Nissan India selects 19 budding management professionals as Student Brand Managers 2012

Nissan Motor India Pvt Ltd. has announced the selection of the 19 young and aspiring management students from across the country who will soon assume responsibilities in Nissan Student Brand Manager 2012 program (NSBM.)

The NSBM program that was first birthed in 2010 with a vision to identify marketing talent and young entrepreneurs across the country received a massive 2,467 registrations from 590 colleges across 25 Indian cities, out of which maximum number of registrations came from Mumbai with a total of 880 registrations.

The third edition of the NSBM 2012 program had some eminent personalities included in the panel of judges such as,  Dr Nirmalya Kumar, marketing guru & faculty of London Business School, Mr Prahlad Kakkar, ad-film director, Genesis Films, Mr Harish Bijoor, CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, Mr Josy Paul, national creative director, BBDO India and Mr Nitish Tipnis, director of sales & marketing,Hover Automotive India. The panel of judges played an important role in short-listing the final entries from every region, eventually selecting a group of 41 students who competed yesterday evening to secure a spot in the NSBM 2012 program.

At the grand finale, it was Mr Siva Sankar from Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode who was adjudged as the National Winner of NSBM 2012, while the second and third spots were bagged by Mr Tushar Sehgal and Neha Damle respectively, both of them who are studying in the Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahemdabad.

The range of activities for the NSBM’s this year will vary from creating unique events of their own from setting up test-drive days at their respective colleges to creating buzz about brand Nissan among student community.

Addressing the final shortlisted students, Mr Nitish Tipnis said, “The third season of NSBM has brought more innovation and creativity to the fore. The overwhelming response that we have received this year justifies the fact that India has a large pool of entrepreneurial talent which thrives on creative excellence. Through this initiative, we will tap this potential and propel it further to achieve meaningful results.”

Ecstatic at the response to the program, Dr Nirmalya Kumar said, “It is very gratifying to see the talent that India has and it is encouraging to see a brand like Nissan taking them to the next level with a program such as NSBM. The program reflects the serious intent of Nissan to identify and nurture future talent and there is no doubt about the fact that it has created a benchmark for companies to follow.”