MICA
Crafting Creative Communication
Online Written Entrance Test
Batch 30 (2020-2021)
From the outside, the world of creativity seems to be hot, hot, hot! You will hear successful practitioners talk
about their latest shoot with Deepika as if it were an everyday occurrence. You will get to view the selfies
they took with Kohli. You will hear about their exclusive dinner at Noma in Copenhagen, for which they
reserved a table six months in advance. And of course, about their 'shocking video that went viral!'
And yes, once you're in the business, there will be late, late nights. There will be, God willing, glittering
award-shows and plenty of back-slapping and little gold statuettes that you can carry home and display on
your shelf.
But.
There's plenty of hard work. There's passion. There's inspiration. There's discipline. There's heart-break. Above
all, there's talent.
And your talent, or lack thereof, will be glaringly obvious to the organization that hires you, the moment you
sit down in front of an iMac.
Which is where this Test comes in.
It is designed to help evaluate your creativity and idea generation capabilities for fields such as mainline and
digital advertising, radio stations, TV channels, film production houses etc. The aim is to try and identify
whether you have the necessary discipline to work within clearly-defined boundaries and restrictions.
In other words, we expect applicants to:
Understand that they will function as 'creative problem solvers', in a commercial environment.
Have the ability to think laterally – essentially, divergent thinking, so that for any given problem, they
are capable of generating many possible answers.
Have a good command over the language – have a way with words. We also look for comprehension
skills (be able to read a long passage of text and write down the main idea in a few sentences, while
retaining the essence of the passage).
Be able to visualize a concept or an idea (draw it out, shoot a picture or video etc.), have good
aesthetic sense, and be sensitive to typography and colour.
Be sensitive to written and visual metaphors.
Have an almost morbid interest in other people – why people are who they are, and why they behave
the way they do.
Other important characteristics would be: intense curiosity, a willingness to learn different things even if they
seem irrelevant, increase their general knowledge regarding the advertising and design industries and have a
keen interest in radio, films and the digital world.
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1.
Task: Make a TIK TOK video about eve teasing.
This assignment will help evaluate your awareness of trends, and networked communities, and how you use
them effectively.
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2.
Pick an advertisement that you like and appreciate from a newspaper or magazine dated within the past one
week. Also pick an ad that you don't like. Write a paragraph of about 200 words on each of these (why you
like, and why you dislike).
Please submit the images of both the ads along with your paragraphs.
This assignment will help evaluate your awareness of advertising campaigns and trends.
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3.
As you may have noticed, many Indian products and services use 'doctors' as models in their advertisements.
These are not real doctors, just models wearing a white coat and a stethoscope around their necks.
According to the rules and regulations given in the Code of Medical Ethics, doctors are not allowed to
advertise and promote themselves or give testimonials and recommendations for commercial products and
services.
You can read about the Code Of Medical Ethics here:
https://www.mciindia.org/CMS/rules-regulations/code-of-medical-ethics-regulations-2002
(On the website, scroll down to Chapter 6, the section on Advertising.)
Please research this topic and then write an article (not more than 300 words) on one of these points of view:
a. “Advertising should not use models who are not real doctors, because...”
b. “It's ok to use models pretending to be doctors in advertisements, because...”
This assignment will help evaluate your understanding of advertising trends and your ability to reason out and
persuade a reader.
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4.
Give three reasons (not more than 150 words for each reason) why you wish to have a career in the creative
side of advertising. Write one of these reasons in a humorous style - self-deprecating, wit-wordplay, topical,
observational (poking fun at everyday life), surreal (illogical events, absurd situations, nonsensical theme)...
any style that you think works, so long as it is funny.
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5.
A friend of yours from college has suddenly decided to become an entrepreneur. He is passionate about fitness
and health wants to set up a gym. He knows he can't compete with big brands such as Gold's and Talwalkar's,
so he's aiming to have only about 15 members simultaneously using the gym per session of 1 hour. In all, he
aims to have a total of about 300 members.
He will focus on all-round fitness, and also cater to special goals such as weight loss, weight gain, add muscle,
improve cardiovascular health, etc.
Main advantage: This gym will be the lowest priced gym in the region (city/town).
Your friend wants you to help him with brand names and a logo design.
Product/Service: Fitness Gym
Task: Think up 5 brand names for this gym. Out of these, pick one name that you like, and design a logo for
it.
Please don't bother to create designs for the gym entrance etc. – just creating the names and one logo design
will do.
This exercise will help us evaluate your imagination, your understanding of basic consumer psychology, and
your sense of design. (Yes, we know you may not be a trained designer, but we're looking for an indication of
your instinctive understanding/ignorance of design.)
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6.
A Short and Sweet History of Chocolate.
Instructions:
This is a test to ascertain your ability to read up material from various sources, and summarize it, using all
the essential points. It is meant to evaluate your skills in expressing your thoughts clearly, concisely and
effectively. It is not meant to test your cleverness in writing a slogan, or in using picturesque figures of
speech.
Task: Write an article of about 300 words on 'A Short and Sweet History of Chocolate'. You may research the
internet and other sources for information, to write your piece.
There is sufficient material on the Internet for you to use for research (and we are aware of most of them, as
you have rightly concluded).
You must condense the material to fit around 300 words, excluding the title (the title can be changed, but
must not be more than 20 words).
Some hints on how to do this efficiently and effectively:
◦ Read and examine what you find on the internet or other sources in detail to make sure you get
material that is relevant to the main theme of 'The History of Chocolate'.
◦ Select and note down the important points (make a bullet-list) which are essential to express the
main theme, and then use these points to make your first draft.
◦ Now check your first draft to ensure that the story, the grammar, and the composition of your
write-up are accurate.
◦ Remember that you are to express the gist of all the material in your own words, and not by using
quotations from the original passages.
◦ While rewriting, ensure that you don't simply delete sentences, phrases and words from the
original – you should condense by actually rewriting. Your précis must be self-contained and a
connected whole.
◦ Please don't add anything new.
◦ Please make no personal comments.
◦ Please do not change any facts.
◦ Revise your draft, check for grammar, spelling and punctuation errors.
◦ Let your language be simple and direct.
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7.
Study the attached photograph, by W Eugene Smith, titled “Mad Eyes”
Task: What does the photo mean to you? Write down five possible (but different) interpretations (in simple
sentences, not long paragraphs).
This assignment will help us evaluate your ability to understand common signs and symbols, and interpret
their meanings.
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8.
Task: Take a pencil, a fork, and a toothbrush. Shoot a photograph of these three items.
Use this photo to make an A-3 sized poster to be put up in college canteens to advertise “Uber Pool cabs”.
Although you could design this as a digital poster, using very basic graphics software such as MS Word or Paint,
and submit it as a .jpeg file, please note that in real life, this poster would have been put up physically in the
college canteen.
This assignment will help us evaluate your visual skills and your ability to think laterally in a given situation.
Note: Do not download photographs of the pencil, fork and toothbrush. Please shoot the photo yourself.
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9.
One night around 11 pm, you're walking down a deserted lane. From the partly open window of a 1st floor
apartment above, you hear a gruff male voice saying, “Yes, I can get the judge to dismiss the case. It will cost
you 25 lakhs – 50% advance in cash.”
Task: Continue and complete this story in about 200 words.
This assignment will help indicate just how vivid your imagination is, your sense of drama, and
your understanding of human emotions.
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10.
How can you convince us that the submissions for all the above assignments are done entirely by you, to the
best of your abilities, without taking anyone else's help?
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Important Instructions:
1. Please pay attention to grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary. If you choose to be ungrammatical or
colloquial, you should have reasons for it.
2. Although being able to draw well is an asset for an Art Director, using graphics software to show your
art skills is not important at this stage. If you can scribble your ideas neatly and legibly on paper, photograph
it using a digital/cellphone camera, and embed it in the document that you are submitting, it should suffice.
3. You are allowed to research the Internet for information on topics related to the assignments.
4. The answer paper needs to be emailed to [email protected] within 48 hours of receiving the
question paper (i.e. on or before 22/01/2020, 10:30 AM).
5. All your answers (both text and images) should be on ONE DOCUMENT ONLY. Your answers should
preferably be in the same sequence as the question. Please do not send multiple files as attachments.
6. Please ensure that at the top right hand corner of each of your Answer pages, you clearly
mention your MICA ID, then First Name and then Last/Middle Name (for e.g.: 6000001 Ramesh Kumar)
7. Ensure that your submission is in MS Word (.doc) or rich text format (.rtf) or PDF (.pdf). Please do
not send PowerPoint (pptx) files.
8. Good Luck!
