IIM Kozhikode Team Smashes It At Amazon Advertising S.M.A.R.T Challenge 2021, Winning INR 2,00,000!

“Winning the S.M.A.R.T Challenge was the highlight of our MBA journey, and we doubt if we'll ever be able to forget these winning moments in our lives. We can't forget it, we don't want to forget it.”- Team Kollaborators (IIM Kozhikode), National Winners of Amazon Advertising S.M.A.R.T Challenge.  

Last year, the Amazon Advertising S.M.A.R.T Challenge was organized for first and second-year students pursuing full-time MBA programs from a list of selected Business Schools in India. The S.M.A.R.T or Strategize, Market, Advertise, Reign, Transcend Challenge 2021 gave a platform to several B school teams to embark on an enriching journey and showcase their management and marketing skills. We spoke the to the Grand Finale Winners- Team Kollaborators to know their experience at the Amazon Advertising S.M.A.R.T Challenge.

But first let’s give you a quick review of the competition structure.

A quick sum up

Amazon Advertising S.M.A.R.T Challenge was a 3-tier competition that included the following rounds:

• Round 1: Online Quiz: Shortlisting was done on the basis of team scores i.e. average scores of all individual team members. Every team was ranked on accuracy (score) and speed (best time).
• Round 2: Case Study: Approach Note Submission- Shortlisted teams from the online quiz round had to submit their solutions to a given problem statement.
• Round 3: Grand Finale: The top 10 teams had to present their solutions in form of 10 minutes presentations to the panel of judges comprising leaders from Amazon Advertising. The presentation was followed by 5 minutes of Q&A round.

The winners (Team Kollaborators) received a cash prize of INR 2,00,000 while 1^st Runners Up (Team Disco Dancers, ISB) and 2^nd Runners Up (Team 221B, IIM-B) got INR 1,50,000 and INR 50,000 respectively.

Planning a ‘S.M.A.R.T’ strategy!

Team Kollaborators participated in the Amazon Advertising S.M.A.R.T Challenge 2021 to learn new marketing and advertising concepts. The team which included Sunmeet Sethi, Saumya Jindal and Priyanka Gupta from IIM Kozhikode desired to have hands-on experience in various marketing concepts learned during their MBA course. But preparing for the competition was no cake walk. It required more than just plain hard work. Sharing their preparation strategy with us, Team Kollaborators said,

“ We started with going through the Amazon Advertising Learning Console thoroughly to help build our knowledge set with foundational courses and certifications. Then, we went ahead structuring our solution based on the primary research. We put our first step forward with a word document to prepare the media strategy plan as asked in the problem set. We got immense support and guidance from our alums and esteemed faculty at IIMK. The most challenging phase was shaping a storyline for our final round presentation.”

They continued, “We spent hours creating a specific structure, and then just four hours before the submission deadline, we completely revamped it because we all felt it was not the winning solution. We knew that we had taken the right step, but then the completion seemed like an arduous task. However now, in hindsight, we feel that everything was worth the grind.”

A team that stays together, wins together!

As the name suggests, Team Kollaborators had a great ‘collaboration’.  Their team had a sense of respect, agreement, and acceptance and steered away from the disagreements pretty smoothly because of the bond the team members shared with each other.   

When we asked them about their team’s USP, they said,

“ We feel our team's forte is going deep into the problem and finding the best solution for it. Be it identifying the correct alum or professor for guidance or understanding the problem statement from the consumer's lens, we all utilized our strengths and skill-sets to make our time and work high on productivity and resourcefulness. Our team’s synergy and multiplier effect are what actually helped us cross the finish line and come out with flying colours."

Toughest competitor?

Amazon Advertising S.M.A.R.T Challenge 2021 had about 10,000 super talented teams with the smartest ideas onboard. But for Team Kollaborators, Team 221B from IIM Bangalore was most challenging competitor. The team said,

"Considering Team 221B’s research, presentation skills, and high concept clarity, we rated them as a solid team to compete with. Their content was pretty seamless for all their presentations. They were very confident during the Q & A rounds as well."

Happy, Happier, Happiest!

As per Kollaborators, along with neck-to-neck competition, the S.M.A.R.T challenge was top-notch in every aspect. They were happy with the way the Challenge was designed, formulated, strategized, and executed and how everything was done in a fair manner. They said,

"From orientation session cum curtain-raiser, quiz and case problem statement to the finale presentation, it was all well planned. We were glad to see an interactive panel wherein each judge asked us the right questions and went deep into solutions presented to them. The competition and especially the Q & A round helped us understand the bigger picture."

However, an opportunity to work with Amazon would have made them happier. The team said,

“Be it for Amazon ACE Challenge or any other case competitions, Amazon mostly awards case competition winners with an opportunity to work with them in the form of an internship or a pre-placement offer. Hence, Amazon Advertising SMART Challenge could have also awarded the winners with the same. We feel that getting an opportunity to work with Amazon would have been a cherry on the cake.”

However, becoming the National Winners of the Amazon Advertising S.M.A.R.T Challenge 2021 was the happiest moment of their MBA journey.

“We couldn't believe it. When the finale zoom call ended, we all started shouting in excitement. Priyanka had tears of happiness in her eyes while Saumya was clicking pictures of us. We had a tight group hug saying-WE DID IT!”

 Kudos to Team Kollaborators!