Nationwide student competition The Pitch 2019 Launches
Chartered Institute of Marketing launches The Pitch 2019 with Hawaiian Tropic.
The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) today announced the launch of The Pitch 2019, a national competition for students, in partnership with global research firm Mintel, to find the newest UK talent in marketing.
Now in its eighth year, The Pitch sees students from leading universities across the UK compete to respond to a live client brief, in a bid to win the title of ‘Marketer of the future’. This year’s challenge is set by international sun care brand, Hawaiian Tropic. Research from Mintel shows that the suncare category has accelerated to an estimated £254 million in 2017, and students in the competition will be asked to respond to a brief that focuses on helping young women embrace the sun.
Last year’s winners, Roxanne Colinet and Ellen Grieve, were undergraduates at Strathclyde Business School when they entered The Pitch. Since winning, they have both gone on to enjoy success in marketing roles, working as a Marketing Assistant at Gordon Ritchie Marketing and a Brand Manager for FIXR respectively. Discussing the competition, Roxanne said:
“Without a doubt I would recommend The Pitch to students. When starting university, marketing was never my thought-out career path. However, since entering The Pitch and being in the presence of 600 marketing experts at the CIM’s Marketing Excellence Awards, I now cannot wait to get into the marketing industry and put my stamp on it.”
Her team mate Ellen added:
“Not only did The Pitch give me confidence in my marketing ability, it also boosted my CV. Having the opportunity to work on a live brief and put into practice my knowledge was fantastic and something I had not had the chance to do before. Ahead of pitching at the live final, we spent a lot of time on our marketing plan and it was great to share our enthusiasm for marketing with respected industry leaders.”
The competition is open to second- and third-year students at UK universities studying for a marketing degree or a business degree with a marketing module. In teams of two or three, entrants must devise a 2,500-word marketing plan and present it to judges from across the industry, including representatives from LIDL, Printt, Mintel and CIM.
The top three teams chosen on the day will then be taken through to the CIM Marketing Excellence Awards on 11 April 2019, where the winners will be announced and presented with the ‘Marketers of the future’ award. This is also an excellent opportunity for students to meet and develop relationships with senior marketing figures from key brands across the industry.
Gemma Butler, marketing director at CIM, said: “The Pitch is a key initiative for CIM to engage with up-and-coming marketers and students across the country. The competition enables us to help accelerate the career of students studying a marketing or business degree, by allowing them to develop their presentation, communication and problem-solving skills in a real-life scenario.”
“With over 50 student teams entering last year from Universities across the country, the competition reflects a growing focus on ensuring that graduates coming into the workplace are fully equipped with the marketing skills required to succeed in the ever-changing industry.”
The Pitch initiative will see the competition integrated into the syllabuses of universities across the country, with key universities such as Bournemouth, Hull and Swansea encouraging student participation. The Pitch is part of a wider initiative which runs alongside the CIM Graduate Gateway programme, which maps marketing and business degrees against learning outcomes within CIM qualifications.
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