Marketing Challenge

The DMA Talent Marketing Challenge gives aspiring marketers a taste of what it's like to work on a real-life marketing brief.

Who can enter?

• Any student who is up for a challenge!
• You don't have to be studying marketing - the challenge is open to students at any stage of any course.
• You must enter as part of a team, made up of between three and six people.

Why enter?

This is your chance to work on a real-life brief and win an industry recognised award that’ll set you apart from your peers.

It pushes you to think outside the box and apply your academic knowledge to a brief from the real marketing world, outside of university or college.

Each member of the winning team will also be able to select a DMA Award of their choice to enrol in, accredited by the Institute of Data and Marketing (IDM). This provides them with the opportunity to complete a professional qualifaication recognised across the marketing industry.

The brief

The brief for 2025’s Marketing Challenge, which will be set by a well-known brand, will be released soon.

To know when it is and to be kept up to date with everything going on at DMA Talent, click here to get all our latest news and upcoming opportunities delivered directly to your inbox.

What happens once you enter?

Once you submit your entry, a preliminary round of judging will take place by the DMA Talent Team, and a shortlist will be selected of around ten teams.

This shortlist will then be judged by a panel of industry experts, with between three and five teams being invited to pitch their entries to the client, where a winner will be selected.

Past brands who have provided the challenge brief include Instagram, KFC, BMW, Nestle, Toyota, Royal Mail, The Economist, T-Mobile, Whyte & Mackay, ScotRail and Guinness.

Resources to help you smash your entry

Segmentation. It is an essential step in responding to a brief. Watch Scott Logie explain how to ace your segmentation here.

How do you start and grow your creative idea? Watch Cordell Burke, explain how here.

Universities can use the Marketing Challenge as their Assesment

At Northumbria we have utilised the DMA Marketing Challenge for over twenty years. We currently integrate the case at both undergraduate (final year) and postgraduate levels as an assessment on digital and data driven marketing modules. As the case each year requires students to act as an agency and develop a detailed communications plan. It serves as an ideal capstone assessment which brings together much of their prior learning on everything from segmentation and targeting to creative strategy and budgeting.

We find that the case stretches students’ ability to work as a team and combine some of the more glamorous aspects of marketing with the critical operational aspects such as objective setting, metrics and testing. Each year the submissions students make impress us and the competition judges have often commented how the submissions are on a par with what they have seen from actual agencies.

Many of our graduates use their experience on this case study as a key pillar in your job hunt and I have seen first hand how it has helps them get their first marketing job and hit the ground running. Combining this with undertaking the DMA Professional Certificate is a package that gives marketing graduates a real edge in a competitive employment space.

- David Hart, Associate Professor in Marketing, Northumbria University

Past Briefs

ScotRail's brief challenged teams to come up with a 12-month integrated marketing campaign that combines people’s new found love of cycling during lockdown with using the train to travel for work or college or in their leisure time. You can have a look at the brief here.

DigiConnect, formed of four students from Bournemouth University, were crowned winners with their outstanding response to the brief. Take a look at their marketing campaign plan and video to get some inspiration for you entry.

Past Winners

We caught up with winners GEMM Agency from the University of Greenwich, to find out what opportunities the challenge has created for them and why you should enter. Find out what they had to say by here.

Want more information about the competition? Please email dmatalent@dma.org.uk.

Want to be kept up to date with everything DMA Talent? Click here to get all our latest news and upcoming opportunities delivered directly to your inbox to ensure you never miss an event or application deadline.

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Become a DMA Student Member

Being a Student Member shows employers you’re committed to your professional development and that you’re actively seeking to improve your skill set, making you stand out from your peers.

For just £3.75 a month you’ll:

• Get everything you need to jump out from the crowd and shine as a job applicant.
• Get free access to the Award in GDPR (usually £594), giving you all the knowledge you need to be a responsible marketer, a key attribute looked for by employers.
• Get free access to the Award in Marketing (Usually £594), complementing your learning with industry practitioner led, up to date knowledge.​
• Professionalise your marketing knowledge with real-life learning through a library of DMA Award-winning campaign case studies, best practice guides, articles and webinars, curated by DMA's community of award-winning industry professionals.
• Build your network via events & programmes led by top industry professionals, connecting you with DMA's community of business-leading professionals who are ready to help you on your career journey.
• Earn CPD points for every piece of content you look at. Hit 35 for the year, and you'll recieve your CPD certificate.

Discover all of Student Memberships benefits and become one here