MICANVAS’20 – India’s largest marketing festival

With nearly 15,000 participants registering from the top B-schools, this year's MICANVAS lived up to its promise of growing bigger and bolder.

MICA, Ahmedabad recently concluded its annual fest, the largest marketing festival in India, 'MICANVAS' from December 26-28, 2020. With nearly 15,000 participants registering from the top B-schools, this year's MICANVAS lived up to its promise of growing bigger and bolder. Serving to display the best in the fields of marketing, branding, and communication, MICANVAS has always been a mix of challenging events, fun competitions, enthralling artists, and most importantly, insightful speakers. With MICA still functioning virtually, the three-day event's theme of "ALT REALITY" couldn't be more appropriate as the entire fest took place on a digitally reconstructed MICA campus at http://micanvas.in/; thus becoming the first b-school marketing fest to go fully virtual!

These challenging times proved to be a blessing in disguise for the students of MICA, who got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear from exemplary thought leaders in the field of marketing, including international stalwarts such as Mr. David Aaker, the 'Father of Modern Advertising'; Mr. Rory Sutherland, Vice-Chairman, Ogilvy Group; Ms. Rashi Goel, Director, Marketing and Consumer Connections, Nestle India; Mr. Sushant Divgikar, LGBTQ activist and drag artist; Mr. Kishore Ajwani, Managing Editor News18 India; Mr. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Former Editor at Economic and Political Weekly and Mr. Govindraj Ethiraj, Founder, BOOM, and Mr. Rakesh Godhwari, Chairman, School of Meaningful Experiences.

Professor Aaker centered his session around two main pillars. The first takeaway was that the only way for a company to grow with some rare exceptions, he said, was to own a game-changing sub-category. And with digital, sub-category growth could be put on steroids. The second takeaway from Professor Aaker was that signature stories attract attention. A description doesn't. Signature stories have the ability to change perception, persuade, energize, and stimulate action from the listener. On the other hand, Rory Sutherland, much to the audience's delight, showcased his elementary proficiency in Gujarati. Speaking to MICA's very own Professor Falguni Vasavada Oza in a session that lasted nearly 2 hours, Rory spoke of marketing's role in value creation. Through various examples from multinational companies to how he convinced his father to subscribe to cable television, Rory's session was littered with real-life applications of behavioral economics usage in society.

Apart from the sessions, students battled it out over 15 events to win prizes totaling Rs. 6 lakhs. Last Manager Standing, the marquee event, tested participants' managerial acumen from across the country over a 3-day marathon. Gambit by the Sports Marketing Club of MICA gave sports enthusiasts the chance to work on an exciting sports marketing case study, that of fan engagement for the Delhi Daredevils. This year, the Pro-Nights brought virtual concerts from popular artists like Anubhav Singh Bassi, a Stand-up Comedian, Nikhil D'Souza, and The Yellow Diary to make the event as special as always.

With an unforgettable festival to close out the year in style, the bar has been set high for MICANVAS 2021.

(We got this information in a press release).