IIM Calcutta Grabs The Winner's Trophy At HUL TechTonic Season 7

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Unilever’s annual technology B-School case study competition—HUL TechTonic Season 7 made waves with an interesting challenge. It was the ultimate showdown in the product management niche, which saw registrations from 3700+ teams. The competition was structured as follows:

The competitive spirit and enthusiasm of all the teams were palpable throughout. At the end, it was the Team Teachno Nerds from IIM Calcutta that took away the podium finish. In this blog, they recount every heartrending and heartfelt moment they went through on this amazing journey.

How it All Began

Some journeys begin with a clear plan, but ours began with excitement. When we first heard about HUL TechTonic Season 7, the concept immediately clicked. A case competition that combined technology with FMCG felt like the perfect challenge.

The three of us, Harsh, Soham, and Neev, were already close friends at IIM Calcutta. We often spent hours discussing brands, strategies, and ideas, and this competition provided the perfect opportunity to bring those conversations to life.

Each of us brought something different to the table.

• Soham, with his experience at Microsoft, had unmatched technical skills.
• Harsh had already earned a reputation as one of the sharpest minds for case competitions on campus.
• Neev had a deep interest in marketing, consumer processes, and a fascination with big FMCG brands.

Together, our skills complemented one another perfectly. That is how Team Techno Nerds was created.

The First Spark

The competition began with the LinkedIn round. We chose to work on Shikhar, a brand that fascinated me due to its unique combination of heritage and modern appeal. We created a detailed seven-page deck that analysed its relevance and future opportunities.

When Neev shared the work on LinkedIn, it received far more attention than we had anticipated. An angel investor engaged with the post and commented to applaud the idea behind Shikhar. That engagement, along with her primary and secondary networks, gave the post high visibility. This recognition helped Neev win the individual LinkedIn campus round, and it also reminded us that sharing ideas publicly can sometimes open unexpected doors.

Near Give Up (Especially When it’s the Easier Way Out)

The first case submission tested us in every way. We had spent days brainstorming, prototyping, and writing down our solution, but by the evening of the deadline, we still did not have the final two-page deck ready with our final idea.

With only three hours to go, all we had was scattered content in a document and incomplete slides. Exhaustion from back-to-back classes had made us wonder if it was worth pushing further!

• We had broken the problem into two parts, which were Data Capture and a Marketing Simulation Engine named Delphi as the solution. 
• We didn’t have time to provide everything we researched and had worked on in just a 2-page deck, and so giving up felt easier than facing another disappointment, especially after so many past rejections.

But instead of walking away, we decided to give it one last shot. 

• Those final hours were pure chaos. We edited, designed, debated, and raced against time. 
• At exactly 11:59 PM, we hit submit. That moment taught us something profound. Resilience is not built at the start of a journey. It is forged in the final hour when quitting seems easier than continuing.

Semi-Finals: Growing Stronger

“Neev won the LinkedIn round from IIM Calcutta Campus, but what about the case submission? We didn’t know.” On the day of the results, we logged into Unstop with our hearts in our throats, but the “submit” button for the semi-finals round wasn’t visible. 

For a few minutes, we were convinced it was over. Maybe we had missed something. Maybe we had lost again.

Later that evening, Harsh went to an internship preparation session. Out of nowhere, a classmate congratulated him. Harsh was puzzled, and when he asked why, the reply was simple: “For making it to the semi-finals.” That is how we found out that we had made it through. 

Harsh immediately called Soham and me, but we told him that we didn’t win, he must be mistaken, all we know is that out of us, Neev won the LinkedIn round. But, to our surprise, we rechecked the Unstop page, and we were elated to see that we had reached the semi-finals, and the three of us celebrated this small but meaningful victory. 

Today, when we look back, that moment still feels special.

Building the Solution: Consumer, Urban, and Rural Stories

In the semi-finals, we refined our approach by clearly dividing the case into two halves. 

1. The first was data capture. 
2. The second was the simulation engine, Delphi.

Data capture became the backbone of our idea, and we built it as three interconnected stories.

The Consumer Story was simple but powerful. 

• Trial packs would carry unique QR codes with peel-off stickers. 
• Scanning them would open a WhatsApp chatbot with two or three short questions. 
• In return, consumers would get instant rewards like mobile recharges or Paytm vouchers. 
• This created a direct, real-time feedback loop at the point of purchase.

The Urban Story focused on building “digital test markets.” We selected 50 to 100 GT stores with diverse mixes of locality, region, income, and demographics. By partnering with POS digitisation startups like Snapbizz and PayNearby, these stores became micro research panels. We could track sales velocity, adoption rates, objections, and even retailer insights in real time.

The Rural Story tapped into distributors. We created a simple platform for them to input daily data and incentivised them through rebates to share WAN sales figures. This gave us a proxy for rural off-take, providing visibility into Kirana-level transactions.

Together, these stories brought consumers, retailers, and distributors into one data ecosystem, making the invisible visible.

Meet Delphi: The Simulation Engine

Once the data was captured, we layered it into Delphi, our AI-driven simulation platform. Delphi acted like a virtual market. It took historical launch data, consumer insights, and real-time sales velocity, and simulated different outcomes.

• Delphi could forecast demand, diagnose where a product might fail, and even recommend corrective actions.
• Before a launch, it gave brand managers a go or no go signal. 
• After a launch, it pinpointed whether problems were in distribution, pricing, or messaging, and suggested what to fix.

At its core, Delphi transformed uncertainty into strategy. It made the unpredictable world of GT markets measurable and actionable.

The Semi-Finals Video

For the semi-final’s submission, we had to compress everything into a three-minute video. Turning weeks of work into 180 seconds was its own challenge. We scripted carefully, built visuals that explained both data capture and Delphi, and recorded until every word fit perfectly. That round forced us to master clarity. We learned that ideas are only as strong as the way they are told.

The Grand Finale

Finally, it was time for the finale at Unilever’s Bangalore office. The day itself felt larger than life. We attended sessions with Unilever leaders, absorbed their vision for technology in FMCG, and felt the scale of what innovation really looks like inside a global company.

• For the finals, we had 10 minutes to present and 5 minutes for Q/A. We wanted to stand out, so we brought a live demonstration. 
• We placed custom QR codes on sample products and showed the jury exactly how consumers could scan, give feedback, and receive instant rewards.
• It was simple, direct, and powerful.

Those ten minutes flew by. When the results were announced and “Techno Nerds from IIM Calcutta” was declared the National Winner of HUL TechTonic Season 7, we were stunned. It was the culmination of sleepless nights, last-minute scrambles, and countless doubts that had finally given way to a victory we will always cherish.

Gratitude

We are deeply grateful to Unilever for curating such an enriching competition and for giving us the platform to learn and grow. A heartfelt thank you to Amrutash for his mentorship and sharp guidance, to Deeksha, Deepalok, and Ayush for their motivating words and insights, to Silna for keeping the energy alive throughout, and to Arkadeep, Pranav, Akanksha, Archita, Sushrut Brahmananda, and Prakriti for creating such a collaborative environment during the event.

The Bigger Lesson: Resilience, Teamwork, & Belief

Looking back, this was more than just a case competition. It was a story of resilience, teamwork, and belief. Harsh’s structured thinking, Soham’s technical brilliance, and my FMCG obsession came together in ways we could not have imagined at the start.

The lesson is simple. Setbacks are not the end. They are only detours preparing you for the win that lies ahead. Every failure we faced in past competitions only made this victory sweeter.

To anyone chasing a dream, just do not stop. Keep showing up, keep learning, and keep trying even when nothing seems to work. Because sometimes the only difference between failure and success is the courage to give it one more try. And when you give it that one more try, the win will eventually come.

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