1. From a plethora of options to choose from, why did you decide to participate in the said competition?
RB being a global brand, was one of the biggest competitions. It was being conducted simultaneously across 18 countries. And also, the first round was just a 1-hour long Business Simulation Game, so we thought why not give it a try.
Also, one of the most interesting things about this competition was that we were not required to do some case study, like in most of the other B-School competition there is, but we were required to think of a totally new product/brand, which RB can launch under the Health and Hygiene section. So, this seemed very interesting to us.
2. Being a newbie to the live competition scene with no prior experience, what was your approach towards the ideation and its implementation?
It was fairly difficult for us, as this was our first competition, and we didn’t know what the approach we should carry.
First, we sat down, thought and discussed various brands under RB, so that we can come up to an idea of product extension, then we considered all the health and hygiene-related problems India is facing today. So, after long hours of discussion, we finalized our idea, that was “Intimate wash product for men”. And after that, we approached our seniors and teachers who proactively helped us, and showed us the path to move ahead with our idea.
We started collecting as much data as possible. We interviewed around 10 students and faculties, doctors, dermatologists, pharmacist, sportspersons, etc. Collected various data from the internet and also floated the google sheet to collect general public response. Based on all our research, we came to know that there was really a need for this product, and there is a good market for this product if positioned correctly in the market. So, we started forming the plan for the initial launch and all the marketing strategies and financial scope.
3. What can you say were the roadblocks in collecting pertinent data?
Many of the people we interviewed were reluctant to talk about this issue. As this is a very sensitive issue, and one may shy away from giving us the actual facts about his intimate hygiene issues. Also because of the time constraint, it was difficult for us to take dedicated interviews of doctors, also some doctors were too busy to give any interview, and didn’t allow us to record the interview.
4. Participating in a national level competition, along with the learning curve, would also have its fair share of rewards. As a management student, what were your key takeaways?
This competition has taught us how to apply the theory we studied in our first term, especially the concepts of Marketing and Finance. We learnt a lot, from seniors and faculties, whom we approached for this competition, from our mistakes, from the interviews and data we collected, and many other sources. One of the biggest takeaways was, what all things one should keep in mind in launching a new product. What all could be the marketing strategies, various expenses such as production cost, R&D expenses, who can be the target audience, what can be the conversion rate, how the existing competition can affect it, and much more.
5. With such a unique proposition in front of you, I’m sure you faced many hurdles. Could you elucidate on some of the challenges which you overcame?
Time was one of the biggest constraints for us, especially for the regional round, where we just got 4-5 days. And at that time, our exams were also there, so we had to work till very late in the night to balance everything. Thankfully our teachers are very understanding and they allowed us to prepare for the competition by allowing us to miss some lectures.
6. In a nutshell, how would you describe your journey at the said competition?
It was filled with learnings. We learnt at every stage, from our seniors, from the faculties, from the doctors whom we interviewed and other interviewers. We also learnt from our mistakes which we committed in the 2nd round while making the presentation. And from the interviewers of the RB team, when they interviewed us and told us all the weak points in the same. Overall, we feel we were lucky enough to reach till the regional round, and as they say, the journey is more beautiful than the destination, and our journey was filled with learnings. Also, with learnings, we made a very good connection between ourselves, with the teachers, with the seniors, with the interviewees we interviewed, which otherwise would not have been possible.