Yorkshire & London Students Triumph in CIM’s Global Marketing Challenge, The Pitch

• Teams from King's Business School and University of York named as winners of global student marketing competition, The Pitch.
• CIM partnered with Dogs Trust to challenge students with a real-life marketing challenge.
• AdEd crowned as CIM’s ‘Marketers of the Future’ in undergraduate category.
• Paws and Claws Crew crowned as CIM’s ‘Marketers of the Future’ in postgraduate category.
• Winners receive one-year CIM membership and the opportunity to name a litter of puppies from Dogs Trust.

17th March 2025: The Chartered Institute of Marketing has announced AdEd from King’s Business School, King’s College London, and Paws and Claws Crew from the University of York, as the undergraduate and postgraduate winners of its global student marketing competition, The Pitch.

Now in its fourteenth year, The Pitch saw students from leading UK and international universities compete to respond to a real-life marketing challenge, in a bid to win the title of 'Marketers of the Future'. The competition aims to equip students for a professional role in marketing, empowering them to drive meaningful change.

This year’s competition, which was run in partnership with Dogs Trust, challenged students to create an effective marketing plan to grow Dogs Trust’s Companion Club membership scheme. The top 10 undergraduates presented their idea to judges from across the industry in a live virtual final on 13th March, and the top 10 postgraduates presented on 14th March.

The winning team, AdEd (Elliot Davey, Demir Timuray) commented: "The Pitch was a challenging experience for us and also a very rewarding one. We were proud to represent London and King's Business School. This experience has given us the opportunity to drive social impact for a great cause and will help to equip us in our future careers in marketing.

We would like to say a massive thank you to our university tutors for their advice and support, the Dogs Trust, Hays, Mintel and CIM for making this possible, as well as the judges for listening to our presentation and providing us with some excellent feedback. It goes without saying that we would recommend this competition to any aspiring marketers looking to gain valuable experience, whether you're undergraduate students like us or postgraduates!"

Winners of the postgraduate category, Paws and Claws Crew (Sandra Xu and Zephyr Zhang) said: "We are delighted to have been named the winners of The Pitch 2025 postgraduate competition, following in the footsteps of some very talented marketing professionals. Throughout this process, we have been able to develop some key skills, whilst also creating a valuable marketing plan for a noble cause.

This contest hasn't just been fulfilling, but also very rewarding and we relish the opportunity to advance our careers by gaining our CIM memberships, taking on CIM qualifications and having the chance to pick the brains of the Managing Director of Dogs Trust. We would like to thank everyone who played their part in this project, including CIM, Dogs Trust and the University of York."

Stacey Conway-Jones, Interim Group Head of Individual Giving at Dogs Trust commented: "We have loved partnering with the Chartered Institute of Marketing on this year’s student competition, and supporting the next generation of marketers as they embark on their journey to becoming established professionals.

The work produced by AdEd and Paws and Claws Crew was so impressive! Thank you for your dedication and hard work in creating such an exceptional proposal for Dogs Trust's Companion Club. It has been a pleasure to witness everyone's enthusiasm, and see their visions for our charity come to life in the final. A huge thank you to CIM for including us in The Pitch - it’s been a brilliant experience."

Chris Daly, Chief Executive at CIM said: "We would like to congratulate all of the incredible participants in this year’s final. Seeing their passion and ingenuity as they presented their ideas was truly inspiring. I was beyond impressed with their creativity and strategic thinking - balancing the two skills is no mean feat.

The Pitch embodies CIM’s dedication to empowering the next generation of marketers to reach their full potential. As we conclude the 14th year of this competition, we at CIM remain committed to nurturing young talent and igniting a lifelong passion for marketing amongst the next generation. A huge congratulations to AdEd and Paws and Claws Crew for their award-winning ideas."

CIM’s ‘Marketers of the Future 2025’ will receive a whole host of prizes including a team voucher for up to £600 to spend on a CIM qualification, a one-year complimentary CIM professional membership for each team member, and the opportunity to name a litter of puppies from Dogs Trust.

For more information on The Pitch, please view here: https://www.cim.co.uk/events/the-pitch/

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:
For media enquiries
For further media information please contact the Chartered Institute of Marketing press office at Good Relations on CIMTeam@goodrelations.co.uk

For CIM enquiries
James Delves
Head of PR, Content and Community, CIM
james.delves@cim.co.uk

About CIM
For over 100 years, CIM has been the universal voice of marketing, championing our industry and its positive impact on organisations, economies and the wider society. Today, we play a more significant role than ever in supporting, developing and representing our members and the profession around the world. Always on top of the latest developments, we offer inspiring insights and thought leadership to generate transformative discussion and ideas.

On an individual level, marketers at every stage of their career find us a trusted and people-centred provider of clear guidance, training and professional qualifications – especially on their path to being accredited as a Chartered Marketer. If it carries a CIM stamp, it’s taken seriously: proof of the essential skills that boost long-term success for any business.

We’re at the forefront of all that’s exciting about marketing. Our services build careers and boost businesses. We continue to speak out for our industry, working alongside like-minded organisations to bring on the latest generations of talent and set professional standards for the entire marketing ecosystem. Find out more about CIM by visiting https://www.cim.co.uk/.

About Dogs Trust 
Dogs Trust is the UK’s largest dog welfare charity and normally cares for around 14,000 dogs across its network of 21 rehoming centres in the UK and one in Dublin. Dogs Trust has a non-destruction policy and will never put a healthy dog to sleep. The charity also focuses its efforts on understanding dogs and sharing that knowledge with the wider public to prevent problem behaviours that can result in relinquishment or abandonment. We are working towards the day when all dogs can enjoy a happy life, free from the threat of unnecessary destruction.