An IIT Kharagpur student has developed a cost-effective way of creating brand awareness in tier-III towns for the sector.
Chirag Anil Patil, final year student at the Vinod Gupta School of Management at IIT Kharagpur and on a summer internship with FMCG firm McCain foods, drove the FMCG major's town expansion strategy for Maharashtra and Gujarat, along with devising a new model for cost effective ways of creating brand awareness in new towns.
"The objective of my project was to expand the company geographically and innovate to reduce the costs incurred in promotions. The company provided me the resources and access to experienced professionals working in the company to successfully complete my project," Chirag was quoted as saying in a media release.
"I devised a model, which predicted sales of any new town using multiple parameters. My town visits helped me validate this model. Apart from this, I recommended a new cost effective idea for promotions and validated my idea by executing 3 pilots," he said.
"The sales model devised in this project can be implemented across various industries," said Barnali Nag, faculty mentor for the project.
The project provided cost-effective expansion for the company in eight small towns. Chirag set up counters to promote the company's french fries outside grocery stores to establish his hypothesis.
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The project has also won the first prize "Best B-School Project Award" for Business Expansion Plan in Tier-3 towns in India.
--IANS
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