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MAXI Fair : An Intro

Marketing Fair, or MAXI Fair as it is more popularly known, is an innovative tool for conducting market research and consumer behavior pioneered by XLRI. The fair is organized, supervised and conducted by MAXI – the Marketing Association of XLRI. Games and events are designed to surrogate actual research questions. This helps us to elicit unbiased and accurate information about consumer perceptions and preferences.

Born of the vision of one of XLRI’s most eminent professors Dr Sharad Sarin 1979, the novel concept of the Marketing Fair is today an accredited marketing research tool. This brilliant and innovative method goes beyond the blind testing concept and uses a carnival milieu to conduct meaningful consumer behavior research. The underlying concept involves designing games and events as surrogates to actual research questions to elicit unbiased and accurate information from customers regarding their preferences and perceptions. The consumer is attracted by the fun element and enjoys the series of carefully designed games, unaware that his responses and actions are being tracked.

The concept has received great acclaim both in India and abroad. Over the years, stalwarts such as Philip Kotler of the Kellogg School of Management, Theodore Levitt of the Harvard Business School and Dr. Philip Adler of the DuPree College of Management, among others, have all personally commended the unique concept. The concept has been presented at several US universities and has met with great success.

The University of Rhode Island has conducted this fair with very successful results. Several Indian Business schools such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Lucknow and MDI have adopted the idea and conduct variants of the original marketing fair idea.

This innovative concept finds supporters and followers in the corporate world. Several Indian and Multinational corporate giants have presented research problems to XLRI for study. The greatest testament to the power of this MR tool lies in the fact that these companies have based their strategic business decisions on the research results which have emanated from Maxi fair.

Some of our clients have been organizations such as:

Aditya Birla Group, ANZ Group, Arvind Mills, Bata, Berger Paints, Cadbury, Citibank, Coca Cola, Colgate Palmolive, Dabur, GSK, Hindustan Unilever, HSBC, ICI, ITC, Marico, Nestle, O&M, P&G, Pepsi, Phillips, Reckitt Benckiser, SBI, ShawWallace, Tata Indicom, Tata Tea, Titan, UNICEF and Voltas

Success Stories:

• Brooke Bond: HLL launched a tea pack using insights from MAXI Fair. This Brooke Bond tea pack has gone on to become a Rs 100 crore brand

• Nestle: Nestle changed its business strategy to launch NesTea™ based on MAXI Fair results

• Pepsi: Pepsi decided to implement packaging design changes based on our research

• Richardson Hindustan: Richardson Hindustan test marketed their Herbal Vicks product at the fair before its launch

If your organization is interested in giving us a Research Problem or in sponsoring Maxi Fair, please contact us:

• Rahul Bajaj(Secretary) |  b12103@astra.xlri.ac.in

• Prithwish Datta | b13161@astra.xlri.ac.in
• Rahul Sikka |  b13043@astra.xlri.ac.in