TU Economics students won the first prize from the competition in building a popular and sustainable brand

Team of students from the Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University won first prize and received a prize money worth 200,000 Thai baht, a plaque and certificate from the “BAM Build a Brand”, a competition of ideas to create a popular and sustainable brand of BAM, organized by the Bangkok Commercial Asset Management Public Company Limited.

Let’s have a talk with ‘The UNIQUE’, the winning team from the competition, led by Lalitta Pattanusorn (Bam), a 4th year student in the Bachelor of Economics, International Program (BE), Napat Siripasakorndej (Mark) and Alisa Khamsamut (Namwan), first-year Faculty of Economics students, Bachelor’s Degree, Thai Program

The feeling towards being the prize winner

Alisa: It feels like a weight has been lifted off my chest. At first, we didn’t think we would receive an award because during the presentation, we made quite a lot of mistakes. However, we were confident that our team’s strategic plan was excellent. Hiddenly, we always hoped that at least there would be our own team’s name in the finalists and there actually was. The results were truly outstanding and it is worth our great determination in doing all the research and accumulating information for two months.

Lalitta: As the other teams were all from well-reputed universities and that everyone’s idea was remarkable, we secretly gave up from the beginning. During the award ceremony, we only looked at the team aside because all the cameras were picking up on them, so we thought they were definitely the prize winner. Turns out, it was us, we were very happy and honestly couldn’t think of anything else. We just felt like it was worth the effort. Yay!

Mention about your experience… of the competition

Napat: The team members have never worked together previously. We all just met but when we actually worked together, we adjusted to each other very instantly from sharing similar ideas, methods, and passions, which makes the work progress quickly and be completed as intended. After passing the first round, we received additional briefs from the judges, so we tried to arrange team meetings, add more ideas, find information to discuss and help each other in matters that we were not yet good at until the success is achieved.

Lalitta: There were a lot of problems encountered during the competition. There were problems in every stage especially right before pitching day however, we learned to solve immediate problems. In the end, our pitching came out impressively. This is also a lesson we learned from the competition that we should spare plenty of time for proofreading, or if we can no longer fix anything, then ‘the show must go on’ and do whatever we can to make our mistakes visible as minimally as possible.

Share the awesome ideas that won the hearts of the judges

Lalitta: Our main idea was to initiate a strategy that met the needs of building a brand to be known and remembered both offline and online, including the actual implementation and benefits that all stakeholders will receive, such as customers, employees, and people in society.

Alisa: The highlights and techniques that made us the prize winner were that we conducted an analysis and research so much that it is enough for us to verify that our strategic plan is actually legit and achievable. The most important thing is that it must be able to tackle and respond to every relevant problem.

How does studying economics at TU help strengthen the team?

Napat: The Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University, besides having faculty who provide excellent knowledge and academic skills, the faculty itself also sees the importance in briefing and fulfilling students’ ability necessary in competition as well as provides support in various areas. For example, the faculty is about to organize projects like the Econ Case Club, Thai language, that will create opportunities and potential for students to have their on-board practice through various competitions which respond well to the needs of the future job market.

Lalitta: Studying economics at TU, Tha Phrachan Campus for 4 years, I feel that it is a faculty with a very intense curriculum that is an essential foundation. I am grateful that I decided to study here as I met friends who all have a passion to participate in case competitions like this. They are part of a good environment that has pushed me to step into doing new things and have gotten to this point.

Some words of encouragement

Alisa: I want to encourage everyone to try doing what they want to do. I truly believe that if we have a strong intention and try very hard to reach the desired point although we are not able to win any awards, the experience is really rewarding.

Napat: It is a once in your university life, so I would like to ask everyone to open their minds and try participating in various competitions. You will definitely gain more than what me and my team have encountered!