Benett & Coleman Co. Ltd. is a reputed name. The Brand Equity Quiz organised by this group is one of the few good business quizzes held in the country. However, when I decided to represent my company at The Brand Equity Quiz 2007, I never knew I was in for so much of harassment before having to drop out.
What happened?
The following email correspondence below between me and with one Mr. LK(whom I don’t want to name) who is the Dy. Chief Manager of the Economic Times, tells you the story.
My intention of sharing this correspondence is not to slander any particular person, but to highlight the kind of nonchalant and arrogant attitude of senior persons at such a reputed organisation.
*Mail No. 1: FROM ME TO MR. LK*
Dear Mr. LK
Our team has submitted it’s entry for The Brand Equity Quiz 2007 at your Mumbai office. After receiving our forms, we were informed by your Mumbai office that because we are located in Gujarat, it is not possible for us to participate in Mumbai, and we should have participated at Ahmedabad.
We are situated much closer to Mumbai(about 3 hours drive) as compared to Ahmedabad(about 7 hours) and hence we had opted for Mumbai center. Also, since there was no such mention on either your website or your rules-section of the form, we had no idea that there is any such rule that says we cannot participate from Mumbai.
We are very disappointed at being disallowed from participated due to a rule that has no mention in any of your documents.
Given this background, we request you to accept our participation in the Mumbai edition of The Brand Equity Quiz 2007.
Thank you.
Regards,
Abhijit Ray
*Mail No. 2: REPLY FROM MR. LK*
Dear Mr. Ray,
It is but understood that the teams originating from Gujerat must visit their centre - Ahmedabad or the city in that region. *Your company* to my knowledge is located in the state of Gujerat.
The Quiz is 16 years old and ardent quizzes are aware of this. The same also holds true with regard to any quiz or inter city promotion. Since we believe in fair play and maintaining the sanctity of the Quiz we regret to inform you that we are unable to honor your participation.
Thank you.
Regards,
LK
Dy. Chief Manager
The Economic Times
Mumbai
*Mail No. 3: MY REPLY TO MR. LK*
Dear Mr. LK,
Thank you for the prompt response. I have spoken to *your person* about our withdrawal from BEQ 2007 and I understand that our cheque is being returned by tomorrow. However, your mail has made me wonder about a few things that I would like to put in perspective for the record.
I understand the following and I quote from your email:
(1) **“*It is but understood that the teams originating from Gujerat ***[sic]*** must visit their centre – Ahmedabad*”**. There is no mention of Ahmedabad being the ‘center’ for Gujarat in any of your literature. There is also no guideline on how to choose which center to apply to. For us, simple logic said, Mumbai is the closest center. Also, the list of centers covers only 9 states(Maharashtra has two centers). By your logic, companies in other states cannot participate! If they can, which center should they apply to?
(2) **“*The Quiz is 16 years old and ardent quizzes are aware of this*”**. Firstly you have assumed that only ‘ardent’ quizzers are supposed to be participating in BEQ. Secondly, if the quiz is so popular, it might be a good idea to even stop publishing the rules for it(because you expect everyone to know them!). Let me bring to your attention that even ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ – probably the biggest quiz in the country – also ensures that the rules be read out to each and every contestant. That, according to me, is professional management!
I wanted to express my views about your email because you have mentioned that you believe in **“*fair play and maintaining the sanctity of the Quiz*”.*
Regards,
Abhijit Ray
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