#pitch presentation

I just want to ask. How are you? How are we feeling for having come so far? I will be honest here, it is a little touching that we’re seeing the end of this wild adventure on IMC. We’ve covered so many points regarding how to conduct a successful IMC campaign.

When I first started taking business in college, I wasn’t sure what the program would be able to inspire me. I thought business was plain and boring, and had to do with lots of numbers. Sure, as marketers, we still have to deal with numbers every day, but I would like to think that a successful marketing campaign consists of both refreshing creativity and data-supported numbers and statistics. In the realm of business and reality, money (and budgeting) is just far too critical to ignore. This is where we as marketers have to stay grounded when we come up with all sorts of fascinating ideas.

For this final blog post, we’ll look into the aspects of how to deliver a good pitch presentation. At the end of the day, marketers will have to present their BIG IDEAS to people with the capital to invest in these ideas. We are going to cover two major tips I figured out myself when I was preparing for my presentation the other week, hopefully, they’ll prove to be useful for everyone in the future.

First and foremost, you must know your target market inside out.

Research and data collection are sure to bring us insight into how our target markets behave and act. It is the most basic and the very first step to understanding our target market. I am going to take the pitch presentation I recently did for my marketing class as an example. 

My group discussed heavily on the idea beforehand to make sure everyone was on the same page. I think this is extremely important because it can genuinely help each teammate prepare their individual parts at a better level of understanding. I think it is completely fair that each teammate focuses on different parts of the presentation since there are just so many points we have to talk about during the whole pitch. However, having everyone know what is happening exactly opens room for new perspectives, ensuring no stone is left unturned. It helps the team refine the BIG IDEA and allows the team to dive deeper in case there are any unreasonable concepts or objectives. 

I think it is understandable that sometimes we are not completely certain with numbers and we are often left to make educated estimations. On one hand, we want to be logical with our budgeting and projected returns. On the other hand, we also want to be realistically optimistic about the BIG IDEA. If one is unsure of the BIG IDEA in the first place, how is one going to confidently sell the concept to investors and prospectors? How is one going to convince others that their idea is a good one?

Okay, we talked about being confident and thorough with the preparation and brainstorming stage. What about understanding the target market? How does it actually help?

When we reach the stage of complete understanding of our target market, we can shape the tone and energy of the pitch presentation to match the target market. It goes to show that those who come up with the BIG IDEA truly know the wants and needs of the target market well enough to think from their perspective; to consider what they care for; and to provide tailor-made solutions with their best interest in mind. 

Taking the same example, the pitch presentation for my team is for the McDelivery app targeting GenZ gamers. When we think of GenZ, we think of adolescents and young adults. We think of middle schoolers, high schoolers, and university students. We think of young adults who are just kick-starting their career paths. They are a vibrant group with all sorts of interests and personalities. They care about individuality and societal issues. They are attuned to rapid technological advancements and are open to solutions that make their lives easier and more convenient, so they can make time for their hobbies and personal projects. When we think of gamers, we think of video games and entertainment. We think of action games, roleplaying games, puzzle games, horror games, comedy games, cooperative games, competitive games, cozy games, etc. There are so many genres in the market, and it is not a simple task to target all gamers. With a budget in mind, our team narrowed it down to a popular battle royale game in the market for a collaboration campaign. It is competitive and well-known across North America with a stable and large player base. Our team spent time researching the psychology and behavior of gamers who play competitive video games. We finally decided on the tone to be upbeat, energetic, and casual. This leads me to my next big tip.

Knowing the target market and the client should be the key to formulating the delivery format of the pitch presentation. We as marketers want to be close to our target market. We want to be a part of them and make them feel that we do understand their needs and wants. We want them to know that we have just the perfect solutions to their problems. For my team, we brought props to the presentation. We had headsets and console controllers. We had a TikTok video and a live demonstration to reflect how our target audience acts and thinks. We showed that we knew the target market’s priorities and passions. 

I would like to humbly point out that roleplaying in a presentation takes quite some confidence and it may not be for everyone. Rehearsing with the whole team helps, but individual practicing is critical. The more we practice and the more hands-on we are with the group’s whole research and brainstorming process can be very helpful. It can get us to the point where cue cards are not necessary. We can freely move around the stage instead of rigidly standing next to the slides and reciting the script. (If it can be helped, I do suggest memorizing key ideas and terms in place of the script itself. It gives room for improvising on the spot and reduces stammering when we forget the next exact line.)

I do not think there is any standardized answer to how to prepare the perfect pitch presentation, but I think the two tips I leave here with you all today are worth considering and adopting for anyone who is planning for some kind of pitch presentation.

It’s been a wild journey finally practicing what I’ve learned in class in the past few years. Thank you for joining in on this ride fellow adventurers. I hope all your future marketing campaigns run smoothly and successfully. The rocks and bumps on the way are lessons to be learned, and for my final tip of this blog:

NEVER STOP LEARNING.

for yesterdays lesson of creative collaboration, each group gave a presentation on thier idea. The groups were split into game development, who's projects consisted of virtual reality experiences, and the animators. Of which my group, group 3, was a part of.

The other animator groups were doing ideas around sculpture. With two groups coincidentaly creating sculptures shaped like fish that were made from plastic.

Our group was the last to present. As we were all busy with other projects during the previous week and were getting used to collaborating and communicating via whatsapp it was a bit stressful pooling our ideas together for the contents of the slides.

Making this powerpoint while having such limited communication with my team, on short notice, felt a little chaotic but ultimately we were able to produce what was needed.

Included in our presentation were picture references of polar bears in their natural environment, photos of the artic, our stylistic inspirations such as the animation/drawings of chuck jones and photos showing the effects of ocean pollution on wildlife. There was also a slide of character concept art created by Dennis of our main polar bear character.

To accompany the presentation, I wrote a script to memorise some of the main points of the pitch. Even though I didn't read this script word for word, only using it as a guide, I was able to communicate the information and tone of the project well. The respnse was very positive.

After the pitch, Dennis, Hung and I met and finallise our main roles in the project:

I will act as writer, editing a draft 2 of the animation script made by Hung

Dennis will be the conceptual artist and animator. Providing character and background designs, storyboards and animation.

Hung will be the editor of the film, putting the animation clips together and giving it titles and credits as well as sound design. I would also credit him as a writer, as he wrote the first draft of the films script.