Feature

2nd Inter University Promologic 2008
- Platform For Future Advertising Gurus

Star Campus Desk

Promologic, brainchild of North South University Debate Club (NSUDC), has been striving to provide a platform for the young and enthusiastic advertisers from the renowned universities of the country since 2006. This event has always been well supported by the advertising community of the country and the most esteemed ad makers and marketing experts played their part to help the participants to come up with their best.

The aim of Promologic is to give the participants a glimpse of what they are expected to do once they enter the competitive world of advertising. They get a chance to learn tricks of the trade from the masters themselves and improve their presentation and public speaking skills. However, this event also gives the chance to the advertising firms to head hunt for the most creative minds.

Inter university Promologic is an advertisement competition, in which every 3 or 4 member team has to come up with a promotional campaign for a given product. The teams are judged upon their consumer insight, the power of their idea, the feasibility of their plan and their presentation skills. Each team were given 15 minutes to present their idea, followed b y a 5 minutes rebuttal round where they could stand up and make a case against the criticisms made on their presentation. This round is meant to bring a little flavor of debating in the competition, which historically, has added much excitement to this competition.

North South University Debate Club received overwhelming support from Mr. Nazim Farhan Chowdhury, Deputy Managing Director of Adcomm Limited from the start of the event. He conducted regular briefing and training sessions before every round, which enabled the participants to upgrade their performances for every upcoming session. Expert judges of the event also conducted training sessions. Mr. Gibran Tanwir of Evolve, Mr. Razeeb Hasan of Cogito Marketing Solutions, Mr. Khaled of Adcomm Limited and Mr. Chandra Shekhar Shaha of Bitopi expertly conducted the training sessions.

Throughout the event, judges from prominent Ad Firms: Adcomm Limited, Interspeed, Cogito Marketing Solutions, Grey Group Bangladesh, Evolve, Bitopi, Paperhyme Bangladesh and Asiatic Limited, were impressed by the participants' versatility of idea and logics. They also took out their own time to give the contestants a few pointers on what it really means to have a creative job as such. Channel I, NewAge and RadioFoorti were media partners of the event.

The event kicked off with Intra-NSU Promologic on 22nd of October where 26 teams battled their brains out to find a place in the Inter University Promologic. The teams were divided into six groups, and each group was given a unique product to make their presentation upon. The daylong presentation rounds on 24th promised versatility.

The campaigns ranged from a very creative presentation made on Facial Tissue to a hilarious presentation for Matrimonial Agency to a highly controversial marketing idea for Lollypops. 12 teams made it to the 2nd round of presentations.

In the 2nd round the teams were separated into 3 groups and the groups were required to come up with a promotional campaigns for Hand wash, Fat Farm and Energy Drink. The winning teams from the 2nd round carried the NSU flag to the Inter University Promologic.

In the evening of 5th of November, NSU campus was buzzing with enthusiastic students from other universities who had come to register for Inter University Promologic. After the registration, Mr. Nazim Farhan Chowdhury briefed them on the products while Mr. Razeeb Hasan gave them some important tips on the Do's and the Don'ts of the Ad World. Teams from Institution of Business Administration (IBA), Independent University of Bangladesh (IUB), Chittagong University, South East University, Jahangirnagar University, United International University (UIU) and University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, along with the NSU teams made a total of 19 teams participating in first round.

The teams were split into four groups this time and the products given to them also got tougher and became as diverse as making a Campaign for Women's Emergency Health Care/Abuse and Rape Counseling Center, Poultry Products, E-Market Place and a Bank. Two teams from each group progressed to the Semi-Finals after a round of impressive presentations. The eight teams moving onto the Semi-Finals had to go through a daylong workshop the following day. The training sessions were conducted by top advertising professionals from prominent Ad Firms, Mr. Chandrashekhar Saha, Executive Vice-President of Bitopi, Mr. Khalid Huda of Adcomm Limited and Mr. Gibran Tanwir of Evolve.

The semi finals saw eight Teams from renowned institutions, North South University, Institute of Business Administration (IBA, University of Dhaka), Independent University of Bangladesh (IUB), and Chittagong University present their promotion plan on two products: 'Mobile Internet Service' and 'Oral Contraceptive Pills'. Here the students showed their advertising acumen and innovation by coming up with exclusive TVCs (featuring themselves!), and diversified products such as 'herbal pills without any side-effects'. After the intensely competitive round four teams went forward to the finals: Spice Jets, Gnostics, Trendsetters, and Team Ajaira.

The finals took place at Gulshan club on the 25th of November. This was the biggest challenge for the contestants so far as they had to come of with a promotional campaign for the newly found company 'Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services' (BASIS), and promote the country Bangladesh in itself! The Grand Finale and Closing Ceremony was presided by Mr. MA Awwal, Chairman, Board of Governors, NSU Foundation as the Chief Guest, Dr. Hafiz GA Siddiqi, Vice Chancellor, North South University as special guest, Dr. SAM Khairul Bashar, Pro Vice Chancellor, North South University and Dr. M Ali Rashid, Dean, School of Arts and Social Sciences, North South University as Guests of Honor. The final round was adjudicated by one of the pioneers of female entrepreneurship in Bangladesh, Mrs. Geetiara Safiya Chowdhury, the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Adcomm Limited. Mr. Nazim Farhan Chowdhury Deputy Managing Director, Adcomm Limited, Mr. Habibullah Karim, President, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services, Mr. Debasish Deb, Country Manager, Coca Cola Far East Ltd. The revered guests and judges were impressed as the teams came up with some brilliant presentations. They presented their case smartly and logically applying all the tricks they have learned from the previous rounds.

The team Spice Jets from NSU started the night with their slogan “Determined Bangladesh” followed by a meticulous presentation by 'Team Ajaira' from IBA. The following two teams were also from NSU, 'The Gnostics' and 'The Trendsetters' who gave an emotionally stirring presentation. After the last presentation, gratitude awards were given to trainers and former members of North South University Debate Club, who had worked hard in bringing the very first Inter University Promologic into existence last year.

A speech from each of the honorable guests and the Faculty Advisor of NSU Debate Club Mr. Alamgir Hossain was followed by the award ceremony. 'The Gnostics' took the 4th place while 'Spice Jets' took the 3rd and after a grueling wait the winning team was announced. Yes, it was 'Team Ajaira' from IBA who are the champions of Inter-University Promologic 2008 and 'Trendsetters' came 2nd best. However, Wasia Mahnaz Minna from the runners up team was unanimously awarded the Best Presenter of the Finals.

A grand dinner and a cultural event followed the event where the Debate Club members finally got to let their hair down after months of running around to make this event a huge success.