Backwaters Committee IIM Kozhikode IIMK Campus P.O. Kozhikode Web:

Backwaters Committee IIM Kozhikode IIMK Campus P.O. Kozhikode 673 570 Web: www.backwatersiimk.com Email: backwaters@iimk.ac.in

EVENT FORMAT Please refer the document- UpKraft Case Challenge for the case details. You are a marketing consultancy team for a new start-up, founded by Mohit Sood, focussing on resolving various issues with the education sector in India via MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) platform. Your job is to address the following questions while coming to a solution to help the start-up: 1. What are the most important barriers to the trial that students would have? What features and attributes should Mohit build in to offset those barriers? Mohit believes that the key to a great consumer experience is how closely it matches the physical classroom experience. What product attributes should he build in to his product to achieve that? 2. Chose the most promising TG from amongst these segments that Mohit should target for his new platform. Explain 2-3 key reasons why you chose that segment. Who are the key influencers for this TG? Create a prime prospect sketch for your chosen TG. To create a prime prospect sketch, you would need to interview current students in Class XII and understand their perspective. For more details on creating a prime prospect sketch, refer to Appendix 1 3. Capture one core insight about your prime prospect. For more details on creating a prime prospect sketch, refer to Appendix 2 4. What is the most important functional benefit of this product that Mohit should communicate? (You can list more than one, but make sure you highlight the most important one) What is the most important emotional benefit of this product that Mohit should communicate? Describe, in one line, the brand proposition of this product. 5. Create an advertisement (could be print/ audio/ video) for this product. Give the platform a name, capture the brand proposition, as well as the emotional and functional benefits of the product. 6. What should be the media, promotion & activation strategy for this product that Mohit should adopt? PRIZES 1 st Prize: Prizes worth Rs. 50,000 2 nd Prize: Prizes worth Rs. 30,000 Plus an opportunity to be a part of a 4 week live project for an upcoming education technology startup. Backwaters Committee IIM Kozhikode IIMK Campus P.O. Kozhikode 673 570 Web: www.backwatersiimk.com Email: backwaters@iimk.ac.in

ELIGIBILITY & REGISTRATION 1. Participation is open to all students pursuing MBA or related post graduate programs 2. Participation has to be in teams of a maximum 4 members. 3. Teams can be comprised of participants from the same college/institution or from various colleges/institutions. 4. All teams must register first register for the event on www.backwatersiimk.com (one registration per team) FORMAT & DELIVERABLES PRELIMINARY ROUND 1. Analyse the given problem carefully and come up with a summarised presentation based on the deliverables mentioned. 2. The submission should be in the form of a PowerPoint presentation not exceeding 10 slides including the cover slide and Appendix if any. FINAL ROUND Based on the submissions, the top 5 teams will be shortlisted and invited to IIM Kozhikode (during 30 th October 1 st November to present their solution to a panel of judges. Exact dates of the final round will be communicated to the shortlisted teams at a later point in time. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES 1. Submissions will uploaded to https://dropitto.me/upkraft, the password for the same is upkraft 2. PPT (in.ppt or.pptx form) should be labelled in the format <TeamName>_<Institute Name>_Round1 3. The starting slide of the PPT should contain the team name and member details (names of team members, respective institutes, phone numbers and email IDs) *Note that no addition data/information will be provided. All assumption/sources of data should be clearly mentioned as footnotes to the slide. Organizers reserve right to reject entries not adhering to the above. Backwaters Committee IIM Kozhikode IIMK Campus P.O. Kozhikode 673 570 Web: www.backwatersiimk.com Email: backwaters@iimk.ac.in

EVALUATION CRITERIA 1. Demonstrating understanding the depth of the problem at hand 2. Structure and language of the presentation 3. Feasibility of the solutions 4. Creativity of the solutions COMPETITION RULES 1. Each team will be permitted to submit only one entry in the competition. 2. There must be strictly no plagiarism/ Copyright infringements in the submissions. On discovery of such infringements, the respective team(s) will be disqualified with immediate effect. 3. Participation will be governed by the Backwaters 15 Terms & Conditions posted on the website (www.backwatersiimk.com) and may be subject to change at any time without specific notice. The amended Terms & Conditions will be effective immediately upon being posted on the website. It is the sole responsibility of the participants to regularly visit the website and be informed of any changes. 4. The decisions of the organizers of the contest and the panel of judges will be final and binding on all the participants. Backwaters Committee IIM Kozhikode IIMK Campus P.O. Kozhikode 673 570 Web: www.backwatersiimk.com Email: backwaters@iimk.ac.in

IMPORTANT DATES IMPORTANT DATES Launch Date: 30 th September, 2015 23:59:59hrs Registrations Open: 30 th September, 2015 23:59:59hrs Registrations Close: 14 th October, 2015 23:59:59hrs Submission Deadline 14 th October, 2015 23:59:59hrs Results (tentative)*: 17 th October, 2015 23:59:59hrs Final Round: 30 th October 1 st November, 2015* *(exact date to be informed in due course) Backwaters Committee IIM Kozhikode You can also follow us on And http://backwatersiimk.com Backwaters Committee IIM Kozhikode IIMK Campus P.O. Kozhikode 673 570 Web: www.backwatersiimk.com Email: backwaters@iimk.ac.in

Case Study

Background

You are a marketing consultancy team for a new startup by... Mohit Sood, a recently returned Computer Science graduate from University of Michigan A heavy user of Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Mohit loved learning from top professors and their content, anytime and anywhere. Post coming back, he observed major issues with the education sector in India, & resolved to address them, starting with the Class XI-XII segment

Mohit s observations of a typical Class XI- Cause and effect XII student experience Poor learning outcomes Lack of confidence Variable & generally average teacher quality High parental pressure Limited use of technology aids like animations Time consuming & expensive tuitions for CBSE/ JEE/ PMT

Mohit s beilef- Student s subject liking & comfort often driven by quality of teachers

Product

Mohit s solution- A MOOC platform built for the Indian audience A curated marketplace for online courses by subject experts Any subject expert/ top teacher/ educational institution can create & upload their courses on the platform, keeping it free or charging a subscription fee from students A course would be a combination of recorded videos plus supplementary downloads/ notes Courses could be related to any concept/ exam/ skill (robotics/ programming/ creative writing/ vocational etc) useful for Class XI-XII students

Mohit identifies the following attributes as key to his platform Anytime, anywhere, any device access Only self-paced courses available all the time (as opposed to timed courses on Coursera that have defined start/ end dates) Courses to include technology aids (such as animations) to enable easier concept understanding Platform to allow students to post questions/doubts that could be answered by the instructor or other students taking that course

Exercise-1 1a. What are the most important barriers to the trial that students would have? 1b. What features and attributes should Mohit build in to offset those barriers? 1c. Mohit believes that the key to a great consumer experience is how closely it matches the physical classroom experience. What product attributes should he build in to his product to achieve that?

Building consumer understanding

Mohit initiates consumer research to better understand & segment his consumer market

Mohit s research yields the following 4 major consumer segments Ambitious, Exam focused (27%) I really want to do well in my exams, it s the gateway to my ideal future Effort optimizer (34%) I just want to be able to get decent marks for the minimum effort! Knowledge seeker (21%) I like to understand the why & how of what I learn- knowledge is just as important as marks Bored & Unconcerned (18%) Studying is boring- why should I waste my time doing this? *brackets represent % of people belonging to that segment

Exercise-2 2a. Chose the most promising TG from amongst these segments that Mohit should target for his new platform. Explain 2-3 key reasons why you chose that segment. 2b. Who are the key influencers for this TG? 2c. Create a prime prospect sketch for your chosen TG. To create a prime prospect sketch, you would need to interview current students in Class XII and understand their perspective. For more details on creating a prime prospect sketch, refer to Appendix 1

Exercise-3 Capture one core insight about your prime prospect. For more details on creating a prime prospect sketch, refer to Appendix 2

Exercise-4 4a. What is the most important functional benefit of this product that Mohit should communicate? (You can list more than one, but make sure you highlight the most important one) 4b. What is the most important emotional benefit of this product that Mohit should communicate? 4c. Describe, in one line, the brand proposition of this product.

Exercise-5 Create a short ad (either print/ audio/ video) for this product. Capture the brand proposition, as well as the emotional and functional benefits of the product.

Exercise-6 What should be the media, promotion & activation strategy for this product that Mohit should adopt?

Appendix- 1 WHO I AM Prime Prospect Sketch Helps you get to the core of your consumers, their emotions and motivations Captures, the WHO, WHAT & WHY Write in first person- helps bring the TG to life WHAT I DO, WHEN & WHERE WHY I DO IT Unarticulated needs Emotions Motivations Attitudes Articulated Needs Preferences Consumption. Shopping Contact points Lifestage / Lifestyle Demographics

Appendix- 1 Contd. (Guiding points to help build a sketch) WHO? Name, % of segment Key demographics, including life stage, family status etc Lifestyle, activities, hobbies (if it affects their category choices) General attitude & disposition to life/ values/ aspirations/ personality characteristics WHAT? Current category usage details (in this caseeducation/ learning) Factors affecting usage Role of category in his/ her life Reasons for using this category? What are the alternatives? Occasions/ time spent of usage WHY? Describe the reasons why the prime prospect makes the choices described in WHAT

Appendix- 2 Core Insight A deep understanding of the motivations, attitudes and beliefs that motivate behaviour/non behaviour Based upon a human truth Includes an element of tension Can be related or unrelated to the category Evokes a reaction- leads to a competitively differentiated idea, powerful enough to change behavior