In conversation with Team Pixie Dust

Business competitions provide the perfect platform for harnessing problem-solving skill sets, simulating real-life business problems, and fostering entrepreneurial spirit in aspiring business leaders. Business competitions are a simulation of real-life business scenarios where teams have to provide a solution to address the issues mentioned in the case.
‘PRAN presents Marketiniac 3.0’ lowered its curtains by hosting the final round in the head office of Grameenphone in Dhaka recently. It is the third edition of one of the biggest 360-degree marketing business case competitions organised by the Army-IBA Business and Leadership Club. This year, more than four hundred teams participated from forty different universities all over the country. Among them, five standout teams navigated through two challenging rounds to reach the grand finale.
The critical task of crowning a winner in the grand finale was entrusted to the judgement of Nishath Quamrul, Nurul Afser, Ariful Bashar, and Tanmoy Das. Team Pixie Dust, consisting of Al Nafee Ibn Siddique, Hrditia Islam, Syeda Ramisa Munia, and Maisha Islam Monamee from the Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University, claimed the coveted title of Marketing 3.0 champion. Lorem Ipsum, from the Bangladesh University of Professionals, secured the runners-up spot, while Team Reckoning, also from the Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University, became the second runners-up.
Team Pixie Dust shares their winning journey, delving into the challenges they overcame along the path and unfolding the unique strategic approach they undertook to achieve this extraordinary feat.
The journey so far: Synergy is crucial when it comes to outperforming in a competitive environment, and Team Pixie Dust has built that through participating in many different business competitions together. Monamee remarks, "We have reached the finals six times in the past, and we have won twice: In the Wander Woman Case Competition and Powerpreneur 2.0. However, Marketiniac 3.0 is the first major win for our team, and that's what makes it so special." They also became runners-up in the Robi Nextperience Digital Product Ideation Contest and Pomac 3.0.
Cracking the first round: In all three rounds, participating teams had to solve cases of PRAN. The first round required teams to create a 360-degree CSR-based awareness campaign for PRAN, centring World Food Day 2023's theme: "Water is Life, Water is Food. Leave No One Behind." This provided a unique challenge for teams, as it is relatively uncommon for marketing competitions to focus on generating campaign ideas for CSR projects. But Pixie Dust has a different perspective. In Monamee's words, "The task being a CSR campaign for PRAN gave us more flexibility. Working with the constraints of a realistic budget and a particular product always limits the ideas we can pitch. But knowing how gigantic PRAN is, we knew that we could stretch the budget, which allowed us to be more innovative with our ideas."
Team Pixie Dust proposed a combination of ATL and BTL activities centring on World Food Day 2023's theme. Their campaigns included installing safe water drinking systems in public schools, incorporating modern water-efficient agricultural techniques in PRAN's supply chain, and proposing a sales campaign, where for each bottle of PRAN's drinking water sold, three bottles will be donated to the communities of Rangamati and Khagrachari that do not have access to safe drinking water.
Strategy in the semi-finals: The case for the semi-final round was just an extension of the previous round. The thirty qualifying teams were required to provide a more digitally focused campaign and an OVC (online video commercial). Pixie Dust strategically tailored their solution, leveraging the psychology of their target audience. Hridita explains, "The biggest challenge in digital marketing is to grab the audience's short attention span. So we proposed to create a theme song for the entire campaign, where the lyrics will focus on creating awareness, and the catchy tune will create a buzz and grab the audience's minds. It will be the signature tune for all our digital content, creating a lasting association between the audience and PRAN." The team also suggested other ideas for different social media platforms.
Becoming the champions in the grand finale: The grand finale's case underscored a crucial challenge that PRAN is dealing with now: Despite having a rich local and global legacy spanning four decades, PRAN has recently faced a tarnished brand image in the media, leading to a decline in consumer trust. The teams were tasked with formulating a year-long marketing campaign specifically designed to tackle this challenge, ultimately rekindling consumers' trust in PRAN.
A pivotal factor of effective case-solving is delving into the root cause of the issue through research. Team Pixie Dust excelled in that aspect and devised a realistic solution that was meticulously organised into three segments. Munia enlightens, "Our research revealed the root cause of consumer concerns to stem from the scandalous rumours about PRAN's sourcing of raw materials. As a remedy, we proposed a detailed plan under "Transparency Initiatives," incorporating factory visits and documentaries about PRAN's production process."
The second part, named 'Brand Reinforcement', added to PRAN's plan to collaborate with the bright young minds of the nation to bolster its footprint in 145 countries. In addition, they proposed influencer marketing campaigns to portray PRAN as a trustworthy brand. The final category, dubbed "Customer Engagement," featured a range of sales-driven campaigns. These meticulously crafted pragmatic ideas ultimately marked them as the standouts in the competition.
What's next for team Pixie Dust: Team Pixie Dust is not planning to slow down anytime soon, and with all the members in the third year, they have a promising path ahead. However, it is more about the journey than the destination for Pixie Dust, as reflected in Nafee's words, "Looking ahead, Pixie Dust aims to have fun in the upcoming business competitions. And our definition of having fun is centred around learning from these experiences. It is not about winning every time, but rather gaining insights and maybe achieving success along the way."

The writer is a third-year student at the Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University.
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