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Taking on The Pitch Challenge with marketing at Cardiff Met

Chelsea and Team
Chelsea and Team

Earlier this month my team, the Met Marketing Magicians were chosen as one of 11 from across the entire UK to go through to The Pitch 2018 final, where we would present our solution to a marketing challenge set by razor manufacturers Wilkinson Sword and the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

Team

The Met Marketing Magicians ready for action – Emily, myself and Cathy.

The Pitch is a nationwide marketing competition for students, where in teams of two or three, students have to tackle a marketing challenge set by a sponsor. The top prize is £2500 and a year’s CIM membership for the whole team, so it’s a pretty big deal!

Team Protege

Paige, Mark and Nicole – AKA Team Protege!

We were asked to come up with a campaign to help Wilkinson Sword create a step change in the recruitment of young men and women into their shaving range and build a band of advocates.

Team In The Loop

Bashaer, Harrison and Isabelle-Amymae, the Met Marketers In The Loop!

After months of research and hard work we submitted a report laying out the details of our unique idea and proposed marketing campaign. Out of the many teams across the UK that applied, the Met Marketing Magicians along with two other teams from Cardiff Met – In The Loop and Team Protege – were selected to go up to CIM headquarters at Moor Hall in Maidenhead and present our idea to a panel of judges.

The panel consisted of some marketing experts including Kevin Tewis-Allen, vice president of UNiDAYS. Obviously, we were very nervous but at the same so excited to be part of such an exciting event, we all felt a great sense of achievement and pride.

Moor Hall Entrance

Arriving at Moor Hall on a very chilly but beautiful day.

Because the trip up to Moor Hall takes three hours from Wales we got to go up the night before and enjoy a night’s stay in the hotel as well as a delicious meal in the quaint town of Cookham, all paid for by the university! On the morning of the presentation we were all nervous, but once we got up there it was the most exhilarating experience, the judges loved our idea and we had very positive feedback on our pitch.

Team and lecturer

We didn’t have to face the judges alone – some of our lecturers came along on the day to cheer us on!

Despite the positive feedback we did not make it into the top three finalists. Although we were a bit deflated by the outcome, the experience as a whole was so worth it in terms of building our confidence as marketing students, giving us the chance to network with some big names in the industry and providing us with a point of differentiation when applying for jobs after graduation – not many students get to the finals of The Pitch after all!

All that’s left to say is bring on next year’s challenge; Pitch 2019 – we will be ready for you!

Read more from students on business and management courses at Cardiff Met