Postgraduates

• Define the Green AI opportunity and why it matters now
• Position IBM as the most credible brand in sustainable AI
• Provide a marketing-led strategy for leadership, influence and visibility
• Be evidence-based, commercially focused and aligned with IBM’s ethical values.
• Stay within a total campaign budget of £400,000

Your strategic plan must address the following areas:

• Strategic opportunity – Why Green AI is a defining topic for IBM
• Brand alignment – How this fits with IBM’s values and reputation
• Messaging framework – A clear narrative IBM could own
• Priority sectors and decision-makers – Who this matters to and why
• Thought leadership and content ideas – What IBM should say and show
• Partnerships and influence – Who could IBM align with for credibility and reach
• Risks and challenges – Any potential pitfalls or reputational risks
• Success measures – SMART objectives to track perception, influence and engagement
• Year 1 budget outline – A clear rationale for how the £400,000 should be allocated to maximise impact

Your plan should focus on engaging strategic decision-makers in business, government and procurement, including:

• Senior leaders in SMEs seeking sustainable digital solutions
• Heads of marketing, IT, innovation or ESG in large organisations
• Public sector procurement and policy professionals focused on ethical tech. 

These audiences influence AI adoption but may be unaware of its environmental cost. Your strategy should demonstrate how IBM can address this knowledge gap and build long-term trust.

Your strategy should be developed in the context of a notional Year 1 budget of £400,000. This is not about providing detailed costings, but you should include a high-level outline of how the budget might be used to bring your strategy to life. This may include:

• Strategic development and insight
• Content and thought leadership outputs (e.g. reports, events, video)
• Partnerships or advocacy activity
• Paid media or distribution where appropriate
• Campaign or initiative management and evaluation
• Explain how your budget allocation supports strategic influence and brand visibility.

You may explore and develop your own angle, but potential themes include:

• Green AI and ESG – Aligning sustainability with digital innovation
• Sustainable infrastructure – Reducing the carbon cost of AI models
• Responsible scale – Balancing AI ambition with ethical computing
• Thought leadership in action – How IBM can lead from the front.

Some things to consider

• Be clear about what Green AI means and why it matters
• Link the issue to commercial impact and reputational leadership
• Build alignment with IBM’s ethics-first positioning
• Identify who cares about this issue and why
• Recommend strategic content and partnership routes for influence
  
• Show how IBM could lead thinking – not just messaging – in this space.

Presentation format

All marketing presentations must be produced in a PowerPoint presentation with audio and submitted to thepitch@cim.co.uk via www.wetransfer.com by Monday 26th January 2026. Late entries will not be accepted.

Marketing presentation submission guidelines

Your campaign presentation must include the following:

• Campaign concept – A clear central idea and message.
• Target audience – Who you are targeting and why they matter.
• Creative direction – Tone of voice, visual style and examples of content formats.
• Content and distribution plan – What content will be produced, how it will be delivered, and where it will appear, including paid media channels.
• Expert involvement – Who will support the campaign and how their input adds credibility.
• Budget breakdown – How the £400,000 budget will be allocated.
• Timeline – Key phases of the six-month campaign.
• Measurement – SMART objectives and how you will track success.

You must also include a one-page judges’ summary as your final slide, using the template provided. Each section must be completed using size 10 Calibri font.

Presentation slide requirements and file naming

What to include on your title slide. Your presentation must have a clear and accurate title slide. The following information must be included:

1. Team name
2. Full names of all students in your team
3. University name
4. Indicate whether you are Undergraduate (UG) or Postgraduate (PG)

Please ensure that ALL this information is included on your presentation title slide to ensure the successful processing of your presentation.

How to label your files

All submitted documents (including your presentation and any supplementary files) must be clearly named using this format:

• [Team Name]_[University Name]_[UG or PG].pptx/pdf
• Example: BrightMarketers_Universityname_UG.pptx
• Avoid generic filenames such as “FinalDraft” or “Pitch2026”, we receive many entries, and unclear file names can cause delays.

Recording and Audio

The presentation will need to be recorded, so the judges can see the presentation and also hear you present your slides.

Once you have finished creating your presentation, to record in Microsoft PowerPoint, you will need to:

1. Click the ‘slide show’ tab at the top of the window.
2. Click ‘record slide show’.
3. When you are ready, click the ‘red dot recording symbol’ in the top left-hand corner to begin your recording.
4. As you talk through your slides, you can move through them using the arrows on your keyboard.
5. When you are finished, you stop the recording by clicking the ‘stop’ button in the top left-hand corner of the window.
6. Then hit ‘escape’ on your keyboard to return to the original PowerPoint screen.

Please save and submit your presentation in standard Microsoft PowerPoint format, using Microsoft fonts and ensure any videos used are embedded into your PowerPoint presentation.

Presentation time

Students have 15 minutes for their marketing presentation. Candidates must comply with the recommended presentation time with a margin of 10%. There is no restriction on word count or how many slides are used in the presentation.

Presentation summary

After successfully registering for The Pitch, you’ll receive a Judge’s Summary. This document outlines exactly what your marketing presentation will be assessed against.

A blank Judge’s Summary template will also be provided. Using this template, each student team must complete a brief outline for every section and insert the completed summary as the final slide of their presentation.

Please note:

• The Judges’ Summary must not exceed one page
• Use Calibri font, size 10

Bibliography

All sources, methodologies and applications used to develop the marketing presentation, must be identified and acknowledged through Harvard Referencing in a bibliography.

Appendices

Appendices should only be included where necessary and should be used to accommodate tables and diagrams to support/illustrate the main body of the presentation. No marks are awarded for work included in the appendices, and these should not be used as alternative locations for work that should appear in the main presentation. Appendices should not include published secondary information, such as annual reports and company literature.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism involves presenting work, excerpts, ideas or passages of another author without appropriate referencing and attribution. Collusion occurs when two or more teams submit work which is so alike in ideas, content, wording and/or structure that the similarity goes beyond what might have been mere coincidence. Plagiarism and collusion are serious offences and any teams found to be sharing their own work, copying another team’s work, quoting work from another source without recognising and disclosing that source, or using agencies that provide assignment writing services will be penalised and their presentation may be declared null and void.

IBM Resources

You may refer to IBM’s public materials, sustainability strategy, and responsible AI resources, including:
• IBM Consulting Advantage
• IBM Granite
• Sustainable IT with IBM Turbonomic
• IBM watsonx
• Institute for Business Value - Sustainability Report
• Institute for Business Value – The CEO’s Guide to Gen AI: Sustainability
• Institute for Business Value – Thought Leadership.

Further insights and real examples are available at: www.ibm.com/artificial-intelligence

Students are encouraged to draw on credible external sources relating to:
• The energy use and carbon impact of AI and large language models
• Cloud and infrastructure sustainability
• ESG-driven procurement and buying decision frameworks.
For example:
• Adobe: Powering Digital Experiences with Sustainability
• MIT News: Explained: Generative AI’s environmental

Mintel research pack

Here you’ll find a range of market research resources developed by Mintel. If you wish to use the resources, you will need to ensure the source is clearly referenced in your bibliography.