Amazon Advertising SMART Challenge National Winners

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1. About the Case Competition

This Case Competition was the Amazon Advertising S.M.A.R.T Challenge 2021, a national-level competition organized by Amazon Advertising and participated in by top Indian B-schools, including IIM Kozhikode. The challenge tested marketing strategy, consumer insight generation, media planning, and ROI-driven decision-making. Teams were expected to design a full-funnel advertising strategy using Amazon’s advertising ecosystem, making it a high-intensity marketing and strategy evaluation Amazon-Advertising-SMART-Challe….

2. Problem Statement Overview

The brief centres on launching OXIFILTR, a new air purifier brand, into a market with 200+ active competitors where market leader Philips alone spent ₹30 crore in Q4 on print and TV. The challenge is structural: air purifiers are high-involvement purchases with long decision cycles, significant consumer skepticism (only 27% of surveyed respondents were aware of indoor air quality issues, rating it 5/10), and a dominant misconception that air conditioners are sufficient substitutes. Meanwhile, demand is sharply seasonal, Google Trends data shows a consistent peak in search volume during October–November aligned with Delhi’s Diwali-season AQI spikes — creating a narrow window to generate awareness, build consideration, and drive conversion simultaneously. The campaign had to earn market share in a cluttered space without celebrity endorsement budgets, using Amazon’s advertising tools to punch above its weight.

3. What This Winning Deck Covers

The deck opens with unusually thorough primary research, a 14-question survey of 92 respondents, combined with secondary data from WHO, Google Trends, and FB Ad Manager, before defining three sharply distinct consumer segments: young parents and elders driven by health concerns and KOL recommendations; NRI and migrant consumers who are health-conscious early adopters; and a premier segment with earnings above ₹50,000/month who respond to influencer reviews and social acceptance cues. Each segment has its own trigger mapping, channel preference profile, and creative brief — a level of segmentation rigour that separates this deck from generic media plan submissions.

The customer journey map is the deck’s structural centrepiece, tracking consumer concerns, thinking patterns, touchpoints, and opportunities across six stages from Problem through Review. At each stage, the team identifies specific creative formats and platform interventions: myth-busting content at awareness, AQI-triggered dynamic ads and interactive shoppable livestreams at consideration, and extended warranty offers plus Amazon Blog comparisons at conversion. The media plan operationalises this into a phased budget allocation – 60% (₹60 lakhs) for awareness from October 1–30 across Google, Display & Video 360, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Amazon Advertising; 20% (₹25 lakhs) for consideration from October 15–30 with retargeting and lookalike targeting with a 30-day lookback window; and 10% (₹10 lakhs) for conversion retargeting via Amazon Sponsored Products and Display. A final 10% is reserved for retargeting via social and display from October 15–30. Geographic allocation concentrates 70% of budget in Delhi NCR — backed by the highest AQI readings and Google Trends dominance, with 15% each in Mumbai and Bangalore. These multi-channel digital marketing and performance frameworks are explored in depth in Prodigy – IIM Calcutta (GTM).

The funnel projection converts 137M+ Facebook reach into 41M engaged users at a 30% consideration rate, then 411K users showing purchase intent at 1%, finally driving approximately 412 orders at 0.1% conversion. Each stage carries its own KPI set, from SOV (80% target) and VCR (70%+) at awareness, to CPCV and cart abandonment rate at conversion. The competition snapshot appendix maps nine competitors’ creative positioning — efficiency claims, virus and health claims, and leadership claims — giving the OXIFILTR team a clear white space to occupy with a smart-home and long-term health narrative. The channel strategy and customer acquisition design here are also central to the approach in X-Marketer – IIM Shillong – Havells SafeHaven Smart Home GTM.

Key Takeaways:

  • Primary research (92-respondent survey) used to validate segment triggers and channel preferences is a competition differentiator that anchors every creative and targeting decision
  • AQI-triggered dynamic ads are a standout creative mechanic, contextual, real-time, and directly tied to the product’s core use case
  • The 60-20-10-10 budget split across awareness, consideration, conversion, and retargeting is a replicable framework for any high-involvement product launch
  • Pincode-level geo-targeting for the premium segment (Delhi NCR luxury zones) demonstrates audience sophistication beyond demographic segmentation
  • Self-acknowledged campaign limitations, overlapping audiences, ad blockers, one-month duration constraints, show intellectual honesty that judges reward

4. The Numbers

Total campaign marketing spend is ₹10M (₹1 crore) across a 30-day October window. The total air purifier market volume stands at 550K units with 30% YoY growth in 2020. Awareness phase reach via Facebook is 137.3M users; consideration engagement is projected at 41M users (30% funnel drop); conversion interest pool is 411K users (1% of consideration); and the campaign targets approximately 412 orders at 0.1% conversion. With an average product price of ₹27,500 across the ₹15,000–₹40,000 range, 412 orders generate ₹11.3M in revenue on a ₹10M spend. Current market share capture is 0.1% of the 550K unit market, with an “always-on” strategy recommended for sustained penetration.

5. Who Should Study This Deck

MBA students preparing for Case Competition rounds, marketing roles, consulting aspirants, and growth teams will benefit most. It is especially relevant for anyone looking to learn how a marketing and strategy case competition winning deck translates consumer insight into execution. CaseBuzz hosts this and other curated Winning Decks for serious case prep.

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