NMIMS Mumbai, The Masters Of Mondelez Maestros 2022

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Mondelez India, a part of the American multination snacking company Mondelez International was once again back with its unique B-School case study competition. The Mondelez Maestros 2022 was the perfect platform for aspiring future leaders to showcase their skills in finding solutions to industry problems. Also to win cash prizes worth INR 3.5 lakh and PPI opportunities along the way. Needless to say, it was a grandiose event! And we- Maanik Narayanan, Udit Karwasra, and Dhanishtha Dhingra, students of NMIMS Mumbai had a gala time participating in it.

We had participated in Mondelez Maestros 2021, but we only made it to the Semi-final round. But this year our team- The 3 Biscuiteers walked away with the National Winner title and we are here to share our experience through this magnificent event.

Mondelez Maestros 2022: Rounds & Organisation

The Mondelez Maestros 2022 saw 24,08,853 impressions and 6004 registrations from students of select B-Schools in the nation. The competition was divided into 4 stages:

• Stage 1 (Share your BIG IDEA) and Stage 2 (Refine Your Idea) where we had to share our ideas in video submissions of 2 mins and 5 mins respectively.
• Stage 3 (Campus Round) consisted of a consumer immersion session followed by mentorship sessions. Post this we had to submit our refined idea in a 7-slider PPT. 
• Five teams then moved to Stage 4, i.e. the National Finale or ‘The Grand Roast’.

The Finale was held at Mondelez's HQ in Mumbai. We had an interaction session in the morning, where our experiences were documented by a creative videographer. All the teams also went for a dry run on stage before the final presentation. The organizers were really supportive throughout the day and made sure each team had all the resources they needed for their pitch.

The Strategy That Led To Victory

Our strategy was to thoroughly analyze the problem statement at hand and identify its root causes. For this-

• We conducted extensive research followed by brainstorming sessions and collaborated closely as a team to develop innovative solutions. 
• Then we worked on the problem for several weeks, facing challenges such as limited resources, time constraints, and the need to balance various stakeholder interests. 
• We also leveraged all the resources provided to us by Mondelez such as consumer immersion sessions and guidance sessions, adding an invaluable layer of coherence to our solution.

Check this out: Challenge Yourself With These B-school Competitions

Understanding The Judgment Points

To win the competition you must consider the parameters on which your solution will be judged. For Mondelez Maestros 2022, these parameters/ factors were:

• Relevance
• Scalability
• Distinctive Advantage
• Clarity of Concept behind the strategy, and so on. 

From the get-go, we were clear that we wanted to make sure our idea holistically covered all these aspects. And we believe we had the edge over all other teams since we had accounted for wider considerations in our solutions and gave more succinct practical recommendations.

Important Lessons We Learned

There were countless learning that we took away from the Mondelez Maestros 2022. This competition in particular had a more strategy-bent to it and therefore, the learnings were incomparable. 

• The competition gave us the opportunity to learn new nuances of omnichannel, a new emerging stream in the FMCG landscape. 
• We also got to dive deeper into channels like modern trade and quick-commerce and mapped each channel to different aspects of consumer behavior. 
• It also led us to garner a deeper understanding of the intricacies of the FMCG industry.
• This further got us a deeper understanding of how to create effective strategies that ultimately became the X factor for our Mondelez case solution.

How To Use Your Past Experiences, Education, & Skills?

Everyone on our team had prior experience with participating in and winning case study competitions. This really gave us an advantage in the overall structure and idea presentation. Also, all of us are majoring in marketing and were on the same page from day 1 in terms of concepts. We applied all the knowledge we gained during our 2 years of MBA, right from the start of the competition which was a big blessing. In addition to this, Maanik Narayan and Dhanishtha Dhingra from our team worked in the FMCG sector and quick commerce respectively. The knowledge and insight they garnered during these experiences helped us during the competition.

Choosing Your Team & Handling Conflicts

One of the most important factors that everyone who wishes to participate in these competitions must consider is- choosing the right team. We believe that an ideal team is one that has an overall diverse skillset.

In our team, Dhanishtha was quick with the research, so she used this and her quick commerce internship experience to dig deeper into the problem statement and shape the overall idea. Udit Karwasra was great with the investigation, plan development, and overall project guidance and direction. Maanik worked on refining the proposal's financial feasibility and scalability, as well as making the idea and strategy consistent through compelling storytelling and polished presentations. As a team, we did not have any major conflicts while working on our solution. But there were some points where our solutions didn't align with each other. We decided to consult one of our faculties who clarified any doubts and shortcomings of our idea, in case such situations.

At the end of it all, we are glad that we were a part of Mondelez Maestros 2022. Our victory brought us twice the joy since it was both a validation and redemption of our efforts across both editions of this fabulous competition.

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