The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) has announced StrathStrategists and The Three Marketeers, as the winners of its international student marketing competition, The Pitch.
This year’s competition, which saw separate categories for postgraduate and undergraduate students, aimed to empower students to tackle real-world marketing challenges and drive meaningful change.
Lucy Cassels, Lucy Mitchell and Cara Garvie from the University of Strathclyde’s team, StrathStrategists, were named winners of the postgraduate competition. Lauren Parr, Mehek Hathiramani and Jenny Vu from Newcastle University’s team, The Three Marketeers, were announced as winners of the undergraduate competition. Both teams were awarded the coveted ‘Marketers of the Future’ title at the final on 15th March.
Now in its 13th year, The Pitch sees students from leading universities compete to respond to a live client brief in a bid to win the title of ‘Marketers of the Future’. It is designed specifically to help accelerate the career of students studying a marketing or business degree, by developing their presentation, communication and problem-solving skills.
For this year’s competition, CIM partnered with Hays, a prominent British multinational recruitment company, which is committed to empowering individuals and organisations to attain their marketing objectives. Additionally, Mintel, a leading market intelligence agency, who’s insight helps businesses make better marketing decisions, provided students with access to a range of market research resources students could use to develop their pitch.
The postgraduate participants were asked to develop a volunteer engagement marketing strategy for EveryYouth, a charity which exists to ‘help the most disadvantaged young people succeed in life.’ The undergraduate students were asked to, with a budget of £5,000, devise a plan to help EveryYouth drive a positive online experience and increase donor engagement.
Winners of the postgraduate category Lucy Cassels, Lucy Mitchell and Cara Garvie said: “Taking part in CIM’s The Pitch was at times difficult but a very fulfilling experience. Working together as a team allowed us to utilise or strengths to overcome any challenges and, in the end, help us improve our professional and personal development. We really do hope this will help us in our future marketing careers as this has been a huge achievement that we are so proud of. A massive thank you to all of the judges for attending and taking the time to listen to our proposal. Overall, we believe that this competition has provided us with key marketing skills and we would encourage future students to get involved in amazing opportunities such as this.”
Winners of the undergraduate category Lauren Parr, Mehek Hathiramani and Jenny Vu said: “We are thrilled and honoured to be the winners of The Pitch 2024. During the past five months, we have seen how our ideas have developed, how our presentation skills have improved and how we have really come together as a team to produce a strong marketing plan for EveryYouth. Embarking on such an exciting challenge, and receiving positive feedback from the judges during the live final was a real ‘pinch me’ moment for us. Finally, we are immensely grateful to The Chartered Institute of Marketing and Every Youth, for the opportunity to showcase our skills in such an interesting and unique competition. We would also like to thank Newcastle University Business School for supporting us every step of the way!”
Robin Sturmey, Head of Marketing at Hays, comments: “It was brilliant to be a part of such a valuable initiative, alongside our charity partner EveryYouth, and to see the impressive talent of the next generation of marketers come to life. I’m confident that this exposure to real-life marketing challenges will provide participants with a range of tools and skills that will support their career ventures.
At Hays, we’re aware of the value these types of initiatives offer candidates when progressing through the job application process and the positive difference this kind of experience can have to the ongoing success of their careers. Well done to all the finalists and congratulations to the winners!”
Mark Scott, Director of Marketing and Communication, CIM said: “Now in its 13th year, The Pitch offers students the opportunity to gain experience by responding to a real-life brief, this year for our partner EveryYouth. It’s been great fun giving students a taste of pitching and hopefully helping them hone skills as they think about the jobs market.
The standard was super-high and well done to all of the shortlisted teams who worked really hard on their proposals, and a huge congratulations Lauren Parr, Mehek Hathiramani and Jenny Vu who won the undergrad category and Lucy Cassels, Lucy Mitchell and Cara Garvie who won the postgrad category, whose innovative ideas and presentation skills really shone through.”
Winners of the competition receive CIM’s ‘Marketers of the Future’ award, a one-year complimentary CIM professional membership for each team member, a complimentary ‘Specialist Award’ qualification from CIM Academy, a virtual one-hour session with Hays Chief Marketing Officer Inken Khulmann-Rhinnow, as well as a virtual CV writing workshop, the chance to feature in a case study posted on the CIM website and a digital winner’s badge issued by CIM.
