Sunday evening, saw me at Taj Banjara participating in the Brand Equity Quiz 2009. This was the sixth time I was taking part, but unfortunately I maintained my alternate performance. We seem to do well in every other year, and this time we were eliminated in the written round, falling short by 2 marks.
But, this year's round was very surprising. Derek was on his best behaviour, and chose a serious theme- blindness, for once. The Q's were good, made one think instead of wince.

Six teams which made it to the finals were

Vizag Steel - topped the elims. Finished runner's up losing out to JWT Mindset. Derek has promised to call them to the Mumbai finals, if any of the regional winners fail to turn up

JWT Mindset - cool as a cucumber. In their "victory" speech said - "we don't make the same silly mistakes twice". Mumbai - watch out!

Microsoft

Google

Satyam - Derek's emotional favorites- he went all ga-ga over them saying that he wanted them to win.
P.S - were my favorites too. After a cracking start, lost aggressiveness and steam midway.

TIME - were Derek's target for the evening. But when they answered the Allwyn Q, saying it was a silent ad - they were digging their own pit. :-)

Some Q's from the finals:

1 Albert Humphrey analyzed the database of Fortune 500 companies to come up with ???

ans - S.W.O.T

2. Who demonstrated a engine running on peanut oil at the Paris World Fair in 1900
ans - Diesel

3. Scientist Jacob Cohen came up with a theory - a man marries for three reasons
love
comfort and convenience
??

ans - dowry

4. What was the denim revolution in Belarus

5. Which African country figures in World Bank's top 30 list of countries which are easy to do business in.

ans.. Mauritius

6. What usage of postage stamps in UK is treasonous
ans- upside down

7. What is "social not working"

ans spending time at work on social networking sites

8. Where would you find PEGI age rating
ans. Computer Games

9. In the Arthashastra, why are entertainers dissuaded from moving from place to place during rainy season

ans. So as not to disturb agriculture workers

10.What was unique about the Allwyn radio jingle in the 1980s

ans. AR Rahman's first jingle