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Linking Young Minds Together
     Volume 2 Issue 3 | January 28, 2007|


  
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Feature


Last Friday wasn't any ordinary Friday for the D-youth teams as each of them were faced with the trickiest challenge so far in the competition. Readers who have recently purchased a Philips appliance from any of six showrooms around the city, (Gulshan 2, Gulshan tower, Karwan bazaar, Dhanmondi, Mirpur and Uttara) or simply stopped to take a peek would know how the teams vied to attract consumers and thus make the GREATEST sales, if not in the history of Philips, at least in the competition. In other words, this challenge measured their mettle in the field of business and marketing. As mentioned earlier, the Philips Transcom challenge was designed to make the teams maximize the sales growth on that day and venue, come up with 5 promotional ideas on how to improve the retail sales, utilize the funds provided and justify their reasoning, analyse current customer service and sales approach and suggest improvements of existing merchandising and display set-ups. The teams started to work first thing in the morning, looking crisp and smart in their blue and white outfits, which matched the corporate colours of Philips, and the tension in the air was almost palpable as they went about, decorating their venues with balloons, making notes, looking into details, and on top of that, attending to their customers.

The team Lobdhi was assigned to the showroom in Gulshan 2 circle, which is perhaps the largest in size, and enjoys the highest average sales. This of course gave the team a lot to live up to, but by noon, they had already exceeded their target sale and were pursuing corporate offices to buy on a larger scale. The promotional activities they instigated were wholly from the stipend they were provided with, and included Raffle draw, offer of dinner at Baton Rouge, Coffee at cofi-11 and freebies with big purchases, T-shirts etc. The advertising scheme mainly targeted the newspaper hawkers and leaflets handed out after Jumma prayers in front of mosque. Lobdhi soled goods worth Tk.200000 plus. They had a group of 9 people which contributed immensely to their achievement. In direct contrast, the team Laal were assigned right across the street in Gulshan Tower with one of the smallest showrooms, and a group of three people working on that particular day. This team undertook a somewhat simple course of promotional activities, which included cash discounts, free goods with purchases, DVDs, and soft drinks for the customers. Unlike any other teams Laal took a direct marketing approach, reaching out to the public on a rather personal level, knocking on doors and handing out leaflets. They had resigned themselves to the likelihood of failure, but by evening, they wowed all their nay Sayers by selling a record Tk 500000 worth of LCD. The close of day found this young bunch holding their own amongst their contenders with dazzling smiles of achievement.

In the Karwan Bazar Showroom The team Upgrade Level welcomed their customers with a stick of Rajanigandha and a huge blockbuster offer. Their promotional activities were somewhat similar to the others with the exceptions like a scrolling ad in the RTV channel, and knocking 200 Customers via SMS. However this team could not make a good sale on that day even though their scheme was solid. The teams BUET Bugs in Dhanmondi 27, Rapid soul movement in Uttara and Sobiyasachi in Mirpur, each enjoying a good number of team members contributed to a good sale of more than 500000. Sobiyasachi projected a catch line "Friday Foorti" in their promotional activity. They also got popular artists to sign their CDs to attract customers. The most interesting package they had was the Marriage Package, automated software to suggest Maximum and Minimum price according to different brands of the appliances. BUET bugs approached the ALCO pharmaceuticals and sold a good number of gift items. Rapid Soul Movement suggested having rooms in shopping malls dedicated for Transcom brands just like the "Diaper Room" in foreign countries. In the end of the day the 6 teams soled a grand total of Taka 2300000 from Philips Transcom.

All the teams gathered at the Del Vista Tower D-juice office on Monday for their final presentation where the judges from Transcom, Project Bangladesh and D-juice evaluated the teams. As the teams strived to impress the judges with their achievements and witty answers, 4 out of 6 teams got selected for the next round namely: Lobdhi, BUET bugs, Laal and Sobiyasachi. "We didn't only count the sale; the activities on each locality were given more importance. But we were very surprised when the assessment of all three companies matched for all the teams, proving its neutrality."-Jafrul alam- National sale, Transcom. "We along with our salespeople enjoyed this challenge, and we hope to be benefited by your suggestions. Wish you all the best!"-Transcom Management Staff.

The two teams making their exit this week are Rapid soul movement and Upgrade Level. "We rediscovered ourselves through each challenge and learned a good deal of lessons. I would like to remind the remaining teams about the importance of community service and wish them all the best! As we stand here today we can actually say that It feels good to be a part of Project D-youth!"- Rapid Soul Movement. The winner of this challenge, BUET bugs, will be having a dinner with the Cricket team of Bangladesh at Spitfire. For the next challenge the 4 teams have been divided into two groups, Laal and BUET Bugs in one and Lobdhi and Sobiyasachi in the other. In this challenge, each team will be given a sum total of 30,000 taka (from Project Bangladesh Fund) and they will be asked to decorate and redesign a room in an orphanage. While it may seem to be a rather easy task, do remember that this challenge will see only two teams make it to the finals. Which group will survive? Can you guess? Keep reading campus to know more! Or log on to www.projectdyouth.com

Laal

Team Members: Risal (Sydney University), Sumaiya (East West University), Syaba (Private A-level), Raasikh (AISD), Shahzeb (ISD)

S.C: How was your team name selected?

Laal: Risal came up with it when he was looking at the Flag of Bangladesh hanging on his wall. Being a patriotic person, he thought it would be very catchy and also represent the Youth.

S.C: How did you select the members?

Laal: we were all social activists, and since we knew each other for a long time now, it was pretty easy.

S.C: What was the most fun challenge you faced so far?

Laal: That has to be the Bitopi ad challenge. Coming up with catchy phrases and creative ideas was really fun! We took some risks too but it came out just fine.

S.C: Which one would you think was the most difficult challenge of all?

Laal: The most difficult challenge was the Mohammadi Garments challenge. Since it required some prior knowledge in this field, we were absolutely clueless as to how to actually improve the system when we hardly knew anything about it. But we pulled it off!

S.C: How did this affect your academics both in good and bad ways?

Laal: this competition no doubt boosted our confidence and taught us a lot. The bad effect would be the fact that we had to miss classes and had to devote a lot of time from our end. But it was our decision to participate, so we don't mind the compromises we had to make.

S.C: Tell us something about your group.

Laal: The best thing about our group is the variety, which is the biggest reason behind our success so far. We are a very young and patriotic bunch, and we have high hopes for our society.

S.C: What are your suggestions for project Dyouth?

Laal: It's a very good platform and a great way of exposure. Since it is the first time Project Bangladesh and Djuice initiated this in the country, we hope to see it on a bigger scale in the future.


BUET Bugs

TEAM Members: Pradeep, Sohan, Nayeem, Ullash, Pias, Munira, Nipa, Shetu, Abir;(BUET)

S.C: How was your team name selected?

B.B: It's a name that is used in a lot of other activities carried out in BUET.

S.C: How did you select the members?

B.B: We all knew each other from University and are really good friends.

S.C: What was the most fun challenge you faced so far?

B.B: That would be the Transcom challenge. We were selected the best! Kidding. But literally through this challenge we got the maximum output and it was really fun.

S.C: Which one would you think was the most difficult challenge of all?

B.B: That would also be the Transcom challenge, since it tested our convincing powers and at the same time involved the most brainstorming we have had to do so far.

S.C: How did this affect your academics both in good and bad ways?

B.B: despite the fact that we had to miss classes, everything about this competition was breathtaking! We managed to pull off all the loopholes and come out successful till now.

S.C: Tell us something about your group.

B.B: We have it all! Be it the genius, a good motivator or a good presenter.

S.C: What are your suggestions for project Dyouth?

B.B: We applaud Project Bangladesh and Djuice for promoting such a wonderful concept. We hope this competition grows to bigger and more challenging proportions in the upcoming seasons.

 

 

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