IMT, Hyderabad B-school students won NetElixir Clix 2013

NetElixir's Clix 2013, the first live digital marketing case study contest among B-schools saw its spectacular Grand Finale here on Saturday, July 27 at Hotel Regenta One.

The contest took place among the top B-schools in the city and saw over 75 registered teams of four members each. The preliminary rounds of the contest took place on Friday, July 19 in the respective colleges.

One team from each of the five colleges was shortlisted for today's final round. The participant colleges were The Indian School of Business (ISB), ICFAI Business School (IBS), Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management (GITAM), Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) and Institute of Management Technology (IMT).

Many ‘firsts' can be attributed to Clix 2013. Not only is the event the first ‘live' digital marketing case- study contest, it is also the first time ever that ‘crowd-sourced' ideas and solutions at the B-school level will be implemented on real projects. Working on the challenges of these ‘live' case-studies, the contesting students have got an exposure to sophisticated digital marketing strategies at a global level.

The importance of digital marketing and the Indian context:
According to a recently published study by the WPP Group, global Digital Advertising spend in 2012 was $99 Billion and is expected to touch $113 Billion in 2013. Unlike traditional marketing, digital marketing does not have limitations in terms of time, geography or even interface, thus helping companies to monitor feedback and consumer actions in real-time.

However, the MBA curriculum in India does not have any mentionable content or courses on digital marketing, e-commerce or online technology. The industry continues to be in its nascent stages in the country, with little or no knowledge about its potential.

Therefore, with a vision of creating awareness and interest on digital marketing among Indian students, NetElixir, a leading global search marketing company is conducting Clix, a ‘live' digital case study contest for the first time in India, among the top B-schools in Hyderabad.

The event and the process:
The final round of the contest comprised a 30-minute presentation by each team on the case analyses followed by a 10-minute Q&A session each. The presented ideas were judged by a distinguished panel comprising Ajit Sivadasan, Global Ecommerce Business Head, Lenovo.com; Arijit Sarker, Head of India Operations, Google and Udayan Bose, Founder & CEO of NetElixir, based on the participants' creativity and ability to analyze and derive insights from "real business data" to build and recommend a strategic digital media plan for world's number one PC Company- Lenovo.com (North America) for holiday season 2013. The participants were asked to recommend the most optimal digital marketing channel mix that can be used by Lenovo.com to maximize return on advertising spend for this year's holiday season. The students had to wear the hat of Lenovo's Digital Marketing Manager (North America) with a multi-million dollar budget at their disposal and allocate the company's media spend based on "real data" pertaining to the last 18 months. The holiday season in North America is the time between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas when dramatic spike in sales is experienced by retailers due to a surge in consumer demand.

The students had NetElixir's LXRMarketplace as the case for the preliminary round. The teams acted as ‘product managers' to recommend creative monetization options available to LXRMarketplace.

The Outcome and the winners:
The team from Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) won Clix 2013. On their win, the students shared, "Solving a real life problem based on an extensive analysis was a unique experience for us. The case study given to us was interesting. It created interest in us about digital marketing. It was a wonderful experience to work on a practical website. While working on the case we got to know the various opportunities available particularly in digital marketing. We used the tools available on the website and it gave us the idea about how the results given by the tool are useful in digital marketing arena. All in all it was a great learning experience."

The runners-up to the contest were from the Indian School of Business (ISB).

The winning team received a cash award of Rs1,00,000 from NetElixir along with the Clix rolling trophy. The winning team also received a special award of Lenovo IdeaPad tablets and the first runners-up team received Lenovo smart phones, sponsored by Lenovo.com.