Uniqueness of IIIT

This is a question I face often. Perhaps, no one is in a better position than me to answer this question.

In my days as a MBA student, I learnt about Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of a brand. Why will any one buy a product - because of its USP. Every consumer product has a USP given in the form a slogan. For Volkswagen it is Das Auto. For KFC it is Finger Licking Good.

One slogan which stayed with me is by a car rental company called Avis. The slogan is we try harder.

Here are more images of that campaign: https://www.google.co.in/search?q=avis+we+try+harder+campaign&hl=en

I believe No2ism should apply to our Institute. We are certainly not No 1 or No 2. I shall be happy if some one says we are No 20. What can be the USP of a young Institute like ours.

With no shame, I shall borrow the tagline of Avis:

• We try harder. 

Also, I shall add more No2isms:

• We are Hungry for success because we are not No 1
• We are Humble because we are not No 1
• We are Honest because we can not afford otherwise

However, there three types of people in our community:

• The ones who believe we are No 2 and hence they try hard
• The ones who believe they are No 1 or may be No. 0 (which is better than No 1) and hence do not try hard
• And the ones who believe we are no 2000 and hence no point trying harder.

Fortunately, the first category is the majority. We have to eliminate the second and the third categories by bringing them to the first category.

I have been talking to the students about this. Both at a personal as well as Institutional level, this is a great doctrine: We try harder.