Top honours for ITC's Classmate Ideas for India Challenge at the WOW Event and Experiential Marketing Awards
April 29, 2011
ITC Classmate Ideas for India Challenge, a unique ITC Centenary initiative, received the Silver in the 'Contact Program of the Year' category and the Bronze in the 'New Property of the Year' category at the 3rd edition of the prestigious "WOW Event and Experiential Marketing Awards".
Currently in its 3rd year, The WOW Awards (initiated by Eventfaqs) seek to celebrate excellence in the creation of 'Experiences' across industries and aims to recognise and acknowledge events and on-ground interaction activities between the Brand and the Consumer. The gala awards ceremony took place on the 21st of April, 2011 at the Taj Lands End, Mumbai.
The esteemed Jury for the WOW Awards 2011 included a number of glittering personalities like Manmeet Vohra, Marketing Director, Tag Heuer, LVMH Watch & Jewellery; Sanjay Jain, Chief Marketing Officer, Reliance Capital (Jury Chair); Avik Chattopadhyay, CEO, Saffron Brand Consultants; Aparna Thomas, Director Communications, Sanofi Aventis India; Trivikram Thakore, GM - Corp Marketing, Samsung (Mobile); Rishimohan Malhotra, Head - Marketing VAS, TATA Docomo; Karthi Marshan, EVP and Head Marketing, Kotak Mahindra Bank; Arvind Krishnan, Head Marketing, Bacardi India.
The ITC Classmate Ideas for India Challenge was a special centenary initiative conceived as a platform to challenge the imagination of the nation's youth and bring alive their ideas for a better India of tomorrow. A unique brand engagement programme, the initiative reached out to over 30 lakh youth, across 60 cities, receiving an astounding 60,000 entries.
The ITC Classmate Ideas for India Challenge was launched on the 14th of September 2011 by Ms Soha Ali Khan, Brand Ambassador, Classmate, at a packed press conference in Mumbai. Mr Yuvraj Singh, Classmate's other Brand Ambassador released the names of the top 500 at a press conference on the 27th of October 2010 in Bangalore. 11 finalists were selected from the city rounds, representing the best and the brightest minds in the country, who then went on to compete at the Grand finale, held on the 11th of December, 2010 at the FICCI auditorium, New Delhi.
The ideas presented at the finale were an interesting and enlightening mix - ranging from rural healthcare and education, to changes in public transport infrastructure and energy poverty, from water shortages to women's health and sanitation and the like.
The eminent panel of judges included several celebrated names, drawn from diverse streams of business, academia, media, social work and sport; Dr Deepak Nayyar, (former Vice Chancellor, Delhi University), Ms Meher Pudumjee, (Chairperson, Thermax), Ms Lara Balsara (Director, Madison World), Mr Mahesh Bhupathi (Ace tennis player & CEO, Globosport) and representatives of the various programme partner organisations.
The winners took home a number of awards - an educational study tour abroad, cash prizes and prestigious internship opportunities with programme partners like the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, CII - ITC Centre of Excellence For Sustainable Development, WWF India, Akshaypatra, Initiatives for Change and many more. The awards were presented by Mr Y C Deveshwar, Chairman, ITC Limited.
Classmate from ITC is India's largest student notebook brand with a rapidly increasing footprint in other student stationery categories like writing & mathematical instruments as well as scholastic products.
