Month-long festivities of BRANDrill 2020 come to an end

BRANDrill 2020, a case competition related to branding and marketing for university students, has reached its conclusion with the determination of the champion, first runner up, and second runner up.

"NSY" from the Bangladesh University of Professionals was announced as the champion team winning prize money of Tk50,000, read a press release from the organisers on Saturday.

Meanwhile, "Extra Drill" from University of Dhaka – the first runner up – went home with Tk30,000, and "Team UNDISPUTED" from North South University – the  second runner up – received Tk20,000 in prize money.

All three teams were provided with certificates and crests.

The finalist teams competed in front of a large virtual crowd on Thursday. The programme started at 2pm by means of a Zoom meeting. There was a lot of excitement among the: participants, judges, organisers, and viewers.

Dr Muhammad Abdul Moyeen, dean (acting), Faculty of Business Studies, University of Dhaka, was present as the chief guest, and Solaiman Sarwar, head of strategic initiatives and head of MNC and high value clients, corporate business, IPDC Finance, was the special guest at the grand finale of BRANDrill 2020.

The contestants were judged by Tareq Islam Shuvo, head of company strategy, brand and corporate communication, IPDC Finance, Grace Kanta Sarkar, head of marketing, Shohoz, and Md Iftekhar Alam, head of brand strategy and creative marketing, Grameenphone.

The Business Standard was a media partner of the event.

At the programme, Dr Muhammad Abdul Moyeen said, "I must congratulate these eight finalists and also those people who have been able to participate in the process. I think there has been enormous potential and opportunity for learning how to be able to get around the issues of problem solving."

"And it does not matter if you win or lose, you have earned that knowledge, you have tested the waters and you know how to handle that, and that is one step forward in the ability to face challenges," he added.

Praising the organisers and sponsors of BRANDrill 2020, Dr Muhammad Abdul Moyeen said, "You have captured the essence of action learning, and may that process lead you to self-learning and self-discovery."

Over 200 teams countrywide registered for the first round of IPDC Presents BRANDrill 2020 Powered by Eclectic Education, of which 40 lucky teams qualified to the semi-final round, and only eight went on to the finals.

The event commenced on 15 October of this year. The participants had to submit an online case for the first round, on the basis of which they were judged, and the results were published on 20 October.

On 22 October, an online branding-related workshop was organised and guidelines about the second round were given out.

The semi-final round was conducted through online OVC submission. The results of this round were published on  31 October, via which the finalists were selected.

BRANDrill is the signature event of Voice of Business – a business magazine club in the Faculty of Business Studies of University of Dhaka.

Through this competition, the participants were able to learn practical strategies: about branding, marketing, product differentiation, advertising, and promotion.

The competition was first launched in 2017; it was organised for the second time in 2018, and for the third time this year.

All the rounds of the competition this year were held online, which facilitated students from private and public universities nationwide in participating.