Welcome to The Pitch, an exciting live competition of fourth-year Public Relations students at the University of Guelph-Humber. Students have created their own PR agencies and will apply the knowledge they have accumulated over four years to flex their strategic and creative muscles for one of four clients. For most of these students, The Pitch will be the final assignment of their undergraduate university careers.

Teams have spent the entire term carefully developing COVID-response PR Plans to help solve real business challenges for high-profile clients. In January each client issued their challenge, and on March 23, 2021 students will pitch companies live in front of an audience of students, faculty and curious industry onlookers from across Canada.

In 2021, communication has become more essential than ever, as organizations from multinational companies to non-profits are struggling to adapt and survive this challenging COVID-19 pandemic. Trust is the new business currency and every organization’s most valuable asset. Student plans are focused on earning public trust and protecting reputations while advancing their client’s strategic objectives.

In The Pitch competition, two teams will compete for the business of each of the following clients:

CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health)
Coca-Cola Canada Bottling
Sobeys
Sunwing

The winning pitch team with each client will claim bragging rights, be profiled online, earn a higher grade and impress potential employers, who are always on the hunt for emerging talent.

Expectations are high and students realize that this final project will be a shining example of their capabilities and the highlight of their portfolios to impress employers and help them launch their careers after graduation.

In addition to having their PR plans and presentations evaluated by their Professor, clients will be grading the teams on a 10-point scale for their 15-page detailed plans and 10 points for their presentations. The team with the highest combined score out of 20 will win.

Following the competition, the hope is that these ideas will actually be utilized by the clients, to help them earn trust, effectively communicate to their key audiences, grow their business, and strengthen their reputation during these precarious times.

The Pitch will test each student’s ability to collaborate, demonstrate how well they understood their client and apply research, analysis, critical thinking, persuasive writing and presentation skills to solve real business problems.

The three components of the assignment are a briefing document where students will demonstrate their research and business analysis skills. Then they will create a PR Plan that aligns with industry best practices and then finally the pitch presentation itself where students will have 30-minutes to share their brilliant ideas and respond to tough client questions to try and win the account.