Written round8 Questions

+10 for each

Guess away

1. Ads for what?

Golden Chariot

2.

When Salton Inc. wanted to launch a range of grills in 1995, it roped in this person for associating with the brand and lending his name for the products. This person was known for having two grilled hamburgers before he entered the ____, and it made sense to associate him with the brand. It also helped that he was enjoying a spurt in popularity for a 1994 win, one that was unexpected as he was 45 at that time.

Who is this person?

George Foreman

3.

When Japan suffered from the earthquake compounded by a tsunami in 2011, it resulted in the Fukushima plant going off the grid, leading to blackouts in Tokyo which is in the East. However, it could not import electricity from the West as Japan does not have a national grid. This is a legacy of the 1800s when electricity started its growth in Japan. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) which started in 1883 got its Alternating Current generators from the Germany company X, which produced electricity at Europe’s 50 Hz whereas the Osaka Electric Light Company bought AC generators from the American company Y which produced electricity at USA’s 60 Hz. Thus Eastern Japan operates with 50 Hz and Western Japan with 60 Hz.

What are the two companies X and Y that led to this unique situation?

X – AEG; Y - GE

4.

This word, meaning ‘uncoined gold or silver’, comes from an Anglo-French root which also meant a mint. This was perhaps because these were melted to make coins, as the Anglo-French word itself had its roots in Latin which signified the process.

Which word?

Bullion

5.

The reason that this particular day was chosen may have to do with the fact that most employers give the employees the day off as part of the Thanksgiving weekend. The day's name originated in Philadelphia, where it was originally used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic that would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. The day consistently ranks as one of the busiest shopping days in the US, although the violence that usually occurs during the day for a few discounts has been widely criticised.

What day is this?

This name grew out of the observation that millions of otherwise productive working Americans, fresh off a Thanksgiving weekend of window shopping, were returning to high-speed Internet connections at work at the beginning of the week and buying what they liked.

The long queues that accompany the other day puts off many shoppers who prefer to shop from home, and this was much easier for them.

Since the moniker was coined in 2005, 2010 became the first year with saw $1 billion in online sales.

What day is this?

Black Friday, Cyber Monday

6.What is the currency? What is the structure on the bottom?

Rial, Dome of the rock

7.

Although not very active outside its country’s borders, this company’s worth is, by some estimates, $10 trillion, which would make it the world’s most valuable company. Headquartered in Dhahran, it was initially started by foreign companies in the area. However, findings of resources resulted in ownership of the company slowly moving into the government’s hands leading to the company being completely owned by the country’s government. The company also owns one of the largest supercomputers in the region, having deployed one with capacity exceeding one petabyte for its operations in late 2009.

Which company is this?

Saudi Arabian oil company/Saudi Aramco

8. Ad for?

Scrabble

18 Questions+10/-5 for pounce

No limits on the number of pounces

1.

When his first three ventures, Alli Arjuna, Ratnavali and Nandakumarfailed, he began analysing the reasons for the failure. He saw that one of the most important components for the skyrocketing costs was the travel to Calcutta and Pune for reasons related to his work. He realised that if he were to reduce this cost, his only choice would be to do what he did in Calcutta and Pune in Chennai itself.

Who is this, and what did he set up to do the work in Chennai?

AV Meiappan, AVM studios

2.

When Chaim Weizmann was to be transported back to his country from Geneva in the September of 1948, it turned out to be quite complicated. An embargo had been imposed on the country and the Swiss did not allow military aircraft to land in their country. As Weizmann was urgently required back in the country, a solution was eventually worked upon, which led to the creation of something that was to take ‘to the skies’.

Who was Chaim Weizmann, and what was created to take ‘to the skies’?

Chaim Weizmann was the first President of Israel; an Israeli military aircraft was converted into a civilian one and the El-Al Israel Airlines was thus started

3.

The use that these two phrases have in the present day take their origins from bookkeeping in accounting. In keeping the accounts, two different pens were used with one being used for keeping accounts on the Debit side and the other for the Credit side.

As double entry bookkeeping had two entries, it meant that it was easier to know what shape the accounts were in when the entries were closed, and the use of separate pens also denoted that.

Although the practise in bookkeeping is not widely followed these days, the two phrases still carry over into modern parlance. Which two phrases?

In the black/In the red for a company running at a profit or loss respectively

4.

His first experience in transporting people was in 1841, when he arranged for the transportation from Leicester to Loughborough for 500 temperance supporters. This was not a commercial venture and it would be 4 more years before he started on it as a business, when even publishing a handbook for the first journey.

Although he was keen on expanding to other parts of the continent after expanding in Britain, he was asked for help in 1851 by Sir Joseph Paxton for an event which required great effort in transporting workers and visitors, something which he agreed to.

Who is this? And what is the 1851 event that he put in his efforts for?

Thomas Cook; The Great Exhibition

5.

Two of the widely used trading classifications for this commodity are the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and X. The main difference between WTI and X is that WTI is lighter and ‘sweeter’ than X because of its lower density and Sulphur content.

X is extracted from the North Sea and is the leading global price benchmark for the Atlantic basin. The name X comes from the naming policy employed by a British company which originally named many other places after birds, such as Auk, X, Cormorant, Dunlin, Eider and so on.

What is the commodity? What is X?

Crude Oil, Brent

6.

Although the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act of 2003 has a blanket ban on the advertisement on tobacco products, it makes an exception on products displayed ‘at the entrance or inside a warehouse or a shop’ where such products are offered for distribution or sale. This meant that if an establishment sold cigarettes, it could advertise them.

Taking advantage of this exemption, Philip Morris India tied up with companies in this field and directed its ‘campus ambassadors’ to bring their friends to these locations. These outlets then became point of sale for cigarettes as well, apart from what they primarily sold.

Which retail outlets were used by Philip Morris to circumvent the ban, where consuming cigarettes with this sounds like a 2003 movie?

Coffee shops

7.

Although he is most famous for his work as a copywriter, he did not begin his career in the advertising industry. He started off as a chef in Paris, before moving to Scotland where he sold AGA stoves. This experience was to help him later on. He then went on to found X and Mather, with the backing of his earlier employer Mather and Crowtherin 1948 in New York. Working in the field for many years, he wrote ‘Confessions of an Advertising man’ in 1963. Who is he?

Known for his many campaigns, what is this an ad for?

“At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in this new ______ comes from the electric clock”

David Ogilvy, Rolls-Royce

8.

When the British got Bombay from the Portuguese as part of the dowry of Princess Catherine, they thought little of it and leased it to the East India company for £10 a year. However, the British East India company wanted to develop the city and one industry in particular was of importance to them in this endeavor. To do this, they invited Lowji Nusserwanji to the city in 1736, who brought along with him ten workmen, including a brother.

Their undertaking in Bombay took off very well, so much so that the family became associated with the business they were in. This was such an influence on the family, that Nusserwanji took upon as his surname the business he was engaged in.

Which business was he engaged in? What surname did he take up?

Shipbuilding, Wadia

9.

Born in 1859 in Rheydt, he was initially interested in manufacturing industrial equipment, going along the path of his father. Having made many industrial patents, he founded his eponymous company in 1895 to utilise them.

The patents that he had gained became useful when he expressed an interest in aviation in his 50s. The company did very well with numerous firsts in the field. However, he did not have full control of his company with the German government involved in many decisions as it viewed the company as a strategic asset. His pacifist views didn’t help as well, with the Nazis demanding his patents and the company. He gave in under coercion and his company was taken over by the Nazis in 1934 and used as a tool for rearmament. The many war planes which the company manufactured did not have his involvement as he passed away in 1935.

Who is this/Which company did he found?

Hugo Junkers

10.Created in 1875 by the founder of X, this laboratory was created to advance biochemical knowledge, especially in the field that the company operated in. The laboratory has part of the company’s foundation till 1972, whereupon it was transferred to the company. One of the problems that the lab studied was in the transportation of the company’s products, as the products turned sour after a while. One of the researchers in the lab, Emil Hansen, managed to separate the yeast that was to become the basis for production later on. He then named the yeast after the company. But the name has been interchangeably used with another name given by Max Rees (even literature in the field uses the name interchangeably), who named it in honour of a scientist who helped solve similar problems for wine makers through a heat treatment process. This scientist also visited the lab in 1894 and supported Hansen’s findings.

Which laboratory did he work at? Who was the scientist after whom the yeast was named?

Carlsberg laboratory, Louis Pasteur

11.

The PowerBooks were a series of laptop computers that were sold by Apple from 1991 to 2006. Although they were a successful enterprise, having their own base, Apple discontinued them for the MacBook range of laptops from 2006 after Steve Jobs announced it at the WWDC.

The PowerBooks did not differ from the Macs in their external appearance, as both were based on the same design language. The change in nomenclature mainly had to do with Apple transitioning from its ventures with Motorola and IBM to a company that supplied most of its competitors, a transition that companies such as Atari and Commodore stumbled in.

What was Apple moving to?

Intel processors

12.

Roxy is a female sports clothing brand that was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in California. Which clothing brand is it the sister organisation of?

The logo of Roxy may be of some help.

Quicksilver

13.

Sony Pictures recently appointed a new PR advisor, Judy Smith, to help deal with the media attention in the aftermath of the hacking and the drama surrounding the release of the movie The Interview. Smith came with years of experience and had previously worked with the Bush Sr. administration and Monica Lewinsky and is a self-appointed “crisis guru”.

Smith, however, is more famous as the inspiration behind a well-known T.V. character.

Give us the T.V. show and the name of the character.

Scandal, Olivia Pope

14.

Miracle on 34th Street is a 1947 movie that won multiple Oscars.

34th Street is the iconic destination for an annual event watched by millions on television each year, while also containing the world’s biggest version of an annual event. By 1947, the event had become so popular that 34th street became synonymous with X and the event.

Give X and the event named after X.

X – Macy’s; The annual event is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

15.

“Management certainly appeared to be distracted, for whatever reasons,” said analyst Norman Young of Morningstar Inc. in Chicago. Analyst Steve Koenig of Wedbush Securities in San Francisco agreed. “There is ample evidence to say that Vivek was not minding the store, at least not as well as he should have been…”

These were some of the expert comments after it was announced that TIBCO was being sold to a PE firm, Vista Equity Partners.

Give us the “distraction” being cited above.

The ownership of the Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors

16.

Doxa is a Swiss watch brand immortalized as the watch brand of choice for Dirk Pitt in Clive Cussler’s books. However, it is a real company, producing watches meant for divers.

The watch shown is iconic, and made specifically for members of a certain family. Each watch is made for a specific mission and will be sold at a later date to raise funds for Oceans Futures’ Society, a charity set up by one member of the family.

Who was the watch made for, often known as the First Family of Diving.

Cousteau. Specifically, the charity was started by Jean-Michel Cousteau.

17.

GestiFute is a Portuguese company that began operations in 1996. The main business lay in advising and facilitating trade in certain products to companies. However, its activities were found to be illegal by an international body which cited a conflict of interest as the point of illegality. Thus, GestiFute’s holdings are now illegal, but it still provides advisory services.

What is the ‘product’ that was deemed unlawful?

Football players; GestiFute is Jorge Mendes’ company that held third-party ownership rights over some football players.

18.

The Pullman Porter Service was an important milestone in services offered to passengers on American trains. Started in the 1860s, the job provided employment opportunities to African American men.

The service itself became necessary due to something Pullman had introduced prior to this in 1858 that ensured that passengers would be spending more time on trains with fewer stopovers.

What was the service that debuted in 1858 and continues to be in use till today?

Drop-down berths for sleeping on trains. Pullman Porters were employed in making the beds and taking care of the passengers who did not have to get off trains for the night anymore.

Written Theme Round5 questions written with a theme

+10 for each question. +10 for the theme

60 points overall

1.

This product is not originally blue in colour. Indian safety regulations require that it be easily identifiable, leading to the blue colour. Similarly, the product is purple in some countries. It is used for cooking and heating purposes.

2. Print ad for what?

3.

In 1972, X tubes were modified with hidden microphones and were used by G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt during the time of the Watergate break-in. The operator would hold them in his hand with the wires running up his sleeve and a push-to-talk button like on a walkie-talkie.

Which commonplace item was used as an effective spying tool?

4.

5.

X is part of the iconic American cowboy look. The first one of its kind was made in 1865, when the maker was out on a prospecting trip in Colorado. X, which carried the name of the original maker, came to be an indicator of prosperity among the American populace. The demand for X meant that production soon became mechanised, making X a pioneer in his field.

What is X?

Answers to follow. Please exchange sheets.

1.

This product is not originally blue in colour. Indian safety regulations require that it be easily identifiable, leading to the blue colour. Similarly, the product is purple in some countries. It is used for cooking and heating purposes.

Kerosene

2. Print ad for what?

3.

In 1972, X tubes were modified with hidden microphones and were used by G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt during the time of the Watergate break-in. The operator would hold them in his hand with the wires running up his sleeve and a push-to-talk button like on a walkie-talkie.

Which commonplace item was used as an effective spying tool?

ChapStick

4.

Band-Aid

X is part of the iconic American cowboy look. The first one of its kind was made in 1865, when the maker was out on a prospecting trip in Colorado. X, which carried the name of the original maker, came to be an indicator of prosperity among the American populace. The demand for X meant that production soon became mechanized, making X a pioneer in his field.

What is X?

Theme

Genericised trademarks

Special round - 33 sets of 2 questions

The answer for the second question is contained with the first answer

+10 for each question. 60 points in all.

1 (A)

X recently commissioned a calendar by the photographer Steve McCurry as part of its efforts to raise awareness about African sovereignty over their food. It was a follow up to their “10000 Gardens in Africa” project which sought to maintain traditional seed varieties in the African continent.

X sources a lot of its products from Africa, particularly Ethiopia.

What is X?

1 (B)

Y is derived from the Arabic word which meant “all good things in the world”. It started off in the Sultanate of Oman but has its main operations in southern India and is headquartered in Cochin. Y looked to expand further when it started it’s second factory in DR Congo and has a thriving African business now.

2 (A) Ad for?

2 (B)

Connect to a business entity.

3 (A)

Alfonso Cuarón is a director who became famous for directing movies such as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2001) and Gravity (2013). His production company is named rather uniquely after a constructed language.

What is his film company called?

3 (B)

Despite advances is packaging technology, alcohol and spirits makers refuse to use _____ to sell them. Initially, there was a fear that the ____ would be chemically compromised by the alcohol in them. However, that has been disproved and the FDA approved them for storing and sale of alcohol. One of the main reasons why people continue to use glass bottles is the premium value associated to it, especially when compared to ______.

Answers to Follow

1 (A)

X recently commissioned a calendar by the photographer Steve McCurry as part of its efforts to raise awareness about African sovereignty over their food. It was a follow up to their “10000 Gardens in Africa” project which sought to maintain traditional seed varieties in the African continent.

X sources a lot of its products from Africa, particularly Ethiopia.

What is X?

1 (B)

Y is derived from the Arabic word which meant “all good things in the world”. It started off in the Sultanate of Oman but has it’s main operations in southern India and is headquartered in Cochin. Y looked to expand further when it started it’s second factory in DR Congo and has a thriving African business now.

1

X – Lavazza

Y – Lazza

2 (A) Ad for?

2 (B)

Connect to a business entity.

2

X – Saint Gobain

Y – Bain Capital

3 (A)

Alfonso Cuarón is a director who became famous for directing movies such as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2001) and Gravity (2013). His production company is named rather uniquely after a constructed language.

What is his film company called?

3 (B)

Despite advances is packaging technology, alcohol and spirits makers refuse to use _____ to sell them. Initially, there was a fear that the ____ would be chemically compromised by the alcohol in them. However, that has been disproved and the FDA approved them for storing and sale of alcohol. One of the main reasons why people continue to use glass bottles is the premium value associated to it, especially when compared to ______.

3

X – Esperanto

Y – PET bottles

Special round - 4Regions

Africa and Australia

The Ghanaian currency of Cedi was introduced in 1965, replacing the pound that was in circulation after the independence of the country. The word Cedi is the Fante word for this commodity that was formerly used as currency in many parts of Africa. Although this commodity is not native to West African waters, it is a common species in the Indian ocean. They were brought to Ghana by Arab traders in the beginning of the 14th century, who in turn may have traded it from Asia.

Which commodity, which has its common name as ‘Monetaria moneta’, reflecting its relation for use as currency?

Cowry shells

The geographical feature which gave the town, and in turn the company, its name was not in fact one, but several broken hills. Although the place started out with great prospects of deposits, the initial stages did not lead to much success and many shareholders sold their shares and left the company. When the company eventually struck rich, there were just 9 shareholders left.

Nicknamed ‘The big Australian’, this is Australia’s largest company by market capitalization and the world’s largest in its respective field.

Which company is this?

BHP-Billiton

Although this has existed for centuries, the first modern instance of this in the Arab world was in 1963 in the town of Mit Ghamr, Egypt. The town is primarily known for its aluminum production and is the largest centre of production for the same in Egypt.

The implementation of this is credited to Dr. Ahmad El Najjar. He saw that there were many poor people who were outside the financial system and were wary of state run companies. By circumventing this traditional practise, he was able to attract a large number of poor people who could not have otherwise come into the system.

What was this the first modern instance of? What did he circumvent, something that attracted many poor people to the scheme?

Islamic banking, rate of interest

It originally commenced operations as X Drive-Ins in 1954, when founder Roc Kirby began running one of Australia's first drive-in cinemas in the Melbourne suburb of Croydon. The drive-in was adjacent to a shopping strip called ‘Croydon X’; hence the company adopted the ‘X’ name. The company later expanded into traditional cinemas in major areas, though it still operates the Coburg Drive-In in Coburg.In 1988, XY took over De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, which brought on a change of name: XY Limited.The company is known in India mainly for its joint venture with PriyaExhibitors, the JV having been in operation since 1997.

Which company?

Village Roadshow

Americas

Connect the movies to a company

Petrobras

With the recent thawing of relations between the USA and Cuba, the possibility of lifting of the embargo on Cuba has many countries waiting to enter the new market. However, this company differs from the others in that it wants to re-enter the place of its birth.

Spaniard Facundo Massó along with his brother José set up the first plant in Santiago de Cuba to manufacture the company’s products in 1862. The institution of something in the USA in the 1920s made the company market Cuba as the home of this and the company’s product as the king of this.

When the Cuban government began to nationalise properties of businesses, this company moved its intangible assets out of the company and the company’s Cuban assets were eventually confiscated in 1960 and the company is headquartered in Bermuda today.

Which company is this, one that is the largest privately held in its field of operation?

Bacardi

More than a decade after this incident, WTAS Llc, a San Francisco-based tax consultancy founded out of this company’s ashes, was changing its name to the company’s name last year. “Our issues with _____were the mistake of a few,” said Mark Vorsatz, WTAS’s chief executive officer, who started the company 12 years ago with 22 other former partners. “Irrespective of ____, we thought we were the benchmark in the industry.” Although changing the name to this company’s name would’ve gained them attention, it may not necessarily have been positive as many people still see the company in a negative light and in association with ____.

Which company’s name did WTAS adopt? FITB.

Arthur Andersen, Enron

Excerpt from a poem by a 1971 Nobel laureate. FITB, which is also the name of the poem. Also name the laureate.

Their obese emperors from New York

are suave smiling assassins

who buy silk, nylon, cigars

petty tyrants and dictators.

They buy countries, people, seas, police, county councils,

distant regions where the poor hoard their corn

like misers their gold:

_______ awakens them,

clothes them in uniforms, designates

which brother is the enemy.

the Paraguayan fights its war,

and the Bolivian wastes away

in the jungle with its machine gun.

A President assassinated for a drop of petroleum,

a million-acre mortgage,

a swift execution on a morning mortal with light, petrified,

a new prison camp for subversives,

in Patagonia, a betrayal, scattered shots

beneath a petroliferous moon,

a subtle change of ministers

in the capital, a whisper

like an oil tide,

and zap, you’ll see

how ______’s letters shine above the clouds,

above the seas, in your home,

illuminating their dominions

Standard Oil, Pablo Neruda

Asia

This multinational food and shopping corporation was initially started in Japan but expanded to South Korea, where it is now the country’s largest confectionary maker and one of the largest Chaebols.However, its name has no connection to either Korea or Japan. Founder Shin Kyuk-Ho took inspiration from Goethe’s ‘The sorrows of young Werther’, naming the company after the female protagonist Charlotte in the book.The company is mostly known to us for a snack which is ubiquitous. This product was originally sold by Tongyang confectionery in South Korea. Imitators of the product followed, the first of which was this company. However, a court ruling did not protect the brand as the court said that the product had become a ‘common noun’.

Which company? What product?

Lotte, Choco Pie

The following picture shows the municipal stadium in Minami-ku, Hiroshima, which is also the home of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Opened on April 10, 2009, the stadium has a seating capacity of 32,000.

Which company has the naming rights to the stadium from 2009-2014? The company is also headquartered in Hiroshima prefecture.

Mazda

This island has, since the 17th century, been associated with coffee. The association is so strong that the name of the island itself stands for coffee in a few countries.

The cultivation of coffee began here when the island was a Dutch territory and the crop has since been grown here. The current coffee production is centered on the Ijen plateau, with many famed varieties of coffee originating here.

Which place is this?

Java

This retail chain was started by M. A. Yousaf Ali, when its outlets were opened in a comparatively smaller format in the 1990s. The chain opened the first of its flagship entities in Dubai in 2000, and has since gone on an aggressive expansion plan, with outlets being opened in the neighbouring countries of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, etc.

Although the company has a very strong presence in the GCC region, it is more well known for one of its stores outside the region.

Which retail chain is this? Where is the chain’s only store outside the GCC region?

Lulu hypermarket, Kochi

Europe

This is a traditional sweet from the areas of Palermo and Messina in Sicily. It consists of a round sponge cake moistened with fruit juices or liqueur and layered with ricotta cheese, candied peel, and a chocolate or vanilla filling similar to cannoli cream.

Although there are different versions, its origin of Arabian making is generally accepted. The Arabic word qas'ah from which the sweet derives its name, means a bowl and is thought to refer to that which gives it its shape.

However, most of us know of this through a Neapolitan ice cream of the same name. What is this?

Cassata

Though it is a small area, this square mile is the most important centre for this commodity in the world. Within this area are four exchanges, four banks and a Centre all for the purpose of transacting this item.

The majority of the traders used to belong to the Hasidic Jewish community, with their practices spreading over into business as well, such as no business being conducted on a Saturday. However, recent years have seen a rise in Indians in the trade, mainly Jains. The rise of India in the trading of this commodity has also helped the Jains gain a foothold in the field.

Which city? Which item?

Antwerp, Diamonds

Seen as a vital asset in wars against Germany, then French Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré rejected the idea of forming a partnership with Royal Dutch Shell and formed the Compagnie française des pétroles.

It soon began producing oil from French territories in Africa from countries such as Algeria. It introduced its famous brand of gasoline in Africa in 1954, bringing it to Europe the same year.

Building on the popularity of the gasoline brand, it decided to rename itself after the brand.

What did it rename itself as?

Total SA

After England's crushing defeat by France, the dominant naval power, in naval engagements culminating in the 1690 Battle of Beachy Head, it was under a severe resource crunch and did not have many ways of raising them. No public funds were available, and the credit of William III's government was so low in London that it was impossible for it to borrow the £1,200,000 that the government wanted.

To induce people to subscribe to the loan, under what name were the subscribers to the loan incorporated under in 1694?

Bank of England

18 Questions+10/-5 for pounce

No limits on the number of pounces

1.

When this company raised $50 million in Venture Capital funding last year, it said that it wanted to allocate about 10% of its overall equity to its active users. In December, it announced that the equity would take the form of what it called X.

‘To celebrate all of you and your contributions, we plan to give away X in a random lottery. As of this point, it looks like we’re going to have approximately 950,000 X to divide among active user accounts. There aren’t as many X as there are accounts, so if you get one, lucky you! Eligible recipients of X will be determined based on activities before 9/30/14, and we plan to give them away in the fall of 2015.’

"In a lot of ways, it's not like a currency. It's something of value, like sugar or gold or bacon. It can be transferred" said one of its founders.

What is X?

Reddit Notes

2.Connect the lady in the photo to the musical piece

Lakmé

3.

This word comes from Old French meaning ‘money bag or purse’, which in turn comes from Medieval Latin for a bag. The term originated in 13 century in Bruges where the sign of a purse hung on the front of the house where merchants met. The current sense of the word meaning ‘exchange for merchants’ was first recorded in 1845, from the name of the Paris stock exchange.

Which word?

Bourse

4.Last September, around two thousand people gathered on Dam Square in Amsterdam. For €15 each they could participate in a food fight involving ten thousand kilograms of tomatoes. Although it sounds like a festival, this food fight had nothing to do with La Tomatina, and was a move by the organisers to save the farmers who grew the tomatoes. They were hit by sanctions imposed by the country for which the tomatoes were to be exported in retaliation for earlier sanctions which were spearheaded by the Netherlands. This country is one of the Netherlands’ largest trading partners with the Netherlands being the second largest investor in this country. However, an event which occurred on July 17, 2014 fiercely turned the Netherlands against this country and the relations between the two have been hostile ever since, with a large majority of the Dutch people holding this country responsible for it.

Which country is this? What was the July 17, 2014 incident?

Russia; the Malaysia Airlines crash in July.Of the 298 who perished on flight MH17, 196 were Dutch nationals.

5.

The floods in Kashmir last year resulted in great damage for many industries, of which this is one. The floods resulted in the raw material used for the production of this either being submerged or affected by moisture, making it of little use. Although the raw material from Kashmir is not the only one which can be used for this, the other variety is not preferred because of it being far too expensive.

What product is set to see an increase in prices this year? What is the other variety that is much more expensive than the Kashmiri one?

Cricket bats, English willow

6.

When this company decided on its first global advertising campaign in 2003, it chose Justin Timberlake to record the song, which subsequently appeared on its ads. He was chosen as the company wanted to rekindle the flagging desire of consumers – particularly younger ones.

Although the song has disappeared from public memory, the campaign which the company started continues to this day and is globally associated with the brand.

Which company? What was the global campaign?

McDonalds, I’m lovin’ it

7.

Although known to us in a fictional universe, many companies did actually have this as their name. This was mainly during the 1920s when alphabetised business telephone directories such as Yellow Pages began to be widespread. To have their business early among the entries, many companies chose this as their name.

This made sense as people usually chose the entry which was at the beginning of the book rather than flipping through pages and searching for other ones.

Which name?

Acme

8.

An ad agency created a campaign for the Immigration Council of Ireland last year to highlight the issue of sex trafficking in the country, and the plight of the victims. When they needed to connect with the public on the issue, they choose to do it through something that was (and continues to be) very popular in Ireland.

Users on this platform saw the profiles created as part of this campaign, with each subsequent photo showing the women worse off because of trafficking and ending with a message about the issue.

Which platform did they run this campaign on, something that a few of us use regularly?

Tinder

9.

Prince Arthur was the third son of Queen Victoria and a member of the British royal family. Having a private education for the early part of his childhood, he entered the Royal Military Academy when he was 16 and joined the British Army after his graduation. During his service in the British Army, he was made the first Duke of one of the four provinces of Ireland.

Although his presence in India was minimal, he lent his name to a location (through his title) which started construction in 1929 and was completed in 1933.

Which location did he lend his name to, a place that is said to be one of the most expensive office destinations in the world?

Connaught Place

10

X is a media network under threat of a hostile takeover from the step-brother and step- sister of the present owners. To save the whole group, the news division of the company is sold off to a young buyer who wants to revolutionize the way news content is created and consumed. This ultimately leads to a continuous altercation between the owners and staff and remains unresolved.

Give us X.

Atlantis World Media; the news network is called Atlantis Cable News from the HBO series The Newsroom.

11

During the Libyan Civil War, telephone connectivity to rebel-controlled areas were cut off by Libyana (owned and operated by Gaddafi’s son). Recognisingthe need for mobile telephony, the rebels hacked into the existing infrastructure and routed the calls through a company in London. They cited receiving help from X, and this was seen as a sign of the middle eastern countries approving the rebel cause.

X is known to us for an unsuccessful attempt at the Indian market, where it was claimed that their intentions were not so honorable. A partner of X was eventually questioned for having ties with the underworld amid other concerns, leading to X’s exit from India permanently in 2012.

Give X.

Etisalat

12.

The Great Southern Rail in Australia has a rather unusual name and logo for one of its trains. Connecting Adelaide to Darwin through Alice Spring, the train is called The Ghan.

Why is it called so? What is the reason for the logo?

Ghan is derived from “Afghan”. During the early days of Australian exploration, camels were imported from Afghanistan and other regions along with their trainers as horses were not sturdy enough.

The train is called the Ghan because camels were used in building the railroad.

13.

In 1998, X started an ad campaign with a plus-sized doll called Ruby. Ruby was derived from the word rubenesque, and was called the anti-Barbie. However, the campaign was short lived as Mattel forced X to take down posters showing Ruby as the poster was supposed to have traumatized American audiences.

X has, in the past, been associated with raising awareness on bulimia and anorexia as well.

What is X?

The Body Shop

14.

In 1975, Sebring-Vanguard started making a single car model Citicar, in response to an event. The event spurred sales in the car, making Sebring-Vanguard the 6th most-selling carmaker in the USA in 1976. However, the production run ended in 1977 when the demand for the car petered out, when the relevance of the event reduced. The model continues to be in demand with car collectors even today.

Give me the event, and why the car was so successful.

OPEC oil crisis in 1973; Citicar was an electric car, and was the highest selling electric car model till the Tesla Roadster S.

15.

Shown on the next slide is a Lithuanian 10 litas note. While the note is no longer legal tender, the note has been trading for nearly 4 times its erstwhile value on the back of strong demand from members of a certain community who are able to use it.

What community?

Since the note shows two handsome men in uniform, it is accepted as tender in a lot of gay clubs in Western Europe. This has led to demand from a lot of foreigners to keep the note as a souvenir and raised the price of the note.

16

Over the years, X has urged Y to stand down because he is "too old", labelled him a "warmonger" for supporting the Iraq invasion, tried to block him from buying the Los Angeles Dodgers and called for him to quit over the phone hacking scandal. He even challenged him to a fist fight in 2003 when a boat sponsored by Y ran into one of X’s during a Sydney to Hobart race, causing it to sink.

X and Y are fierce rivals and run competing businesses. In 2014, Y’s company proposed to buy out a company owned by X leading to speculation about possible retaliation from X.

Who are X and Y?

X – Ted Turner, Y – Rupert Murdoch

17.

“When my great-great-grandparents came here, they came with nothing. They left then-Russia, Kiev, with nothing. Their story really is a foundation of the views and values that we've carried through the family for the last 130-plus years” .

The family referred to is today one of America’s foremost business names and owns the Hyatt group of hotels and other businesses. A foundation run by the family also initiated a prize which is highly sought after in its field.

Identify the illustrious family.

Pritzker family.

18. Excerpt from A suitable Boy by VikramSethThe Czech officers, including their Managing Director, had not been born to white collars. For them the Praha ____ company was their life and Praha creed virtually their religion. Their branches and factories and shops spread around the world…Whenever Young Mr Tomin visited India from his world headquarters in London (not, alas, Prague any longer), the entire Praha world would be abuzz with excitement. Telephones rang all over Prahapore and urgent messages went back and forth from the head office in Calcutta to announce his god-like progress…

Which company has Seth modelled Praha after?

Bata