Ushering in Spring on Campus

As the birds chirped with the arrival of spring in Bangladesh, Grameenphone's 'Hangout', a front liner youth engagement platform, visited different universities to celebrate the first day of the Bengali month Falgun. On February 13, 2016, five universities in Dhaka caught the breeze of entertainment brought by Hangout: North South University (NSU), BRAC University, Independent University Bangladesh (IUB), United International University (UIU) and International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT).

Like every year, jovial students clad in the most colourful of sarees and panjabis welcomed spring at North South University. Chief guest, M A Kashem, Chairman, BOT and special guest Gour Gobinda Goswami, VC, NSU inaugurated the event. The festivities started with a rally that encircled the entire campus. From the morning, the crowd remained upbeat; at the Gallery, bands played music with the spirit of Falgun. Hues of yellow, orange and red dominated the decorations. Throughout the day, cultural programmes went on, with an array of folk dance, drama and music. "The security was very strict, and things were pretty well-organised this year, despite the huge crowd," said Rawnak Tasnia, a second-year student at NSU. 

To amplify the joy of the 'Boshonto Utshob 1422' hosted by the NSU Shangskritik Shangathan, Grameenphone Hangout provided the event with special surprises, delightful performances and engaging activities for participants.  Under the soft rays of the spring sun, excited students were seen huddling around the Hangout stalls on campus. Among them, the Comoyo booth was an instant hit, since every download of the Comoyo app earned a free badge. When groups of 10 or more friends downloaded it, they were handed an entire crate of Pepsi. Comoyo is an instant messaging service with exclusive Bangla stickers which is slowly growing popular among the youth. Roza Naser, another NSU student said, "I really loved the Bangla texting app called Comoyo. We are a country that loves our mother tongue and we should promote ways to keep our love for Bangla intact."

The Flexi Plan booth offered an activity where the participants were asked to create a plan using suitable talk-time and internet packages in under 25 seconds that would save them above 70 percent. On the other end, the GP Music App booth encouraged the crowd to download the app, which is the first-of-its-kind online music portal in Bangladesh. More gifts were awarded to participants who listened to a song for 20 seconds and could guess its name and the artist. Mohammed Faisal Islam, an NSU student, who took part in all the contests said, "It was fun to participate and win these goodies. I think it was a great initiative from Grameenphone. I have been in three previous Boshonto Utshob at NSU and I felt that this year, the celebrations were at the peak." Lucky contestants who participated throughout the day also received Galaxy J series handsets sponsored by Samsung.

As the clock went past 2 pm, a flash mob intrigued the curious crowd of the university. In the evening, the crowd was mesmerised as Arnob took to the stage. After his fascinating tunes, Joler Gaan made the crowd sway to their music. Each time a song ended, the crowd chanted and demanded their favourite songs. The day ended with a traditional jatra performance. 

Hangout is gradually gaining reputation as a leading youth engagement platform, interacting with students and young professionals in vibrant hangout joints like university campuses, restaurants and cafeterias. Focusing their activities on popular events, the platform aims to engage a larger audience by making their lives easier. Hangout promotes all the innovative digital services that Grameenphone intends to take to the market. Besides encouraging trials and downloads, Hangout caters in shaping the telecom operator's image as one of the leading providers of digital services. 

Grameenphone aims to establish itself as a youth-centric brand and provider of innovative digital services. Hangout was initiated as a front liner youth engagement platform with the core objective of driving consumer interaction and engagement. These unique and innovative digital services needed to be taken out to the young tech savvy crowd and Hangout ensured exactly that.

Jawad is your next-door superhero who needs you to get him his cape. Your curtain will work too. Shout at him on facebook.com/jawad.muhtasim or jawad.mmjr@gmail.com