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Thursday, December 09, 1999
Brand Quest | Business Line | The Hindu |

Brand Quest      (December 09, 1999)

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I. Pot Pourrie

A mixed bag of questions this week. (4 pts each)

  1. In which running ad would you see President Clinton, Microsoft's Bill Gates, and TV comedian Bill Cosby; and in what context? (The common link between the three will take you halfway to the answer!)


  2. Why was the Encyclopaedia Britannica recently in business news?


  3. In a recent survey by Outlook magazine of the highest earners in the sports and entertainment business, who was ranked No. 1 with estimated earnings in 1999 of a whopping Rs. 50 crores?



  4. Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems was recently quoted: ``People keep asking me about the Y2K problem. Let me tell you something: O2K and W2K will be far greater disasters than Y2K.'' What was he referring to?



  5. The brainchild of three Scotsmen, it was issued in 100 parts from 1768 to 1771 in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was acquired by Sears, Roebuck & Co in the early 1900s and later by William Benton of ad agency Benton & Bowles. It is now owned by a Swiss businessman Jacob Safra. What are we talking about?



II. Baseline Play

Management guru Ted Levitt once said: ``A product is not a product unless it sells. Otherwise it is merely a museum piece.'' How good a job do these baselines do in selling the writing instruments they advertise? (1 pt each) 

    1. `The art of writing'            a. Faber-Castell
2. `The joy of writing'            b. Mont Blanc
3. `Write it. Draw it. Do it'      c. Waterman
4. `Since 1846'                    d. Rotring
5. `Since 1761'                    e. Cross


III. Copy Test

Following are words picked out of the body copy of a print ad, voice-over of a TVC or simply a baseline. Identify the brand. (3 pts each)

  1. `From broom to vroom!'



  2. `So, what's new? Everything from body shop to assembly line, with 70 crore rupees going into it.'



  3. `It's a different trip'



  4. `Put your chauffeur firmly in his place'



  5. `First you drive it, then it drives you'



IV. Take Your Pick

Select the right answer. (2 pts each)

  1. Which famous brand of pen and luxury products derives its brand name from the Russian word for `pencil'?
    1. Caran d'Ache
    2. Montegrappa
    3. Faber-Castell
    4. Rotring



  2. Which famous company turned down two great business opportunities offered to it for sale: Polaroid photography by Edwin Land who later established the company on his own, and the photocopy technology by Chester Carlson, later bought by Haloid Corp, now better known as Xerox Corp?
    1. IBM
    2. Kodak
    3. General Electric
    4. Du Pont



  3. Ajay Jadeja appears in the ads for Castrol engine oils. Which engine oil is endorsed by former truck driver and famous Bollywood actor Dharmendra?
    1. Indian Oil
    2. Bharat Petroleum
    3. Tata BP
    4. Gulf Oil



  4. What is the brand name of the multipurpose vehicle to be launched in India by Toyota in early January 2000?
    1. Crown
    2. Corolla
    3. Qualis
    4. Landcruiser



  5. He was the star salesman at Oracle under Larry Ellison for their database software until he quit in 1990 to set up his own firm. His company, which carries his name, is today the world leader in CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software. Name him?
    1. John Baan
    2. Thomas Siebel
    3. David Cisco
    4. William Gartner



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