The Big Pitch
The NRF Foundation collaborated with STORY and KPMG for the 2018 Student Challenge Competition - The BIG Pitch. Nearly 30 teams from NRF member schools selected one of the following sponsors to focus on: 3M, CVS, or Staples. They were tasked with finding two to four of the smartest, most creative people they knew to create a 25-page pitch presentation and 90-second pitch video to convince the Chief Marketing Officer of 3M, CVS, or Staples to select their STORY.
Each team was assigned a KPMG mentor; after an intense round of judging, 8 teams advanced to the semi-finals, which include Q+A calls with a panel of retail executives. Three teams moved on to the finals where they presented live to retail executives at Retail’s BIG Show Student Program.
The Scholarships
Each student on the top team from Columbia College Chicago - Staples received a $5,000 scholarship; students on the runner-up team from Columbia College Chicago - 3M received a $2,500 scholarship, and third place team members from the University of Pennsylvania each earned a $1,500 scholarship. The top team was named during the NRF Foundation Gala on Sunday, January 14, in New York.
Columbia College Chicago - Staples
Ashley Cairns, Blake Fortin, and Kendall McDermott
STORY Sponsor: Staples
KPMG Mentor: Leila Shin
Columbia College Chicago - 3M
Allison Coppedge, Sara Diaz de Villegas, Nathan Procell, Lane Hedler
STORY Sponsor: 3M
KPMG Mentor: Leila Shin
University of Pennsylvania
Anita Mo, Kelsey Serraneau, Walter Little
STORY Sponsor: 3M
KPMG Mentor: Brett Benner
Semi-finalists
Participating schools
As each member university could sponsor two teams, 24 teams from 19 schools participated this year. The creativity and hard work demonstrated by all of the teams made it extremely difficult to select only 8 semi-finalists. Congratulations to all of the teams on their creativity in bringing their ideas for 3M, CVS, or Staples to life:
Bradley University, Butler University, Columbia College Chicago, Drexel University, Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Fashion Institute of Technology, Florida State University, Georgia Southern University, Indiana University, Iowa State University, Lasell College, LIM College, Meredith College, Texas State University - San Marcos, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of North Texas, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Wisconsin - Madison.