CAIRO: During a reward ceremony on Monday at the Cairo Marriott hotel, Procter & Gamble ((P&G), awarded a prize of LE 10,000 to the winners of the "Best Brand Building contest from the American University in Cairo (AUC) who were enrolled in marketing courses in the last two semesters. The groups had originally prepared their presentations for this course over a period of three months. Amr El Kais, an AUC professor who also works at P&G, who suggested presenting these campaigns to some of the experts at the company like Sara Shehata, brand manager for home care for the Middle East, Mohammed Saad, marketing director of fabrics and home care for the Near East and Nahla El Gouda, the associate marketing director for paper in the Middle East. Also attending the ceremony was Ibrahim Hegazy, acting dean of AUC, Khaled Hegazy, external relations manager and Mohammed Samir, the general manager of P&G for the Near East. El Kais's goal was to help his students put the theoretical knowledge they had attained at university into practice. The students received extra credits for entering the competition. P&G had a different objective. They were trying to identify a few rising stars who could potentially become future employees at the company. They were looking for talent, charisma, and a solid work ethic. As for the students, they didn't need much persuasion to take part in the competition. Many were excited by the prospect of working with a firm as big as P&G, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. After a short welcome speech by Ibrahim El Hegazy, each group of students gave their presentations. He said that these brought out their [the students'] various talents and possible arenas for using them. He praised the students for their thorough research and organization, noting the poise and confidence they showed. P&G believes everyone is a winner and as such all competitors were presented with certificates for their hard work and effort. The winning group was the most creative of all; they stuck to the original ideas behind the brand, but presented them from a different angle which is what differentiated them from the other groups. Mohammed Samir spoke about the importance of lifelong learning, gaining as much experience as possible and communicating ideas to the world. He urged students to have a positive attitude to life and not only to have objectives, but also to fulfill them. The day ended with the announcement of the winners and their prizes, followed by a dinner and the promise of similar contests in the future, available to students in different colleges who are willing to take the risk.
