HUL L.I.M.E. Season 14 Winners From ISB Lit The Stage! See How

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) along with CNBC-TV18 presented the 14 edition of its B-School case study competition- HUL L.I.M.E. Season 14. The competition was conducted online on Unstop (formerly Dare2Compete) with 20,13,576 impressions and 21,120 registrations. The global competition was open to all 1-year students pursuing any full-time MBA program across all B-Schools in India and to 1-st year/ 2-nd year MBA students from select Ivy League Institutes. Participants had the opportunity to win amazing cash prizes along with PPIs. The event was undoubtedly a success with Team Divergent from ISB walking away with the national winner title. In this article, we will walk down memory lane with these champions.

HUL L.I.M.E. is one of the most coveted B-School competitions in India, and the moment we heard that it was coming back this year, we knew that we were going to be a part of it. For Indian students, those in the 1st year of any full-time MBA program from any B-School were eligible for the competition and had to form teams of 3 members to be able to participate. So we- Vandana Sharma, Sambudha Ghosh, and Shreya, who are all students of the Indian School of Business (ISB) decided to take part in this together.

You never know if you will actually end up winning these competitions but there is one thing we were sure of, and that is that it’ll be an experience to remember. Which it was and the national win made it all the more memorable. Here is a brief about our competition journey.

HUL L.I.M.E. Season 14 Competition Structure

The case competition was organized at a huge scale where the organizers had thought about every single detail.  Starting from the stay provided by HUL and CNBC all through the competition to the virtual grand finale, everything was beyond great. The structure of the competition was also very well developed, with the following rounds-

Round 1- Virtual Launch Event and Case Study Reveal

Round 2-  Opening Round (Case Submission)

Round 3- Semi-Finals

Round 4- Virtual Grand Finale

All the judges were industry leaders, and it was great to see that HUL being the market leader, is thinking two steps ahead and looking for integration with the gaming industry, as it has enormous potential in India.

Also read: Challenge Yourself With These B-school Competitions

Problem Statement Selection Process

HUL hosted the launch event for L.I.M.E. Season 14 on July 27th, 2022 where they released the case study for the challenge. We were given a few days to go over the problem statement and get our queries sorted at the Q&A session with the team for HUL. 

The problem statement was unique and extremely interesting. We had to work on gaming integration for four significant brands under the HUL banner and we chose Lifebuoy soap for rural India. This particular case could have a huge impact on Indian society which is what drew us to this problem, and also the purpose of Lifebuoy as a brand. Throughout the case problem, we focused on consumer insights and recommended an implementable solution based on these insights and observations.

Importance of Consumer Insight

It is established that consumer insights are extremely important and should always be factored into any decisions a company makes for its products and services. We were aware of this, and by analyzing the HUL culture and history closely we realized that the company has an obsession with consumers and consumer satisfaction. 

So we naturally decided to give due importance to consumer behavior and insight; which left us with an amazing lesson. Before HUL L.I.M.E., we had talked a lot about consumer insight and primary research, but always in theory. However, during the entire process of figuring out a solution for this competition we were able to gain practical knowledge, and experience, build acumen, and learn a lot organically. This was definitely one of the best parts of going through this competition. 

Simple & Authentic Solutions

It is not surprising to say that HUL L.I.M.E. was a huge commitment. About 12 out of 7000+ teams got into the semi-finals, from where 6 teams made it into the finals. We considered all the teams to be tough competitors as everyone had unique ideas and had put in a lot of hard work. 

But we were also committed to the simplicity and the authenticity of our ideas. We think that looking for a simple and effective solution, by relying on deep research and insights is the way to go. This thought process worked well for us and is what led us to victory in the end. 

Healthy Disagreements are Actually Helpful

Good teamwork is critical to winning any team competition, but that does not mean you can never disagree with a team member. On the contrary, we believe that healthy disagreements are helpful in coming up with well-rounded, quality solutions. 

We all come from diverse backgrounds with significant years of experience in consulting, analytics, and marketing. So we too had specific differences owing to our varied backgrounds, but this diversity is what helped us give our best to the competition. It was also a great experience to help each other balance our individual priorities and still work towards a common goal.

The Magical Moment

As soon as the announcement for 1st runner-up was made, we knew that we were the only ones left and that we had won the national winner title. It was naturally difficult to contain our excitement and wait for 20 seconds for our name to be announced. And finally, the moment when our Team Divergent was announced as the winners brought unsurmountable joy to us. All the late nights we pulled, the time we spent researching, and every other effort that we put into this case study competition was worth it. Needless to say, we will always remember HUL L.I.M.E. Season 14 and grow with the experiences we had on this journey. 

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