Three students from the Management Program at the UGM Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB UGM), grouped under the Dolphin Team, have won first place in the Xiaomi x BREXPLOR Branding Competition 2025.
The students, Vittorio Valero Salim, Gustav Susanto, and Risang Mar’atun Sholihah, stood out among 90 teams from universities across Indonesia.
The competition was held by the Undergraduate Branding Program of Prasetiya Mulya University on April 12, 2025.
Vittorio Salim stated that the journey to becoming the top team was not an easy one. The Dolphin Team had to pass through a series of rigorous selection stages, including the proposal stage, the rocket pitching round, and the final stage.
In the proposal stage, the Dolphin Team and other participants were tasked with solving a branding and marketing case for the Redmi Note 14 Series by Xiaomi.
Advancing to the next stage, the rocket pitching round, each team had just three minutes to present their ideas to a panel of judges.
“In this stage, we and the other teams faced a panel of judges. It was a fight for a spot in the final, and only five top teams advanced to present their ideas comprehensively in a 15-minute session,” Salim explained at FEB UGM on Friday (May 16).
Salim elaborated that the challenge they faced in the competition was to help Xiaomi position the Redmi Note 14 Series as the top choice for Gen Z consumers.
The task proved difficult, as the team identified a disconnect between the product’s branding values and Gen Z’s current needs. The primary issue was market positioning.
To address this challenge, they identified key factors Xiaomi needed to consider.
They then proposed a comprehensive end-to-end solution using the AIDA framework, from branding strategies to marketing campaigns, to position the Redmi Note 14 Series as Gen Z’s first choice.
According to Salim, one of the toughest challenges was ensuring their ideas were well understood in a very short amount of time. During the rocket pitching stage, each team was given only three minutes to convince the judges that their solution was worth considering.
“The challenge was making sure the judges could understand our idea in such a short time. It was truly satisfying and rewarding. We’re grateful that all of our hard work paid off,” Salim said.
He also expressed hopes that the experience they gained from this competition could be applied to their future careers. He added that this achievement could inspire other FEB UGM students to participate in similar competitions going forward.
Reporter: FEB UGM/Orie Priscylla Mapeda Lumalan
Author: Agung Nugroho
Post-editor: Afifudin Baliya