Answers to last week's quiz (#285)

 

1. Which bank recently opened 12 branches in 12 states of India at exactly 12 hours, 12 minutes and 12 seconds on Dec 12, 2012?
   IDBI Bank 
    
2. Name the brand whose ‘Sing for Me’ vending machines in Sweden accept Christmas carols as payment. You sing a Christmas carol and it returns with a unit of its product 
   Coca Cola 
    
3. Which brand is the character Gandalf from the movie The Hobbit endorsing? 
   Microsoft Windows Phone. 
    
4. These mammals are great pollinators and dangerous insect eaters. They aid in the pollination of sugar cane and eat insects that damage sugar cane as well. It was the wife of the founder of world's largest privately held spirits company, who suggested using this mammal for the company logo. According to Cuban and Spanish lore, these mammals symbolise good health, good fortune and family unity. Identify the creature and the brand that uses it as its logo
   The Mexican Free Tailed bat. It is a logo of Bacardi Limited. The founder Don Facundo Bacardí Massó’s wife Amalia suggested this logo. 
    
5. This person who passed away recently was known for his unsuccessful bids for Chemical Bank, now part of JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Walt Disney Co in 1984. His pursuit of Disney ended with the company buying back his shares at a premium of almost $60 million. This transaction helped in establishing a term used in the Business and Financial world. Name the person and the term.
   Saul Phillip Steinberg. His transaction with Walt Disney helped in the genesis of the term Greenmail. Greenmail or greenmailing is the practice of purchasing enough shares in a firm to threaten a takeover, thereby forcing the target firm to buy those shares back at a premium in order to suspend the takeover. 
    
6. Connect GE, ExxonMobil, Procter & Gamble and DuPont and what do you arrive at?
   They are the 4 oldest stocks that are still part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index. GE was added in 1907, ExxonMobil in 1928 (as Standard Oil), Procter Gamble in 1932 and DuPont in 1935. 
    
7. In 1890 this person invented and patented the unpickable tumbler lock. Several years later, he took out a newspaper ad challenging the magician Harry Houdini to escape from his secure luggage that had this lock. Name the person.
   Georges Vuitton, son of the founder of Louis Vuitton the luxury brand. 
    
8. Whose motto, which is also a part of its logo reads, “Let there be Bread”?
   FAO (Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations) 
    
9. The founders of which ad agency are known to have copied its name from a British Radio station that existed from the 1920s till the late 80s?
   Rediffusion. This ad agency was founded by Ajit Balakrishnan. Dewan Arun Nanda and Mohammed Khan in 1973. Today it is known as Rediffusion Young and Rubicam. 
    
10. Identify the brands, the names of the designs visible and explain the connection
    
    The first visual shows the Levi’s trademarked pocket design of connecting arches called Arcuate. The second one depicts Abercrombie’s “Reuhl” design, which features two less-pronounced arches that are connected by a “dipsy doodle” which resembles the mathematical sign for infinity. In 2007 Denim maker Levi's Strauss & Co. filed a lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch, alleging that the retailer illegally stole its trademarked back-pocket stitching design. Levi’s Arcuate design is the oldest known apparel trademark in the United States. Levi’s has used the Arcuate design since 1873.

There were 6 all-correct entries for The Strategist quiz #285.
Sonia Jain from Hoshiarpur, Punjab wins Rs 2,000 for The Strategist quiz #285. The winner of the cash prize was chosen by drawing lots.