What is the CIM’s The Pitch competition?

The Opportunity

The marketing academic team at Coventry University always try to expose students to as many extracurricular activities as possible, to further enhance their learning and prepare for the real world.

One such opportunity is hosted by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), The Pitch competition represents a prestigious learning opportunity and some friendly competitive university rivalry. Marketing students are encouraged to participate as it gives them the chance to put theory into practice and compete with similar peers from other institutions.

This year, Coventry University students, including Sabina Sabova (Marketing BA (Hons)) and XiaoHan Yan (International Digital Marketing BA (Hons) top-up), participated in separate teams . The team that XiaoHan was a part of made it to the finals.

XiaoHan Yan and Sabina Sabova along with academic mentor Dr Cherneice Plume, briefly shared their perspectives.

What is The Pitch competition?

The Pitch is an annual, national competition open to both undergraduates and postgraduates. It offers marketing students the opportunity to challenge and prove themselves as the next generation of marketing professionals. It’s a testament to the institution if their students make it into the final.

The Pitch serves to enhance student competitors’ practical marketing skills and enhance their career prospects. Teams of two or three apply themselves to solving real-world marketing problems set by a third-party existing charity, company or organisation, ‘pitching’ their solutions to a panel of seasoned industry experts for review.

XiaoHan and Sabina's experience

Tell me about your experiences of The Pitch.

XiaoHan: “I first heard about the prestigious competition, The Pitch, during my career development module, where the academic encouraged us to compete. After finding out more about the competition, I really wanted to participate as I wanted to prove my abilities through this competition. I also believed that the experience alone could significantly boost my competitiveness in the job market - if I could make it to the final or even win would be a bonus!”

Sabina added: “I really enjoyed the experience and appreciated how closely the entire process resembled reality. It felt like we created our own small creative agencies that competed against each other in the effort to gain a new client. So definitely an experience I would recommend and would join again if given the opportunity.”

Describe what the competition process was like?

Xiaohan and Sabina summarised: “There were quite a few rounds and three teams total representing Coventry University, had also entered the competition.

The first round required participants to register on the CIM’s The Pitch webpage and submit a video with a written proposal. Five teams from over a hundred entries then advanced to the finals. The judging panel would then review and provide detailed feedback to each of the finalists, to not only revise our work, but to boost our performance in the final round. The final round would be a live pitch followed by a question-and-answer session, where the winner was chosen based on performance.”

Was there anything valuable that you took away from this experience?

XiaoHan: “I found the competition experience to be extremely valuable, and I’ve already had the chance to further apply the learning back into my academic work. For example, designing the marketing campaign for the competition (where the brief was for a well-known charity) gave me insights into the mechanics of viral marketing. I applied these principles, as well as marketing ethics, into the corporate social responsibility campaign I designed for my final year project, and I achieved a very high mark!”

Xiaohan Yao | (CIM) The Pitch 2024 finalist
Coventry University | International Digital Marketing BA

Dr Cherniece Plume's experience

Dr Plume offered the following perspective: “Where the academic environment can only take theory so far, this competition simulates the application of theoretical knowledge to real-world marketing challenges. It focuses on the students’ development of a particular skill set and attributes to succeed as a marketer.

From what I observed, the academic knowledge provides the foundation, but I believe the competition helps to develop certain soft skill qualities to truly tie everything together and bring the story-telling component of the contestants’ idea to life.”

Dr Plume highlighted examples of the core transferable skills this competition helps to develop and take into the world of work:

“Effective communication: whether it's conveying your ideas to your team or your audience, the ability to communicate clearly and persuasively is a must. Analytical and critical thinking skills are necessary for understanding market trends and making data-driven decisions.

Creativity is key for marketing: where it’s about innovating on new ideas and improving them to reach new and existing customers. Research skills are also important to ensure creative ideas meet objectives as marketers need to develop savvy campaigns that encourage customers to act.

Teamwork and collaboration: these are essential, as students work in teams and the ability to collaborate effectively can make or break their performance, whether it’s at the ideation, research or pitch preparation stage. The judges will be looking at the overall performance, not just the strength in a few select areas, and this is where a team’s synergy really comes into play!”

Dr Cherniece Plume | The Pitch competition academic mentor for Coventry University

Advice to future contestants

Dr Plume summarised that it isn’t just about: "…a clear understanding of the competition’s format, rules and objectives. It’s also about demonstrating awareness of the real world from which you can draw inspiration. It can keep your innovative ideas grounded and realistic.”

Sabina added: “Even though I just missed out on the finals, the experience was eye-opening and especially useful for graduate scheme and placement selection days. A piece of advice I would give to any new students entering would be to have a good understanding of the current landscape, and don’t be afraid to think out of the box. After all, that is how it usually works in the ‘real world’ too, and being well informed on the latest developments will only increase your chances of success.”

Sabina Sabova | (CIM) The Pitch 2024 contestant

Coventry University | Marketing BA | pictured on placement with Mondelez International