Butt Branding !!!

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.

-- Verbal Kint (in The Usual Suspects)

Oh well! That is something i learnt it the hard way around in the strife to reach the ultimate zenith of business schools.

As Kotler puts it so subtly - Good marketing is the art of the customer wanting to come to you and buy your product (whether it be his need or not), rather than you going out to the customer and selling what you make.

I think the same applies to the process of shortlisting B-Schools. Which is the best? What segment does each cater to? What is the profile of the student? Of the faculty? The USP and so on ...

Considering my 'infamous' decision (by many) last year to not join FMS, i think getting through a few colleges considered to be at a higher "brand value" this time around, makes me probably smirking enough at the critics. But critics being critics and what they are, they will not go without a jab at any opportunity.

And so it boils down to my decision to quit ISB and join IIM-A. I mean apart from the name, the reputation, the companies, the jobs.

"A" has been the benchmark for about 250,000 odd students all over India looking to become the top 250 managers in this country. Has it been by chance or is it because it was the only one in its time. With a boom of good B-schools around the country and abroad, with all the controversies surrounding the admissions process, most advised me that I was better off at ISB. I would be done over with it in an year, build great contacts, meet a profile like pot-pourri.

Truly said, the mails on the new IIMA yahoo group have been a disappointment. 19 girls in a batch of 250. Probably 70% engineers from an IIT/NSIT/DCE with only AOE and CS in their extra cirric section. And what happened to the leveraging your work-experience part? Only 80 freshers. I mean, why the hell am i joining A. I was better off at ISB where atleast my work-ex was valued and niche. Now its like a herd of cattle, all trying to get the greenest of pastures.

The second disaster probably seems to be the infrastructure at "A". Coming from a lavish treatment with my own room with an AC, a private TV, fridge and a kitchenette, I am beginning to wonder how life at "A" is suddenly going to become when i will be bringing my own pillows and linen. And strangely enough, there is no Wireless at "A". Atleast it wasn't till last year. Oh boy! What will life be without a wifi on campus. Running back to your nest cooing in the warmth of your lan cable. Disastrous.

And yet. And yet. I still decide to give up on all those rocking parties at ISB, the pool dunkings, the beer sessions with our profs in shorts and tees. Why!

I think for the first time, sanity refuses to lead the way. If only, i hope, i get the answer in a couple of years, it probably will be worth it.

So dear Mr. Kotler - your words do stand true. The butt branding continues. "A" doesnt reach out to us anymore, we do to it. Luckily, we can at-least keep chanting for the next two years - "Branded for LIFE"