AD Maker Bangladesh 2014<br>CREATIVE MINDS GO YES!
“Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And do you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car.”
– Don Draper, Mad Men
'The Creative Fight' finally came to its conclusion at 'AD Maker Bangladesh 2014', presented by Otobi and driven by Navana, Toyota -- the biggest undergraduate level advertising competition organised by the Young Entrepreneurs Society of North South University, better known as NSU YES!. Their biggest event till date, the journey ended with a splendid finale held at the university's Bashundhara campus.
This competition initiated back in 2009 and has been growing ever since. In its fourth edition, the club spread the word across the country and a total of 254 teams from 75 universities registered to participate in the preliminary round. Roadshows were held at many universities and a special Chittagong round of the event was arranged for institutions of the region. The competition continued with three knockout rounds and a workshop conducted by prominent ad filmmakers and corporate personnel after which 11 teams qualified for the Grand Finale held on May 28, 2014.
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The PR team put in a lot of effort as NSU campus was covered with posters, banners and decorative hoardings. Publicity stunts like displaying of brand new Toyota cars went about on the campus grounds.
NSU student and member of participating Team Codex, Akif Chowdhury, shared his views: “I like making videos and was doing my marketing course at the time; so it was a perfect platform for putting my skills into practice. Moreover, it was the sort of competition where I could demonstrate my creativity.”
The 11 finalist teams -- CABBA, HAKUNA MATATA and TEAM POTTER from Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University; ATYPICAL from BRAC University; OPERA MINI from Bangladesh University of Professionals; THE AMATEURS from Chittagong Independent University; and UNPROFESSIONALS, DROP THE KNOWLEDGE, STAR BOUND, THE CAMOSAURS and TRIO EXPEDITION from the host, North South University -- presented their ideas and displayed a TVC each before the jury.
The esteemed panel of judges, looking for “the one big idea”, included some of the biggest names in the advertisement industry. Gousul Alam Shaon, CEO, Grey Advertising Bangladesh Ltd; Amitabh Reza Chowdhury, Producer and Director at Half Stop Down; Mostafa Sarwar Farooki, renowned filmmaker and founder of Chobiyal; and Sohana Noor, Director of Otobi Ltd served as the judges.
The presentations began at 2pm and lasted for about five hours until the closing ceremony. Each team had ten minutes to show the judges their unique ideas and plans to revitalise a brand of furniture, Otobi, based on a 360 degree campaign. The commercials offered fresh new looks that focused on aspects that are significant when shopping for furniture – brand, quality, durability, price and lots more.
There was a question-answer session with the judges for each team after their demonstrations. The teams were asked about the feasibility of their plans and how relatable they were. The judges also took some time out to go over the legacy of Nitun Kundu, a pioneering Bangladeshi artist and founder of Otobi.
When asked about the event, jury member Amitabh Reza Chowdhury said, “What the participants are learning here is the science and practice of advertising, whereas ad filmmaking is totally another field. If any of the participants wants to become an ad filmmaker, this will greatly help his or her learning curve.”
The faculty advisor of NSU YES!, Md Hannan Miah, stated that this event is an amalgamation of what the students learn in textbooks and what they will face in the real world. “This is the kind of exposure the students need. An experience of learning corporate strategies and advice from the judges will immensely help them. This will add to their curriculum vitae and set them apart,” he said.
The closing ceremony was graced by Benajir Ahmed, Member, Board of Trustees, North South University as the Chief Guest. The honourable Vice Chancellor of North South University, Dr. Amin Sarkar, was also present as the Chair of the Ceremony, along with the Pro-Vice Chancellor of North South University, Professor ANM Meshquat Uddin.
Members of NSU YES! played a look-back video on AD Maker Bangladesh 2014 followed by an ingenious stop-motion video which showed creativity from their part as well. In a surprise announcement Radio Foorti, as part of its advertising campaign, declared three teams -- BRAIN FREEZE, ROAD PRODUCTION and WONDER BOX -- as the most 'foortifying' teams in all the competition. The guests then took the stage for their respective speeches.
Sohana Noor congratulated all the teams and mentioned how Otobi endorses creativity, innovation and originality, even quoting Mad Hatter from Lewis Carroll's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' when she said these minds were brimming with ideas and should not stop thinking.
The event reached its climax as all the guests took to the stage to award the winners of the competition. Adnan Khan, Turas Ayman Turjo and Safwat Ahmed of OPERA MINI were declared 2nd Runners-up, winning BDT 40,000. The 1st Runners-up were Tasnia Afrin, Avik Bikram Tripura and Ahammad Hussain Monzoor of UNPROFESSIONALS from North South University and they won BDT 60,000.
Amidst flying confetti, the champions were revealed -- TEAM POTTER from Institute of Business Administration consisting of Rakib Ibnay Hossain, Tanzir Islam and Syeda Ilfat Abedin. Congratulations poured in as the winners collected their trophy and the prize money of BDT 1,00,000.
“We participate in such out-of-the-classroom competitions because for us it's like a passion. Our road to the final round has been a memorable one and the win just makes it all so much more special,” said an ecstatic Rakib. Tanzir and Ilfat were both emotional, with the latter labelling her feelings simply as “crazy, amazing and elated.”
The challenge to incorporate a wide range of furniture for a brand like Otobi, keeping in mind its brand stature, market position, sustainability and attached emotions -- all in a matter of 30 to 60 seconds -- is nothing short of a mammoth task. The efforts put in by all the teams coupled with the amount of learning experience they have gathered over the course of the competition are an indication as to how important advertising is in the current business scenario and how desirable a sector it has become for students to explore. Kudos to the winners as well as NSU YES! for pulling off AD Maker Bangladesh 2014 in style.
Otobi was the title sponsor of this event with Navana, Toyota as the co-sponsor. Grey served as strategic partner, Prothom Alo Jobs as career partner and Comjagat as live broadcasting partner. Desh TV played its part as electronic media partner, Shomokal was the Bengali print media partner, bdnews24.com was the online media partner and Radio Foorti was the radio partner. SHOUT was the English print media partner of the event.
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