Game for disguised marketing quiz? Visit IIM-L’s Index

Lucknow: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann ki Baat’, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has launched ‘AAP ki baat’. But unlike Modi who is focusing on issues that affect common public, Kejriwal is busy finding the best Radio Jockey and the most-tuned in radio station. Meanwhile, pk, a humanoid alien is assisting Kejriwal make his show a sucess by providing him the information as to when and what time of the day, people tune in to their radio.
To witness all these fun activities, visit INDEX, a disguised market research, conducted by IIM, Lucknow students. “We are finding out when people listen to radio most—standing in a queue or working in office or while in a car, bus, or when sitting idle,’’ said Ashish Brijwani, who is playing pk in a game titled RJ Room.
In another activity, cricketer M S Dhoni has opened an RJ showroom post retirement and is letting Kejriwal know people’s preferences when it comes to radio shows. Is it the latest songs or dedication? News, advertisements, retros or RJ talk?
The fair also gives opportunity to meet inspector Daya from the TV crime series CID. But for this, you will have to steal Alia Bhatt’s mind and have a 4G sim card in your mobile phone. “It’s a crime scene where we have a case of someone having stolen Alia Bhatt’s mind. And we are looking for the suspect. From the crime scene, we have recovered some video calls. So to begin with, we interrogate the suspected killer as to whether he is using a 4G sim card and what’s his data expenditure in past few days,’’ said Kashish Prajapati, who dons Daya’s hat in ‘Filmcity’. This play at INDEX aims at finding out which mobile network is most used by people, how fast is the data download speed, personalised offers, connectivity and what price people pay for data. To answer these questions here, you will get a chance to ‘meet Karan Johar’ in his exclusive show, Koffee With Karan.
The 22nd edition of INDEX had six such games centred around real life, telly and comic characters to gauge people’s needs and perspectives on several products available in the market. One such game called ‘Dare to Date’ was designed to gauge people’s response to use of mint flavour when out on a date. Questions like which mint flavour is long lasting and is value for money are put up. In a stall called ‘Eat Street’ students surveyed habits of people in choosing a food item. Whether they pick up a food item because its easy to prepare or it’s easily available or nutritious or tasty. “Basically, is brand also the reason for people buying a particular food item or they pick up anything they find to fill their stomach,’’ said Maniram, a student at the stall.
The disguised market research exercise seeks to gain insights into customers’ perspectives and needs through intelligently designed games to overcome the ‘sensitisation effect’. The participants, said IIM-L students are their consumers. Through their response, students identify brand awareness, consumer needs and to assess competition. Data collected will further be evaluated by the experts.
Besides, INDEX also hosted events like RJ hunt, Footloose and a dance competition. With impromptu events that invited people to participate on-the-spot, the fair promises something for all.