Student marketeers pressed to think out of the box

By Rahib Raza

Published: December 24, 2010

It is important for students to understand the basics of marketing

LAHORE: Twenty high school teams participated in Brand Evolution 10. It was what Attaullah Niazi, principal of Beaconhouse Gulberg, described as “a business event that gave students an opportunity to demonstrate their creativity”.
The event was organised by Beaconhouse’s  A-Level Gulberg Campus (ALGC). According to Shaista Khawar, the patron, the aim of the event was “to utilise the creative minds to bring a new life to an existing product”.
For the activity, the 20 three-member teams a little more than two weeks had to come up with new packaging, slogan, logo, colour scheme and design for Fresher’s 500 ml juice bottle. Student efforts were judged by a panel of jurors that included Adiyan Saddiq Lone, the owner of Blaze advertising agency; Waqas Jalil, a consultant for Interact; Shaista Khawar; and Business Studies’ teachers Tariq Mansuri and Arifa Zahid.
There were four teams from different branches of the Lahore Grammar School, seven from Beaconhouse, four from American Lycetuff and one each from Crescent Model School, SICAS, SISA, Kinnaird College for Women University and Pepperdine.
On Thursday, the teams were judged. SISA’s efforts were lauded the most. However, because of the glaring difference between the quality of work – since some teams had hired professionals for help while others came with their ideas drawn on card board – the marks given to the teams were not announced.
Some of the participants were not happy with the vague guidelines provided by the organisers. “We kept calling them but they did not answer our questions in detail, Hania Naveed from Kinnaird said, “We could have done better if we had known what exactly was expected from us.” Others like the teams from LGS took the event as one filled with fun. “We were not really sure about what to do but we tried our best,” said one grammarian.
Waqas Jalil, one of the judges, was of the opinion that marks do not matter. “It is important for students to understand the basics of marketing.” Adiyan Saddiq Lone, the judge who most of the students thought was the hardest on them, said, “I know some students might be angry with us. We used to feel the same way when we were students but I’m sure they learnt a lot about research and target groups.”
The society plans to hold similar events in the future, though Khawar said that they didn’t know exactly what will be next.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2010.