Need marketing experience? Read on...

In today’s age no matter what job you apply for it seems as if there is one key requirement to getting hired – previous experience.

It’s a fairly reasonable request, but for graduates who are fresh out of university it poses a slight dilemma, how do you get that experience when nobody will hire you because you don’t have any?

The IDM Student Competition gives students the chance to get that valuable experience which employers so desperately seek. The priceless, hands-on challenge requires students to setup their own agency, get stuck into a real-life marketing brief and pitch their campaigns to a real-life client.

Last year’s brief was set by The Beans Group, the youth media company behind StudentBeans. Students were asked to create a marketing strategy to build online engagement for the recently launched mobile app, Student Beans iD.

Over 100 entries were submitted from some of the UK’s top universities but the winning campaign came from ‘Team Focus’, a 4-strong team of students from Greenwich University. You can view their winning entry here.

It has now been over 15 years since the competition was first launched. Students are invited to work together on an exciting brief which covers all aspects of direct, data and digital marketing. There is also the chance that if the client likes what’s being presented to them they will use it in a live campaign- how good would that look on a CV?!

Clients aren’t the only ones who recognise what a valuable experience the competition is. Marketing lecturers use it as part of their teaching syllabus due to it being as close as students can get to working on a client brief in real life. It enables students to put their marketing knowledge into practice and gain a proper insight into the business and marketing world before it becomes their reality.

This year’s competition is sponsored by Virgin Money Giving. Students will be given the task of creating a marketing communications plan that explores how Virgin Money Giving can grow as a business over the next three years. You can read the competition brief in full here.

Entries will be judged by a panel of marketing professionals and the highest scoring finalists will be invited to present their ideas in a live pitch which takes place in Central London. Shortly after, they will join a gala networking reception with some of marketing’s top VIPs where winners are announced and prizes given. Take a peek at what happened last year here.

Prizes will be awarded to the winning business school as well as the winning team members. This year’s prizes include an invitation to an exclusive dinner with senior executives from Virgin Money, the chance to win work experience with Virgin Money and one of their agencies and a £1500 team cash prize.

The widely recognised competition gives students a taste of what it’s really like to work in marketing. It provides an experience that will stand out to employers on a CV and prepares them for their future marketing careers. The best part? It’s all for free!

Find out more – www.theidm.com/studentcomp