Love is a 4-Letter-Word: Students nail pitch to professional industry heavyweight Channel 4

Love was on the hearts and minds of a team of final-year students, as they headed down to Channel 4’s London Headquarters to lead the biggest pitch of their careers to date – all on their very last day of term at the University of Northampton.

More than 30 final-year Advertising and Digital Marketing students were set an industry challenge by the Channel 4 sales division – 4Sales – to create a ‘cultural moment’ which tackled representation of disabled people together with proposed brand partnerships.

The students were challenged to demonstrate understanding of Channel 4’s platforms, brand and tone of voice, as well as understanding the necessity of disability representation – a challenge they thrived on.

Their pitches were presented Dragons Den-style, in front of a board of representatives at Channel 4, including the Customer and Commercial Lead, Advertisement Bookers, Planner, Strategists, Researchers and their Disability Inclusion Lead.

They were grilled in the presentation hotseat about the creativity of their ideas, sensitivity with handling the topic, depth of research, and their ability to work as a team – all important skills within the professional world of marketing.

As the day came to a close, students were excited to hear the client confirm that two of the ideas were strong enough to be taken forward to air and have a good chance of featuring on Channel 4’s broadcasting platforms in 2024.

The winning pitch – fronted by students Tobias Sutton, Kelly Mdemu, Chahak Kawatra, Michael Olaleye and Hritisha Das – was called “Love is a 4-Letter Word” and proposed tackling taboos of love and sexuality for disabled people around Channel 4 shows First Dates, Undateables and Naked Attraction.

The team’s proposed commercial partners were Cadburys and Durex, and they brought the house down when they distributed merchandise samples of chocolate bars and branded condoms with four letter words on them, including a braille version.

This campaign won because it was “totally Channel 4.”

Kelly Mdemu reflected on her team’s winning pitch: “Presenting our campaign to the Channel 4 and 4Sales team was an incredible experience. They recognized and appreciated the immense effort our group dedicated to conceptualizing and delivering our campaign, which truly made the hard work worth it.

“Together, our team really hopes to see this campaign come to life, and to see its potential to create a meaningful and positive impact.”

Channel 4’s Customer and Commercial Leader, Amy Jenkins added: “The ideas the students presented were phenomenal and it was a heartening experience to see all the teams present with confidence, humour and grace.

“The Channel 4 representatives left the pitches beaming after seeing great collaboration and groundbreaking ideas between the 30 students.

“It’s extremely encouraging to recognise these students as our next generation of Advertising and Marketing professionals. If you’re on the search for the media and marketing professionals of tomorrow, you’d do well to consider the University of Northampton’s graduating Class of ‘23.”

Program Leader for Advertising & Digital Marketing, Kardi Somerfield finally reflected on the success of the pitches: “I’m incredibly proud of every one of our students who put their best foot forward and presented some absolutely fantastic work.

“Industry experiences such as this are incredibly important. They equip our students with real-world experiences, and give them valuable opportunity to flex the skills they’ve learnt throughout their past three years of study.

“These skills will be invaluable as they propel themselves into their chosen industry and lead our next generation of Advertising and Marketing professionals. Watch this space, because this won’t be the last we hear from our students!”

Find out more about studying Advertising and Digital Marketing at the University of Northampton.