Would you pay your marcom team to play a game? How about if it boosted their creativity and made them a more collaborative team.
Pitch Me is a game that’s great for inspiring fresh thinking, creative marketing concepts, and new ways to stretch your marketing dollar.
The game is quite simple. There are 4 envelopes, each with a label: Channel, Budget, Target Market and Offering. Each of these envelopes contains 10-12 cards. Each team draws one card from each envelope to create a fictitious marcom “client,” a business leader (role-played by one or more judges) looking to take their solution to a specific target market, through a specified channel and with a defined budget. It’s the team’s job to craft a pitch to present to the “client” in order to win their business. Teams are given 15-30 minutes to work up their pitch (sketch boards, graphics, jingles, ad copy, dance routines, whatever), then they get 5 minutes to pitch their marketing plan, Shark Tank style. If you have 7 of fewer folks in your marcom team they should all work as one team. 8 or more and you should break them into teams of 4-7 members each.
Judges can use whatever criteria they like (funniest, best crafted, most likely to succeed, most comprehensive, etc.). The main goal is to let the creative juices run wind and free for a bit, have some fun and step up collaboration within your marcom department. I’ve definitely seen this game bring out hidden talents in teams. Even teams that have been working together for years. Also, I’m sure it comes as no surprise to many of you, but the most creative ideas I’ve seen in this game always come from teams that drew super low budgets.
I encourage you to create your own cards for the envelopes, but below are some ideas to get you started. [Thank you to PMG North Bay for the inspiration.] Have fun and please share your ideas for more cards.
Offerings:
Electric Scooter
Time Management Consultant
Ramen Restaurant
Handcrafted Gluten Free Paleo Bacon
A 13 Year-Old Who Created a Lawn-mowing Company
A Used Car Dealership
Premium Wine Club
Local Hot Sauce Company
Cat Groomer
Knitting Supplies
Mini Storage
Tiny Homes
Target Markets:
Travel Junkies
Teachers
Wellness Women
Millennials
20-Something Bros
Golfers
Hipsters
Business Execs
LGBT and Advocates
Football Fans
Over 65
Local Moms
Channels:
Print (Newspaper / Magazines)
TV and Streaming
Billboards (Physical Ad Placements)
Conferences
Radio
Advertisements Before the Movie
Public Relations
Storefront Marketing
Social Media
Sponsorships
Gorilla Marketing
Special Event
Budgets:
$0
$100
$500
$2,500
$10,000
$25,000
$100,000
$250,000
$1M
$5M
Trade
Revenue Split