The Name Game: Techkriti and Megabucks

Techkriti & Megabucks merged; stick with the “Techkriti” brand-name.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.”-Our campus community would beg to differ with Shakespeare, judging by the hullabaloo created while deciding the name of the technical and entrepreneurship festival to be held next year. It had been proposed to merge Techkriti and Megabucks into one festival by an amendment to the Constitution in the 9th meeting of the previous Students’ Senate. In order to look into the various issues regarding the structure of the new festival and to  implement this amalgamation smoothly, a committee was formed. The new structure was decided without much fuss with two festival coordinators (with an unofficial statement that they would be focusing on the technical and entrepreneurial aspects of the festival separately) and the usual structure of heads for events, marketing, PR etc. being acceptable to all. However, the one issue for which a consensus was difficult to be reached was the name of the new festival, which snowballed into a major controversial issue on campus. The question that whether we should stick to one of the original names or conceive a new name was discussed at great length in the Senate, which finally passed a resolution that a change was required in the nomenclature. However, there was an uproar against this decision, which was reflected in the signature campaign that got more than 1,500 participants. However, people in support of the decision cried foul and alleged that the document circulated for the  signatures contained misleading data. The issue had its fair share of drama in the open house meeting which was called to gauge the general opinion of the junta. People came out in large numbers to support the cause they upheld. Passionate speeches were delivered and heated arguments took place with neither group ready to compromise on their point of view . One of the major points raised by those in favour of retaining the name “Techkriti” was that Techkriti already had a huge brand name and it would be much easier for the marketing team to bring in sponsors. They were of the opinion that a new name would amount to wasting the efforts which had gone into building the brand for 15 long years and starting from scratch all over again. In addition to this, they pointed out that Techkriti already had some business events like the Bio-Business Plan which could be expanded and popularized.  The counter-argument was that it was unfair to compare these events of Techkriti with Megabucks, given the scale of the latter and not giving the entrepreneurship  aspect any representation in the name of the festival would effectively mean reducing it to nought . It was suggested that the name Techkriti would project the festival as mainly a technical one and students from top management schools would feel disinclined to participate in it. Those clamouring for a new name cited the example of the IT-BHU festival which emerged as a union of their Techtrix and Opulence and was renamed Magnum Opus. Also, in an attempt to satisfy the concerns regarding marketing, they claimed that IIT Kanpur was a bigger brand than Techkriti and it would be enough to attract sponsors. The meeting dispersed without reaching a conclusion but forced the Senate to rethink its decision. Another Senate meeting was called on 2nd April, wherein the matter was put to vote again. In a bid to keep in mind the interests of both groups, it was proposed that the name should be Techkriti with the tagline “the technical and entrepreneurial festival of IIT Kanpur” and the management events would be placed under the umbrella of “Megabucks” as part of Techkriti. The intention underlying this was that the marketing team could cash in on the brand “Megabucks” for the publicity of the business events, without losing out on the value of “Techkriti”. This was passed by the Senate with a clear majority and the matter was put to rest

This article was written by Saumya Lal and Vibhav for Vox Populi, April 2009