Students told to think creatively

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, JULY 26.

The need for students to think creatively, come up with ideas and then brand them as their own was underscored by theatre activist and advertising professional, Mr. Alyque Padamsee, here on Wednesday.

The "ad guru", as he is popularly known, was in the city to address students at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) on "Idea Management - Breaking Out of the Box". The Hyderabad centre is playing to fresh students from the Bangalore, Calcutta, Chennai and Mumbai centres of NIFT who are undergoing a 15-day Foundation Programme.

Mr. Padamsee turned what was supposed to be a 60-minute speech, into a 90-minute-long interactive session and he had the enthusiastic crowd of some 400 students responding to all his questions in brainstorming sessions to each of his case studies. He explained management concepts and narrated examples for them.

He had three ad films - "Hamara Bajaj", Lyril and Kama Sutra, screened for the students and explained how each of them had helped the companies. He asked the students to follow the "OICA" concept (Observation, Insight, Concept and Actualisation) and if they thought on those lines, they would taste success. He said that "IT" did not mean just Information Technology, but it also stood "Ideas Transfer". The very word "IDEA" stood for Innovation, Drives, Excellence and Action, he said.

He recalled how Mr. Akiro Morita of Sony had got an idea from the Philips Dictaphone and adapted it to bring out his best-known product, the Walkman. "Philips might have sold a few lakh of those machines, but Walkman sold by the million", he said, adding that other people's ideas could be taken and adapted to suit individual requirements.

The man who headed the advertising agency, Lintas, for over a decade and who is now working with the A.P. Government on an image-building exercise said he had worked with administrators several times but they had only one "i" (ideas). Referring to his professional association with the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, he said he had for the first time met someone who had two "i"s (ideas and their implementation).

Earlier, Mr. N.V.R. Nathan, Director, NIFT, Hyderabad welcomed the gathering. Others present included Mr. P.L. Panda, Consultant, NIFT and Mr. Basanth Kumar, the Registrar.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Govt. denies abandoning Polavaram project
Next     : Onus on hotels to supply hygienic food