Two teams from BU were selected to compete in the final round of the competition; pitching Digital Marketing plans to Virgin Money Giving’s senior marketing team at Piccadilly Circus.
The four finalist teams were whittled down from 80 teams, which represented 40 UK universities. Other finalists pitching to Virgin Media included final year undergraduate students from Northumbria University and Newcastle University.
Team DigiThink, who won the competition, impressed the Virgin Money Giving senior marketing team with their innovative approach to tackling a brief by adopting a B2C approach to communicate and nurture relationships with B2B customers. The team were crowned winners at the IDM Summer Networking evening, which took place at London Belgraves Hotel.
Sophie Knowles, Rachel Poole, Madeleine Osborne, Jacqueline Forgham, Jeevanjot Shahi, and Ellie Barker were successful in their pitch and will now receive a £1,500 cash prize, dinner with the Virgin Money Giving team and internship opportunities. BU’s second team, Novum, achieved runner-up in the competition.
Dr Elvira Bolat, Programme Leader for BSc Marketing at BU, said: “This has been fantastic and challenging experience for second-year Business studies students who chose the optional unit Digital Interactive Marketing unit which I lead.
“It’s the first time that BU has participated in such a competition and it’s the second year we’ve ran this unit within the programme. Students worked so hard and produced phenomenal work across their cohort. It was not surprising to see two teams being shortlisted as finalists.”
Elvira added: “Our students have produced fantastic work and have had chance to meet various digital marketers across sectors while pitching to Virgin Money Giving. I'm so proud of my student’s achievements.”
