-day Googling parents.
We effectively utilized the preparation period by managing our research and efforts towards the competition along with our academic and other commitments. Time management was key. The most challenging phase was understanding the mindset and current apprehensions of the Target Group. This case dealt with a very relevant issue that mothers identified with, and vaccines are products that, in their right, involve high consumer involvement in today's era.
We are very different individuals and perhaps the only thing that we had in common was our perseverance and commitment towards this case, this competition and towards each other too. I absolutely loved working with my teammates and through this journey, I learnt the power of perseverance, passion, and teamwork, three "old fashioned" values that continue to be in vogue eternally.
Of course, we did have conflicts, but they were more like constructive debates because we were very open-minded regarding new approaches. The one thing that made us strong as a team was that every decision was taken as a team and not personally. We never forgot that at the end of the day, we were on the same side. New ideas and new perspectives were always appreciated by us. We genuinely believed we were a single entity and that's the way it should be.
We brainstormed extensively and over time, we truly understood each other and our individual strengths complemented each other beautifully. Our team's biggest strength was that we were incredibly positive and passionate. We never gave up even once. We seriously enjoyed ourselves during every phase of the competition.
Our distinct personalities proved to be a strength because we offered very different, fresh, new and innovative perspectives to the case. If one member's strength was research analysis, the second member's strength was conducting trade-off and strategic analysis regarding the feasibility of different ideas and the third member's strength was immense creativity regarding the inception of ideas. These strengths as a team made us lethal and undefeatable.
There were six teams in the Grand Finale, including ours. I would consider the Runners-Up Team 'Pathogems' from SIBM, Pune to be our toughest competitor. We really liked their ideas, efforts, and high enthusiasm. They had put together an impressive marketing plan.
The competition was very impressive and extremely well managed. We are really thankful to GSK for rolling out such an incredible and relevant case. GSK and Unstop (formerly Dare2Compete)took a lot of effort to make this a highly enjoyable and smooth journey.
The one special moment that we'd like to share is the inexplicable happiness we had felt when we finally submitted the case after days and months of toil. I still remember that day when we sat for about 9-10 hours continuously without any break refining our work. The level of happiness we felt while submitting the case was exactly the same when we won the National Finals. We gave it our best, and in the end, that's all that matters.
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