19th September, 2010 was an eventful day for SIMC- B when it forayed into hitherto uncharted territories – a stand-alone National Level event.

“Inquizition” – an intellectual battle of corporates,students and agency professionals alike.

luminaries such as Justice N Santosh Hegde, LokAyukta, Karnataka; Mr. Narasimha Rao, Dy. G.M. and Mr. Gururaj Joshi, Branch Head,Corporation Bank and Prof. MayaChakravarti Vishwanathan, Director, SIMC- B. Inquizition was an overwhelmingsuccess with over 100 teams fromYahoo, WIPRO, Infosys, TCS,

Vol. 1, Issue 3October - December, 2010

Inquizition: National Quizzing ExtravaganzaWinning Team: Vinay Kumar, Anirudh (Christ Law College, Bengaluru)

Runners Up Team: Tejaswi Udupa& Ajay Kasargod (Yahoo! India)

Main Sponsor: Corporation BankMedia Partner: Deccan Herald, Mid-DayRadio MirchiOnline & Ticketing Partner: Buzz in Town, Pagalguy.comStyle Partner: Flying MachineOutdoor Partner: Outdoor Magic

Chief guest Justice Santosh Hegde, Lok Ayukta, Karnataka, Prof. Maya Chakravarti Vishwanathan, Director, SIMC- B, Col. Seshadri, Col. Jacob and students planting a sapling in the campus

Surya Yerramilli, Sri Harsha, Veenu Chandani, Sheetal Kaul, Pradyumna Nara-

Pg 7HALL OF FAME

Pg 6A glance at 2010

Pg 3NGOInternships

Pg 4Corporate/AgencyInternships

Pg 5the “facebook” network

Shweta Goud & Arvind Baspure

CISCO, HSBC, FICO, Biocon andprestigious educationalinstitutions such as IIM-B,National Law School, IIIT-B, ChristUniversity, Jain University and PESIT. SIMC– B’s very ownQuizmaster, Arvind M Baspure with his elan took the teams and theenthusiastic audience on a roller-coaster ride.

battle, the sole Student Team to

Christ University walked away withQuizzin’ Nirvana, a catch of Rs. 50,000! Yahoo! India bagged thesecond place andprizes worth Rs. 25,000.Kudos to Quizza!

B E N G A L R U

Director’s Message

2

Alan D’Souza Comes Calling

We welcome the New Year with this fresh and vibrant issue of PRAD Times. A break from college translates into an opportunity to get a hands-on experience in the industry which means a plethora of productive work, unabated fun and invaluable experiences. We have an abundant stock of stories from our respectiveendeavours which we will share with you in this Issue, along with a take on the various events of the past year from our campus and across the world. Brimming with renewed enthusiasm we present to you the third Issue of our e-newsletter. Hope you find it to be an enjoyable read!!

Editors’ Speak

The students of SIMC- B had an enriching andenthralling experience when Mr Alan D’Souzavisited the campus and conducted a two-dayworkshop on Marketing and Branding. He taught us about branding through live case studies and classassignments giving students a real life experience of the actual branding process and the minuteintricacies involved in it. His words encouraged us to reflect and introspect what we would like to beassociated with, whether we would be known as the ‘idea generators’ or ‘digital’ communication pecialists. He shared a close connection with Mr. C.K. Prahalad, whom he quoted by saying that one should ‘next mark oneself ’ and not ‘benchmark’. He was very helpful in guiding the students at the onset of their careers. A truly humble man we all look up to.

From L to R: Arvind M Baspure,Varsha Hegde, Mitushi Balke,Alan D’Souza, Prof. Maya Chakravarti Vishwananthan, Director, SIMC- B; Suparna Roy, Romy Arora

SUPARNA ROY

EditorsShweta Goud

Vishal AbhyankarNeha MishraSuparna RoyLayoutDesignsIllustrationsCopy Editors

Fact CheckerOriginal Design and Layout

Vishal AbhyankarNaveen Tanwar

Russell FernandezRochelle Jobard

Srishti ModiNishtha SabharwalRussell Fernandez

Dear Students,The New Year is here again and what a year it promises to be! As the old changes and makes way for the new, it also symbolizes new hopes and new aspirations, new dreams and new beginnings, whether at the global level, at the national level or at our Institute level. A time to unfold new horizons and realize new dreams, to discover and renew the strength and faith within you, to rejoice in simple pleasures and gear up for new challenges ahead. But as change is the only constant thing in life, so also with the PRAD Times. Your InkSlingers are at it again, chronicling this change through their pages. The year gone by witnessed many a storm and dark clouds literally- be it through the melt down in Europe and USA or the fly ash in the European skies. This seemed rather symbolic and a manifestion of the world of trade and commerce. But for us in Asia and India in particular, our prospects held out. Dr. Abdul Kalam’s Vision 2020 surely would be realized on target. Closer home for us at SIMC, as the juniors have found their bearings and settled down, the senior batch is getting set to storm the bastions of the corporate world and not quite green behind the ears, what with

their learning gained through three internships, several live projects besides a host of case studies and animateddiscussions on events/episodes, not to forget the one that rocked the world of public relations and media. But we are confident this was only a sporadic one. Incidents such as these, which are very few and far between that would only make us serious practitioners of the trade continue our image building activities with renewed faith, restoring our credibility.

I sign off with the customary advice to you, the discerning reader, to make PRAD Times the platform for awakening the muse within you. Here’s wishing you and your families the best of health, wealth, happiness, prosperity and peace in the days to come.

Good luck and God bless!

Prof. Maya Chakravarti VishwanathanDirector

SOS: Serving Our Society

Sayantan Ray - Ad CreativesNGO: SAVE The Children India, Mumbai

Vishal Abhyankar - Editor, e-NewsletterNGO: Tamana, New Delhi

Naveen Tanwar - Ad Creatives NGO: GREENPEACE, Noida

Priyanka S & Sonia Singh - Video & Radio PSANGO: Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA), Bengaluru

Himanshu Sabharwal - PhotographyNGO: Smile Foundation, New Delhi

3

There are experiences in life that matter beyond just academics. The batch of 2010-12 returned with similar experiences after theirrespective NGO internships. They worked across various domains, added value to the already on-going projects and also initiated new ones.

Shivani Shrivastava conceptualized a metal concert called Battle of the Bands with EMC Aeon. The main sponsors were Reliance, 92.7 Big FM and Hindustan Times.

Snigdha BoseBrand ManagementLowe Lintas, Bengaluru

I got to work closely in

positioning Pizza Corner

as a brand and gained a

lot of insights in consumer

behaviour.

Though the

corporate

culture wa

s

very differ

ent, the t

eam spirit

and the im

mense respec

t and

camaraderie th

at they all

shared

taught me a lo

t. Diplomacy,

Persistence

and Patie

nce were t

he

magic words

of the hou

r.

Preethy DevassyCorporate Communications

Essar Group, Mumbai

Designed by Surya Yerramilli Dentzu Digital, Delhi

I learnt th

at there is

more

to media p

lanning tha

n just

number crunchin

g. Hands o

n

experience

on softwar

es like

TAM, AMAP an

d IRS will

prove to b

e very rewa

rding in

the future

.

Suhani SahoonjaMedia Planning

Lintas media Group, Gurgaon

The shops couldnt get any

smaller and their demands

couldnt get any bigger! :P

Ishita MehtaBranding Retail OutletsITC, Bengaluru

The NDTV

GoodTimes Fo

od

Awards ta

ught me del

icate

intricacies

involved in

organizing

an event.

In

short it w

as an aure

ate

evening to

remember a

nd

an experien

ce to cher

ish for

a lifetime.

Neha MishraEvent Management and PR

NDTV GoodTimes, New Delhi

The senior batch 2009-11 went for their 3rd Internships and returned withinvaluable experiences. It is indeed overwhelming when one is assigned tasks ofimportance, given opportunity to shoulder responsibility and gets acknowledged for it. A perfect prelude to the role they would soon perform in their various workplaces.

4

If You Wanna Beat ’em . . . Join ’em!

5

The Issue in a line: 2G licenses issued to private telecom players at throwaway prices in 2008

Revenue Loss to the Exchequer: 1.76 lakh crores

“Error is a hardy plant; it flourishes in every soil… “ - Martin F. Tupper

…and this time it did so on the soil of theTelecom sector in India bearing the 2G scam as the fruit.

According to Nishtha Sabharwal, astudent of SIMC-Bengaluru, “TheSocial Network is a must watch. Maybe far from the real story, but it’s amazing how a simple idea that ‘one wants to be connected with people they know’ can turn into such amassive hit.” Similar thoughts were shared by Avranil Kumar Das who felt that the Social Network was aninspiring watch.All of us can relate to MarkZuckerberg. And that’s what will keep you engaged and I bet you would Google up Mark Zuckerberg right afterwalking out of the theatre or even search for his profile on Facebook..:)

The “ facebook ” Network

‘COP’ COMM

By now everyone knows the details as to what happened and how. With a specialization in Public Relations, it is more than appropriate that we get interested in the learning. For acorporate communication professional orlobbyist, it is crucial to remember that when in a position toinfluence, one must realise the implications - immediate and long term - of one’s actions. A PR person or lobbyist hasalways tried to sway things in his or her favour but there is adifference between right and wrong and the line is not a thin one at all. A legitimate route of sharing opinion on a policy is justified. A fair amount of transparency shall help in steering clear of corruption. The media should not be manipulated by influencers and have their own deportment on matters not engaging in a breach of journalism ethics.

The Government should not walk out of this 2G scamwithout learning its lessons. Indeed there is a call for forIndia to have a register on lobbying as exists abroad and the need to regulate it and bring it out in the open is clearly undeniable. Alegislative framework catering towards disclosures andtransparency is the need of the hour as lobbying has been and shall continue to be an integral part of thedemocratic process. International NGO’s have always hadlobbyists but by virtue of their nature there has been no confusionregarding ethics till date. When it comes to a corporate, things aredifferent- there is little clarity on the nature, limits and legitimacy, even theexistence of Lobbying, Public Affairs, Government Relations or Advocacy.

You’ve got to be living under a rock to not have Facebooked or heard about the portal that has about half a billion users. This is a recent buzz word that has taken theworld by a stride. David Fitcher verywell captured the nerves of the massesand created a movie for them. Knownto many as “The Facebook Movie,”The Social Network is not about thecreation of one of the internet’s mostsuccessful websites. It’s also not aboutbecoming the world’s youngestbillionaire. It’s not about greed andit’s not about power. The SocialNetwork is a film about theinescapable need for acceptanceinside each one of us.

NEHA MISHRA

Illustration by Russell Fernandez

Illustration by Russell Fernandez

SUPARNA ROY

2010 . . . The Way We Were . . .

6

Prof. Maya Chakravarti Vishwanathan with Prof. Pankaj Gupta, Director, SIBM-B and Col. Seshadri release the PRAD Times’ inaugural issue on Independence Day

The Fashion Show winning team posing on stage

Ethnic Day at SIMC- B

Independence Day celebrations

Mimingon

CENTERSTAGE

Clockwise from Top: Abhineet Mattoo, Ravindra Purohit and PradyumnaNarahalli enacting on stage

Celebrating after winning the cricket tournament

Having fun and relaxing in the campus on the last day of the semester

SIMC- B Magnum OpusSyngenesis

Trekking at Shiv Ganga

Weekly Puzzle by the InkSlingers

The year 2011 when brought down to a single digit is 4(sum of all digits). 4 is ruled by Uranus. Uranus is known to influence wacky and unconventionalbehaviour. 2011 could be called as the year of the eccentric and the unconventional.

This year could see many individuals as well as organizations going beyond established norms and doing thingsdifferently. Organizations should focus on not just motivating, but inspiring their employees, and in ways that are notusually practiced. Those involved inresearch should turn out with

Hall Of Fame

I am very impressed wth thisoutstanding woman (IshitaMehta) and give her my strongest recommendation for roles which require intelligence,organization, communication skills, service and a positive attitude.

Sreenesh BhattPlanning DirectorStrategic Planning

Ogilvy & Mather, Bangalore

“ “

””

Dr. Rashneh N. PardiwalaFounder & Director, CERE

Rochelle Jobard is truly dedicated to her craft and has by far been one of the best student interns to have ever worked with CERE.

good results as this yearpromises to show the world things that it did not know earlier. New developments will come out frequently, so don’t get shocked and learn to adapt quickly. It is a time of change, and that too for the better.

Winds of Change - Numerological Forecast for the Year 2011

Ads Made by Suhani Sahoonja (SIMC 2009-2011) as part of an assignment for creating ads aimed at popularising compliance of Traffic rules.

Popularising Compliance Through Creativity

VISHAL ABHYANKAR

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Monthly e-Newsletter of Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication, Bengaluru

For any suggestions or feedback, please mail us at#95/1,95/2, Electronic City, Phase I, Hosur Road, Bengaluru - 560100

inkslingers@simc.edu.inwww.simc.edu.in