The Department of Sponsorship and Marketing has a considerable amount of work for Oasis. Adit Chandra, the StuCCAn, was on his phone trying to close a deal when the Oasis English Press met with him for an interview, which had itself been scheduled after a fair bit of rescheduling and delays.

The Department of Sponsorship and Marketing, often colloquialized to Sponz, has manifold tasks such as securing sponsorships for the fest, booking venues and judges for various events, and speaking to vendors for stalls and kind. The department begins work well in advance for the fest, with preparations for Oasis 2019 having begun in February. Adit commented, “Most companies prefer to pay in two instalments: one before, and one after the fest. Therefore, most of our work is pre-fest and our main task during the fest is meeting the deliverables we’ve promised.”

This year, Oasis has better figures than 2018 in terms of sponsorship and performers. This, Adit said, was because they had managed to get two big sponsors on-board early on, and the department is expecting a few more deals to come through. Currently, the department is in talks with a potential banking sponsor, with members visiting banks around Pilani. “However, most companies prefer to do business over the phone. Obviously, this is more convenient for them as well as for us,” Adit said.

A major challenge that Sponz faces is the location of BITS, which is an obstacle to expanding the scope of the fest. “It is difficult to get a sponsor to come down and pay big bucks for a fest. Arranging accommodation for professional performers is also another task that needs to be taken care of,” Adit lamented. He opined that making the fest bigger is not feasible under the current circumstances, since accommodation can only be arranged for a limited number of people. Nevertheless, the department feels great joy in their work, “Since it is often a challenge, there is a great feeling of satisfaction when deals are converted successfully.”

As StuCCAn, Adit focused on outreach and publicity for events such as Rocktaves and Rap Wars. He also made an effort to upgrade the venues for the events’ regional preliminaries. “This year, we got great deals on venues like Hard Rock Café, which also contributed to footfall at those events.”

In parting, Adit asked more people to embrace the heart of the fest. He said that the StuCCA has made efforts to make registration smoother, judging fairer, and the events more fun. While professional shows generally have the highest attendance in a fest, he expects and audience to pay more attention to events this time around.