Learning marketing through sports at IIFT
Sports celebrities inaugurate the unique marketing-sports event.
Tweet-- IIFT, Delhi is currently holding a weeklong event called UWL- ‘United Warriors League’. The event serves as an innovative platform for students to learn concepts of marketing in a ‘hands on’ manner as well as enjoy sports at the same time. Earlier this week Sports celebrities like Vijay Dahiya, Indian ODI player and Badrinath Pathri, Physiologist to Sania Mirza inaugurated the sporting and branding event at IIFT Delhi campus.
UWL is a sports and marketing event based on the lines of IPL where the participating teams comprising of MBA students are not only competing in ten disciplines but are also being judged on their branding. Each team is having its own Brand Managers and Owner. A team not only has to win on the field but also the attention of the ‘junta’ to win branding points. The teams are vying for the attention with innovative marketing activities like sending promotional SMSes, running ‘Enthusiastic Fan’ contests, launching blogs and websites, releasing promotional videos on youtube, hiding chocolates in classroom, Launching campus cleaning drive to outright crazy ideas like Running dating contests . “Marketing is a very practical art, books alone cant teach you that. UWL is both fun and learning marketing in a very simulated and hands on environment”, Satvinder Kumar, IIFT student and an UWL organizer. Students managing their team brand are ideating and trying to come up with innovative ideas to break the clutter and get ahead in the branding. With so much of promotion going on emails, through SMSes that one of the team also launched a ‘Do not disturb’ services like the cellular companies do to gain appreciation while another supporter made a floor graffiti in support of her team.
“The environment is very real and simulated like what actual market could be. It’s an interesting and engrossing learning experience” Said Harihar Adarsh, owner of one of the teams.
The event earlier also involved the owners bidding for the players of their choice with each team allotted Rs. 1000 to buy all their favorites players bringing some real action to the event with teams strategizing and scheming to buy the players of their choice. The event this year has been even more impactful than the one last year.
Notes to Editor
About Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT)
About IIFT
IIFT, established by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India in 1963, is a leading research and training institute in International Business. Over the years it has evolved into one of the country’s premier B-schools and has consistently been amongst the top 10 B-schools India.
The institute is today a deemed university and its MBA programme has been consistently attracting attention from both B-school aspirants as well as corporates over the years.
Apart from MBA (International Business) which is the institute’s flagship programme, the institute’s portfolio of long-term programmes is diverse, catering to the requirements of both freshers and mid-career professionals alike. Continuous research has been the backbone for updating IIFT curriculum in order to reflect the fast changing global business dynamics. It is in this context that IIFT has set up a number of Research Centers like the Centre for WTO Studies, Centre for International Trade and Technology and Centre for Small and Medium Enterprises.Please visit:www.iift.edufor more information.