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With rapid increase of Internet penetration over the past five years, the total number of active Internet users has reached about 80 million, according to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). As traditional marketing channels lose their effectiveness, the reliance on digital marketing to attract, engage and convert customers online is more than ever before. This situation demands a steady supply of young digital marketers.
To encourage the young business students to take up this career, East West University Creative Marketing Club organised digital marketing competition ‘IGLOO presents Analytics 2017’. The event ended with the announcement of team 'FourCast from North South University' as winner, Team 'Wildlings from Institution of Business Administration' as first runner-up and Team 'Augmented Reality from Institution of Business Administration' as second runner-up.
The registration process ended on November 17. A team of three to four members from the same university was eligible to participate in the event. The battle of finding the ultimate digital marketers started on November 21 with the submission of solution for the first round -- Online Case Study Round. From there on the battle continued till December 05, 2017. The competition was designed in three rounds.
The first round was online case submission. The second round was segmented into two phases. The first phase was named 'Meet the Clients'. In this phase the participants had to present digital marketing campaign for different products. The second phase was 'Run the Campaign' in which the participants were given various products to run the campaign for a week. They were given the task to upload creative marketing contents in newly formed Facebook page and make at least one audiovisual (AV) as a promoting tool for the campaign. Based on the content creativity, AV quality and creativity and also on the reach, top five teams were selected for the final round-- Digital Detective--that took place on December 05.
About 100 teams from 40 universities participated in the online case submission round. About 25 teams immerged to the second round which was segmented into phases. The top 10 teams went to the second phase and finally top five teams were announced as finalists. From there the top three teams from the 100 participating team were rewarded in EWU premises. The winners--Team FourCast were awarded Tk 1,20,000 while the first runner-up Wildlings received Tk 50,000 and the second runners up Augmented Reality received Tk 30,000.
The competition was exciting for the participants, they ran a real life digital campaign. The competition reached above 80,000 people. The organisers conducted roadshows in different universities all over the country. Azim Nowaz Khan, the vice president of East West University Creative Marketing Club, shared his experience as an organiser. According to him, 'The journey was full of ups and downs but in the end, we managed to overcome all the hurdles because of an extremely dedicated group of organisers.'
The competition left behind a great impression among the youngsters. It shows the enthusiasm and interest of the current generation on digital marketing. Such platforms are necessary for the young generation as this helps them gain knowledge and experience. The digital platform is gaining popularity day by day but the industry is not that popular yet. But this a sign that the young generation is enthusiastic to take step towards digital Bangladesh.
The writer is studying in the fourth semester at the Department of Economics at East West University. She can be reached at [email protected]