They Defeated Teams From IIMs, IIT, XLRI, and MDI and Bagged Direct Interview Offers From Johnson & Johnson!

The journey started around early February. It was quite unbelievable when you think of the first kick-off session you attended compared to presenting to the President's Council of Johnson & Johnson. It has definitely been the most surreal and exciting experience of our MBA journey so far! That moment when the results were announced is clearly etched in our minds. It was honestly hard to not jump out of our seats at that very moment! Here is an account of our 7-month highly engaging journey to becoming the national winners of J&J Quest Season 9.

Johnson & Johnson is a brand that we have always looked up to. The opportunity to do a project with an innovative company like Johnson & Johnson and work under the tutelage of a few of the country's best minds served as motivation to participate in the competition.

The competition was flawlessly organized. Both J&J and D2C made sure we were engaged at all points in time. The structure allowed for great exposure above and beyond those who reached the finals. Additionally, the opportunity to interact with top management made the experience enriching and special. 

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On top of that, the support from our guide and mentors & the HR team was phenomenal. The entire competition was engaging, challenging and acted as a great learning curve. The 7-month long journey was surreal. The insights we received from our J&J mentors during the mentorship round on the live business case proved to be an immensely positive experience and further fostered our growth. The framing of all the rounds, as well as the communication, was smooth. The judgment was extremely good and detailed as each of the teams received individual feedback. We want to thank the President's Council for their feedback and the interactive session post the presentation too.

Mapping out an effective strategy

All of us were very excited about teaming up for this particular competition, and we made sure we went through our Kotlers again and again before the competition arrived. 

The problem was specific in nature and could not be cracked without delving deep into the challenges faced by various stakeholders in the ecosystem. Since we were working for the Medical Devices team, the most challenging bit was to get time from doctors and get through to them to be able to understand customer pain points.

We prepared ourselves by going through certain sales and marketing concepts, however, our actual journey began once the case was released. With a specific problem statement in a niche industry that was new to us, researching Depuy Synthes, getting in touch with different medical professionals and sales representatives helped us get acquainted with the problem statement and the industry. 

Later, we dug deeper into each aspect of the marketing problem while utilizing important concepts & frameworks taught to us in marketing class coupled with strong secondary research.

Overall, we worked on the problem through our entire Quest process - initially on the research part, then on the innovation and the feasibility aspect, and later on putting things together and improvising till the D-Day. The most fun yet challenging part was identifying and talking to the D-Category Joint Replacement surgeons to obtain the required insights from them.

Because challenges make things interesting!

There were times where coordination was hard because two of us put up in Mumbai and one in Delhi. In that event, we have been able to leverage platforms like Zoom very well. We brainstormed ideas for the case together and found out alternatives to in-person meets during the initial rounds of J&J. We had figured out early on that communication is key. We later met in Mumbai for the last rounds and experienced working and delivering the solutions in person. 

We all knew our strengths and knew how to use the tools at our disposal to work optimally. We think a lot of our success has to be attributed to the bond we share, we always covered for each other and were able to build on each other's strengths.

Another challenge was not being able to visit surgeons together for obtaining their insights. We ensured that we conducted the requisite interviews and then documented the insights in a systematic, standardized manner. This helped us maintain uniformity and ensured transparency of thought between us.

Moreover, it was an industry alien to all 3 of us, so some pressure was bound to be there. But as a team, we always knew that it's about winning more than it is about being nice to each other. That understanding took us a long way and helped us really reason out any decisions we took. 

We also had certain disagreements while brainstorming and working on the case. We played good-cop and bad-cop before finalizing any idea to ensure that the ideas didn't just look good on paper but were feasible and could obtain the desired results which were solved amicably to avoid conflicts.

Complementary strengths with the same values

As a team, we complemented each other's skillset and had an immense understanding of each other's strengths and weaknesses. Our team's forte would be the readiness to put in our all for what is required, understanding each other's viewpoints as well as being honest when needed. The team's bonding and the result-driven attitude helped the team win together.

Aayush's financial skills, due to his work experience and his parent's profession as doctors, further helped us get in touch with more people in the North. His straightforwardness helped us be vocal and ensured that we were honest about our opinions. Vishwam is hardworking, calm, and has a good command of the language, which helped us to quite an extent. Saniya's ability to structure thoughts and her proficiency with research helped us get mind-boggling and raw insights from the customers we interviewed. We were able to build a strong business proposition.

Being from the Marketing & Sales domain, all three of us brought our past marketing experiences from different projects to the table, increasing the innovation quotient and boosting creativity.

There's always one more thing to learn...

The learnings from this project were vast.

The competition structure ensured that we got an opportunity to interact with & work under the tutelage of mentors from the Johnson & Johnson team. The competition experience enabled us to think differently, develop disruptive solutions, and have practical feasibility. 

We are immensely fortunate to have explored the medical industry with the kind of understandings and insights we gained from an entirely new, niche, and interesting space. Connecting the theoretical lessons learned in the marketing sessions to the practical front to forecast the sales and obtain the desired results was another major learning through the live project.

The entire project duration was memorable; our mentor and guide ensured that we took a lot out of the competition irrespective of the result. But If we had to name a special moment, it would be conquering the quest - the winning moment, which was the most-awaited and a humbling one.

For more such inspiring competition stories, click here.