CultCom '13 Marketing diaries (Part 1)

CultCom '13, unlike the previous year was hand picked by the faculty in charge Dr. Shruti Nair from among the students who had indicated the committee as their first preference. She wanted a mix of dance, music and theater in the committee. The first meeting revealed that the members wanted to enjoy the work that they are going to do. It was a team which wanted to make a mark and wanted to do it smartly. We knew that we would have to work with the constraint, (in fact like most committees, with the exception of probably Placom) that attending our events was optional. The team decided that there was a need to create a brand that would appeal to everyone and that people could easily identify with. This called for smart marketing and re-branding activities that would grasp the attention of the batch, generate awareness, generate interest and ultimately make them attend the events. To go ahead and formulate the strategies for the rest of the year, a SWOT analysis was performed with reference to the current environment in SPJIMR with respect to the Cultural committee.

Strengths

a) Nature of work meant it would be easy to garner support

b) Good existing framework and set of mandatory events

c) Strong reach among the faculty and administration 

d) Talented and motivated committee members

Weaknesses

a) Not a strong brand currently

b) Viewed as a committee which does not innovate and does not move outside it's ambit of mandatory events

c) Not enough presence on Social media which is the single most channel 

d) Not enough resources created like a committee room etc.

Opportunities

a) New team and a new batch provided an opportunity to start fresh

b) Opportunity to create new events apart from mandatory events

c) Lots of talent within the batch 

Threats

a) Administrative hurdles and existing regulations about cultural activities at SPJIMR

b) Lack of good venues and them not being exclusive to SPJIMR, causing issues in availability

c) 25 committees will plan activities all round the year and hence slotting will be a major issue

Initial interactions with the batch members and the Abhyudaya event, Hastantaran had shown the committee that there was no dearth of talent in the batch. All that was needed was a platform that was worthy of the talent in the batch. A platform with which they would be proud of being associated with and proud of flaunting their association with. Also, this platform needed to appeal to the audience as well, they would need a platform which would prompt them to come and enjoy cultural extravaganzas without any coercion. 

How did the committee deal with this challenge? How did it go about re-branding the committee? More in the next post.