We’ve all heard about the classic elevator pitch. A chance to get your idea picked up by someone who can help bring it to life. You might not be getting in the elevator with Bill Gates but the Pitch It! event at Creative Start-up Day is just as important.
The event is a great way for UAL students to get their ideas from the drawing board to the eyes of many. Students use this as an opportunity to get traction for their projects, to gain valuable professional advice from the judging panel and of course a chance to win £100!
This year’s Pitch it event featured 17 participants, with 4 judges on the panel. The panel included Peter Ptashko, a supporter of social entrepreneurs; Richard Sant, Head of Careers and employability at UAL; Zoë Tynan-Campbell, co-founder at Girls Done Good and enterprise Practitioner at UAL; and Jide Adetunji co-founder and chief marketing officer of GUAP.
Students participating have 3 minutes to pitch and 3 minutes to answer questions from the judges on the panel. What’s great about the event is that there's not just one winner, the panel can decide how many people win. This year, out of the 17 participants who were invited to pitch, there were 11 winners.
The common trait that can be seen amongst the winners is their passion and belief in their projects. One of the winners, Hanna, kick-started the event with high energy and confidence. Her idea focuses on bringing sustainable fashion to audiences through her brand, The Good Apparel.
The second winners of the day, Yuxuan and Eve pinpointed a problem they wanted to solve. Their brand is called Best Chinese Friend, which is created to help Chinese students studying in the UK to access support through their community as well as events held, so they can network with students like them and feel more at home.
The next winner Ergest presented his brand XYZ, an agency which focuses on elevating different brands purpose and presence. He hopes to expand his reach and work with more brands to help them upgrade their brand reach through marketing.
Beixi, another winner, impressed the panel with her unique take on storybooks and toys for children. She creates storybooks in a unique presentation, like puzzles, which can help children learn and create different stories with different pieces.
Peggy pitched her idea with humour, which caught the panel’s attention and aided her idea that won. She hopes to create a restaurant that links culture and food with anyone interested in learning about authentic cultural experiences from all over the world.
Yan Gi runs his website called Galleri Gi, as a winner, he pitched his idea in hopes to bring awareness to his gallery set up in Berlin. His idea is about shining the light on sustainability in art by collaborating with artists who use found imagery and sustainable art.
Wei En provides the connection between different students with his brand, Junction. The brand was created to encouraged art students across London to network and use the platform to create a creativity archive and a community among London youth in art universities.
Third to last to present is Stuart, who won with the pitch with his brand called Lollipop; a platform created to help companies create a brand image that suits their goals and creates effective methods to tell customers exactly who they are.
As another winner, Tomi pitches his agency called Pigment; a digital platform to remove the gap between skating, culture and art. The agency hopes to represent and support these subcultures through brands that believe in creative culture.
Lihui hopes to promote her belief that "everyone is more creative than they think" through her brand Counter Reality. She hopes to allow people to understand how creative they can be, through her portraits and books.
The last to pitch, Maria pitched her idea to create a skincare brand, Journey, that is all-natural and sustainable. The unique selling point involves customers bringing their ingredients to the shop and having it combined into environmentally friendly packaging.
With a diverse group of winners, Pitch it! is a great opportunity to learn how to convey your ideas and develop them to bring them to life and get feedback and advice from a panel.
Careers & Employability run several pitching events a year, as well as various different opportunities to apply for Funding and Support.
Sign up to the Careers and Employability newsletter to be the first to hear about opportunities as they come up.
Written by BA Magazine Journalism & Publishing student, Afra Al Majed in collaboration with Careers & Employability.