About the role
Description
Every brand eventually faces a moment when its old story stops working. A product loses relevance, a name picks up the wrong meaning, or a competitor changes what customers expect. The marketers who stand out in these moments are the ones who can find the real problem quickly and build a plan that holds up in the market.
MarkWars, the marketing competition of Passion'26 at IMT Ghaziabad, puts teams in that position. Teams begin with a quiz on marketing fundamentals, move on to a case built around a real brand problem, and finish by presenting their recommendation to a panel of industry leaders. The competition rewards sound diagnosis, evidence and practical thinking over decoration.
Brand Recall (Eliminatory)
- Format: Online quiz hosted on Unstop with 15 multiple-choice questions to be completed in 10 minutes. Only the team leader will be allowed to take the quiz.
- Objective: The quiz will assess participants' knowledge of core marketing concepts, quantitative reasoning and recent Indian brand and business developments. This round serves as the preliminary filter.
- Marking Scheme: Each correct answer carries 1 mark, each incorrect answer carries a negative mark of 0.25, and unanswered questions carry no marks.
- Evaluation: The top 50 teams by score will qualify for the next round. In case of a tie, the team with fewer incorrect answers will rank higher. If the tie remains, the team that took less time to complete the quiz will rank higher.
Details of further rounds will be communicated to the qualifying teams through their registered email addresses.
Answers cannot be changed once you move on to the next question.
The War Room
- Format: Online case deck submission (PPTX).
- Objective: Teams that qualify will receive a case study built around a real brand problem and must submit a feasible, evidence-backed marketing recommendation with a clear implementation plan.
- Task: The presentation should have up to 5-8 content slides, including the title and appendix slides. The first content slide must be an executive summary. Teams will have 2 days to submit their solution.
- Evaluation: Submissions will be judged on the depth of the problem diagnosis, the strength of the analysis and evidence, the clarity of the recommendation and the feasibility of its implementation. Original insight will be given credit.
Campaign Court
- Format: Shortlisted teams present their recommendation live on Zoom to a panel of senior industry leaders.
- Objective: Participants must defend their recommendation under questioning.
- Task: Shortlisted teams from Round 2 will deliver a case presentation to a panel of industry experts, followed by a Q&A in which the judges will test their assumptions, analysis, and proposed solutions.
- Evaluation: Teams will be judged on how they handle questions, their commercial judgement, the clarity of their narrative, their command of the case and its numbers, and their delivery. The team with the highest average score from the panel will be declared the winner.
Note: Teams are not allowed to mention the name of their institution, or use its logo, anywhere in their submissions or during the presentation.
General Rules & Regulations:
- All the rounds will be held online.
- Multiple registrations by the same participant will lead to disqualification.
- Teams must not mention the name of their institution, or use its logo, anywhere in their submissions or during the presentation.
- Participants are free to use information from external sources. However, all external sources must be properly cited.
- In case of any dispute, the decision of the judges and the organising committee at IMT Ghaziabad will be final.