A Day in the Life of a Marketing Coordinator

A Day in the Life of a Marketing Coordinator

08:00 am:      Wake up to 'Uparwala jab bhi deta, deta chappar phadke' to keep the morale high throughout the day. Clean up and get ready for meetings, because holidays are for the weak.

8:30 am:         Spend the next half an hour deciding what to wear. None of the “my wardrobe is full but I have nothing to wear” bullshit, mind you. You dress up sharper for meetings than you would for your own wedding.

09:00 am:      Grab bun maska and chai on your way to the station. Multitask on your commute. Eat-listen to your jam-check up on your squad (i.e. your team).

10:00 am:      Go through meetings like a pro. Meet sponsors and sell them on the idea of Kaleidoscope, which isn’t so difficult since – not to brag or anything, but – you could list out 20 reasons why it’s only, you know, one of the best college festivals of the city with over 16,000 attendees and 150 participating colleges, etcetera, etcetera. No biggie.

01:00 pm:      Take a break for lunch and check up on your team, who infallibly make up 90% of your Whatsapp messages.

02:00 pm:      Help your team mate prepare for her meeting in another city, which is great fun because it is the only time you can get away with bossing around your friend who is as sassy as an old mama in Brooklyn.

03:30 pm:      You might feel like you’re done for the day, but the work has only begun. Put on your lucky HP t-shirt and start writing, reviewing, and checking proposals and mails.

04:00 pm:      Take a break to post updates on the group and to chat with your team, who by now are the only social life you can boast of.

04:30 pm:      Updates are done with. You’ve received comprehensive feedbacks and to-do lists. Now watch the action unfold as your team tries to fix a bonding session for the 398534985th time.

05:30pm:       After yet another futile attempt, woefully agree that nobody has the time to hang out for fun.

06:30 pm:      Just as you hit save on the proposal that you painstakingly finished drawing not three seconds ago, and are about to attach it to a mail to the sponsor in question, your Wi-Fi decides to betray you. “Et tu Brutus?”

07:30 pm:      Finally, after several frantic calls and assurances to the sponsor breathing fire down your neck, your helplessness ends, your Wi-Fi has been restored to power somehow. Now start preparing for the orientation for the juniors. We need the best brains out there and we will get them by hook or by crook. Even if it means bribing the little ones by chocolates or balloons.

08:00 pm:      Create and update excel sheets with your work. Press Ctrl+S at least 65 thousand times before closing all tabs.

09:00 pm:      You’re finally relaxing, and by relaxing I mean thinking of ideas for promotional events, and are on the lookout for clients on all social media platforms.

10:30 pm:      Bedtime. LOL JK. 10:30ish sometimes 4.

Desi Tips to Survive Summers

So here we are, smack in the middle of this elaborate festival of flip-flops and aam ras (mango juice) that we can fondly call ‘summer’ and so far, we have managed just fine. Sure, there is a copious amount of sweat threatening to turn us into human fountains and the afternoons that make us wish we could go into hibernation for a few weeks, or at least find a nudist colony to live in. And as much as we want to carry our air-conditioners with us, we can’t; and no, ‘Navratna Cool Talc’ is not a substitute for an AC (yes, Shah Rukh Khan lied to us). However, we are experts at adjusting, whether it is stuffing 6 people in a seat meant for 3, or coping with weather that is probably trying to melt us into submission. 

                               My sweat just soaked the paper I’m fanning myself with.

As it is with each season, there are always little things that make it truly desi, and don’t try to pretend otherwise. First and foremost, the relationship that Indians have with mangoes is nothing less than a love story deserving of its own Bollywood song. And if not that, at least one attractive leading lady treating the King of fruits with the PDA it is meant for (Katrina Kaif, we’re looking at you). And of course, the Watermelon comes as a close second when it comes to fruits we gorge on when the heat kills our appetite for actual meals.

                          Damn right. 

Also, a big shout out to ‘Rasna’ and ‘Tang’ and good old nimpupaani for keeping us hydrated through these trying times. You know it is summer when you don’t even offer guests chai or coffee but go straight to the thandai or shikanji. Not to forget the beloved aam ras as mentioned above. Seriously, we cannot get enough of mangoes, can we? 

                    What do you mean I can only have one glass?

Ah, but not for a moment should you think that we restrict ourselves to food and drink to keep us cool. When we say jugaad, we don’t play around. Remember when you couldn’t sleep all night because your bed was just so hot and you felt suffocated in your room? Nobody does, because we all slept on the terrace or the balcony. Most likely with a damp sheet to cover ourselves with, because who needs an AC when the breeze will do the work for free?

So maybe it is a little too hot to be comfortable at times, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have your desi SWAG to keep yourself cool. B)

8 Types of College Students in the Summer

We have traveled well into this tunnel of torture that we call summer, and it is just refusing to end. Fortunately, college students usually know what they want to do with this 2 month time period of basically no rules. Here are a few types of students you might be familiar with during the summer:

The Internshippers: These guys are the first ones to snag a nice internship to fatten up their résumé while the rest of us are just dreaming of the end of our finals. They are also the ones uploading pictures in formals and tagging their bosses.

The Try Guys: “This summer I’m gonna go bungee jumping and join a ballet dance class and learn how to bake a cake and learn a prodigy level hip-hop dance routine!” 

The Relaxers: For them, summer is all about catching up on the sleep they lost during the finals and taking a break. “It’s called summer vacation guys, I’ll be in my sweatpants watching YouTube videos if you need me.”

The F.R.I.E.N.D.S.: They are pretty much “hanging out with friends” all the time. And by hanging out, of course we mean checking Facebook in close proximity to each other. And having pizza.

The Travelers: Family vacation time! Prepare for check-ins and updates every 5 minutes as they make their way through religious places/Goa/their aunt in USA/places with scenic beauty.

The Partayy-ers: The party don’t start till summer walks in! Because who knows when you’re going to get to do that again? 

The Insomniacs: Summer? You mean owl mode right? Suddenly, you’re up all night and sleeping away the hot afternoons. And sometimes more than just the afternoons. 

The Workforce: And this category can be found hard at work on their laptops and phones, making sure that this year’s Kaleidoscope is the best you’ve ever seen. Subtle, right? 

K writes to the workforce of Kaleidoscope 2015.

 Namaste, workforce!

For the last 30 years, you girls and your foremothers have churned out theme after theme of absolute creative ingenuity, but this one takes the mithai. The kurtas and jhumkaas, kya baat! Also, you have no idea how jelly folks are of my mega fabulous cycle rickshaw here in the universe of college fest mascots. Super convenient and eco-friendly, too.

The fest is a little more than four whole months away, but the kind of work you ladkis are doing makes me feel as proud as Karan Arjun's Maa upon their return. In spite of it being holiday time, and with most of you busy with internships or travel, the dedication with which teams are going about their duties is undeniably commendable. Jug jug jiyo, betiyaan.

I cannot wait for September, to manifest into your world of colourful paisley and cutting chai, and get my dancing Kolhapuris on. I'm dying to live all that you've got planned for those six days (haha, pun) and I know for sure, that it's going to be one hell of a mazedaar experience.

Because desi you rollin', they lovin'.

Signing off now. And remember to keep cool in this blistering, godforsaken weather by eating plenty of golas. My favourite is kala khatta, and yours?

Bahut sara pyaar and dulaar,
K.

Beta, Ye Kaleidoscope Kya Hai?

Yes, a kaleidoscope is that tube thing that we all used to make in school which shows you pretty patterns when you rotate one end while looking in from the others. But, the Kaleidoscope that we have here is much more than just pretty patterns. Kscope, as it is fondly called, is a phenomenon that occurs once a year on the campus of Sophia College in Mumbai. A massive melting pot of events, competitions, food, music and games cooked to perfection with just the right amount of love and garnished with energy that you won’t see anywhere else is how we would define this phenomenon.

But wait; let us start from the beginning. Exactly thirty years ago, an intra-college event consisting of literary, artistic and cultural contests was combined with a fete including game and food stalls, and viola! The first ever recipe of Kaleidoscope was born. From then on, each subsequent year the participants as well as the organizers kept adding more and more and now we can safely say- we started from the bottom and now we here! Come and experience the love for yourself on the the 5^th and 6^th of September this year! Oh, and say Namaste to Aunty and Uncle.

Hack Report

Mumbai. A few minutes before midnight on a hot summer night in March, a lonely and frustrated soul finally cracked under the strain of countless sleepless nights spent on the Internet and suffered a brain fart so severe that the repercussions could be felt all the way at the Facebook page of Kaleidoscope. It appears that the page was subjected to a change in the introduction and display picture in what experts call an attempt at defamation of the festival, after which it was deleted altogether.

The Executive Committee have graciously offered their condolences to the obviously troubled (read: sick) person responsible for this action. Although they extend their sympathy to anyone who may feel threatened or intimidated by the pure awesomeness of this festival, desperate attempts such as this one will only be met with a universal one-fingered salute (guess which finger). Simultaneously, ’Get Well Soon’ cards are being dispatched to Loser Headquarters, Hackerzgaon.

Mildly amused and greatly incensed by this event, the spectacular ladies behind the festival have taken immediate action. The Workforce is stronger than ever, further responding with “(Don’t) Hack. Ok. Please” in-keeping with the current theme. They have also issued an official response, which read “LOL kya ukhaad liya?”

It is clear that Kaleidoscope has lived up to image of a kaleidoscope, reflecting stunning and colorful patterns regardless of the light it is put under.

Orientation 2015

Kaleidoscope orientation

noun

a public spectacle that occurs annually at Sophia College for Women, Mumbai, where each team of the workforce tries to coax/ bribe/ attract/ threaten/ charm/ yell at the general masses to try for its respective interviews.

The sun rose that day, a little brighter than usual, as the workforce got into their coordinator t-shirts once again. Due to unavoidable circumstances, the orientation this year was shifted to the area outside the Sophia Anderson Annexe (the BMM building, yaar). Armed with publicity techniques that would bring the creator of Abki Baar Modi Sarkar campaign to shame, the ladies of Kaleidoscope were set to strategically direct the abundance of fresh talent towards their desk and their desk ONLY.

Jokes apart, the orientation this year saw promising new faces aplenty, who took interview details from each desk and daydreamed about being a coordinator and chanting <insert team name here> in a loud, feverish frenzy.

Okay, put the ‘jokes apart’ on hold for now.

There are two types of people in this world, the ones who like balloons and those who don’t. The second kind doesn’t exist. And nobody knows this better than team marketing. Move over post-it notes and colourful little chits. The team remained true to its name and aggressively marketed itself. Two words: free chocolates.

A marketing coord is seen calling out to the ladkis, whilst enticingly yet subtly holding on to two chocolates. Tr00 dedication.

A PR coord, a perfect embodiment of her team’s role in Kaleidoscope, walked about with numerous post-it notes with interview dates stuck to her face. The God of public relations is proud of you, beta. Jeete raho. Informals, with their ridiculously cool moustache and hat logo, had it painted on a giant red flag this time.

You know who’s cooler than you? Informals.

Team fundamentals reinforced the fact that nicknames stick, and coined the best tagline of all time: Become A Fundoo.

They put the fun in fundamentals.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no new team called PROMNAT, it’s just our good old PA being dramatic (pun intended).

You got us there, PA.

 

The most asked question at the orientation, undoubtedly, was regarding expansion. Let me tell you, it has got nothing to do with bodily expansions or mind-expanding substances, but is a new team, which will be in charge of organising non-competitive events. The workforce collectively pats the EC on the back for taking this initiative, and hopes to see this new addition to the fest in action soon.

The creative team, which is incidentally also responsible for writing this blog, continued being fabulous and was seen recycling the poster it used for last year’s orientation.

 

"I hope nobody notices the creases." - The creative team.

Happy Kscope-ing!