The Hindu Business Line : XLRI marketing fair to go online

THE marketing fair at XLRI Jamshedpur, which has completed 25 years, will be extended to the Internet. The B-School is working on what is being billed as e-marketing fair. It has also lined up a new concept - a Marketing Lab - that the current batch of students is expected to design and bring to life.

Conducted under the aegis of MAXI (Marketing Association of XLRI), the silver jubilee was celebrated by honouring MAXI secretaries of the past 25 years. As many as seven research problems were presented by corporates such as Colgate-Palmolive, Nestle, ITC, Titan, UTI Bank and Franklin Templeton Investments. Five other research problems were refused due to a lack of manpower. An estimated Rs 8 lakh was spent on organising the whole event, which was sponsored by ITC. Companies such as Citibank, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and Agrotech Foods came up as the co-sponsors.

The fair attracted around 4,000 respondents. The pool of participants was made up of representatives from various marketing, finance and diversified outfits.

First put into practice in 1979, it is spearheaded by Dr Sharad Sarin, Head, Marketing Area at XLRI. The concept, it is also pointed out, has been praised by marketing stalwarts, including the noted Philip Kotler of Kellogg School of Management and Theodore Levitt of the Harvard Business School.

The marketing fair has evolved from a `simple fair', solving research problems to a high technology forum, which not only efficiently conducts market research but also provides entertainment and fun. Incidentally, the use of computers for data collection and respondent management has been one of its major evolutions since 1979.

With a view to adding realism, elements like costumes and life-size posters have been introduced.

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