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Unleashing creative streaks
An air of mystery
A CASUAL visitor might have wondered what the celebration was all about. There were students in groups, moving around the corridors and walking up and down the staircase. Pasted on the walls were colourful posters in eye-catching designs. Classrooms seemed to have metamorphosed overnight into modern shops displaying consumer products.
It was `Window display' time at the GRD School of Commerce and International Business, at the GRD College of Science. This year, the annual event was called `Creative streaks', and `Watch out' was the catch phrase.
"This is the seventh year that we are conducing the `Window display', to bring out the creative talent in students," said K. K. Ramachandran, director, School of Commerce and International Business.
"It requires thinking and planning, besides presentation skills, and is focused on marketing. In a way, life itself is marketing, for we need marketing in order to survive in any field of commercial activity," he added.
Fifty students were participating in the annual event, which highlighted concepts, services and products very creatively done to grab the attention of potential customers.
Participants had formed small groups of about four or five each, and cooperated in putting up the display. Apart from designing the layout of the space given for marketing the product, service or concept, the students had studied the subject in as much detail as they could, in order to be able to answer marketing-related questions.
"We have left the students to choose the subject for themselves and the theme of the display. A suitable space is allotted for each team, and they have 24 hours after the subject is announced, in order to put the display together," he added.
This year, the student teams had occupied classrooms on three floors in the building. Though the accent was on `marketing' through design, display and personal interaction with the `customer', the event was a competition too.
A panel of judges went round individually to assess the displays and award prizes falling under 12 different categories.
Display of rare fossils
There were cups, certificates and cash awards to be won.
"Over the years, there has been a change in the kind of displays put up by students. At first, the focus was on products, but now it's on concepts and services," Ramachandran said.
At the display event this year, there were student teams marketing ayurvedic medicines and tourism, in addition to furniture, handicrafts and antiques. "Enthusiasm is high among the participants and shows that the energy of youth can be channelled into useful endeavours," he observed.
All the efforts of students were evaluated on the basis of six factors, namely attention value, innovation, uniqueness, information, space utilisation and creativity. Judges rated each work on a ten-point scale.
J. Srikanth, director, GRD Institute of Management was one of the judges and the other two were industry representatives.
By Michael Raj A A
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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