IIM-I Organises Utsaha 2016, a Reminiscence of Rural Folk

The eighth edition of two-day annual rural marketing festival of Indian Institute of Management, Indore Utsaha 2016 held at Janapav Kutti village area kicked off with its varied hue.

Several hundred people including students from different colleges visited the venue during the two-day fest. Like every year, this year, IIM Indore students conducted a rural marketing research fair in Janapav Kutti, as a part of Kartik Poornima Festival. There were various teams and they worked together to set up a shop in Janapav Kutti.

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Some of the other highlights of the event are -

• Surveys and tests were organised
• Fun filled activities like turban tying competition
• Games and magic shows were also held

Students started their preparation several months ahead with years of experiences carrying forward from their seniors to juniors. Several leading organisations that participated in the fest as research partners to execute market research were-

• Adani Wilmar
• ICICI Bank
• Idea Cellular
• Tech Mahindra
• Shree Guruji Products

Students also arranged activities to engage visitors reminiscent of 'rural consumer'. To woo consumers, the core team of Utsaha had installed handmade posters at each stall as to give it a rural touch.

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A workshop on Rural Marketing Research was also organised as a part of Utsaha 2016. Several prominent speakers from different fields participated in the event and interacted with the students. They further advised them on various terms and methods of rural marketing. Some of the prominent speakers who spoke on the occasion were -

• Dr Sharad Sarin (Professor, XLRI Jamshedpur)
• Ms Saroj Mohanta (Freelance Consultant and ExPartner MART)
• Mr Mohan Krishna (Director, The Peninsula Center)

Revant Sindhu, a team member of the event said that Utsaha 2016 was a wonderful platform that provided the students of IIM-I to indulge in corporate engagement. The concept 'disguised marketing research' helped capture the behaviour of rural consumers. Utsaha 2016 was the best way to combine classroom learning with fieldwork and create real social value.

Image credits - Official Facebook page of UTSAHA 2016