Context: A business “X” comes into our class and asks us to pitch ideas they can use, and the winners get money. Their social media page is small and has a low follower count for a business. They also mentioned that they would implement the winning idea to their business. The problem that they wanted us to solve was that they wanted to spread awareness and education about CBD products but they cannot use paid advertisements on social media due to restrictions on that topic. We get split into 4 teams. Our team and another team, Team B, decided to target the problem and find a solution to their social media issue. Team C and D came up with ideas that would spread awareness and education. Team D ended up winning 1st place and Team C got second place and both teams got cash.

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Here is what our pitched ideas were:

Our Team: Affiliate marketing to bypass the social media issue, 0 upfront cost with opportunities to increase revenue.

Team B: Collecting testimonials and having them posted on reviews of the product.

Team C: pay $30,000 to build a learning app about this product, unknown ROI, does not talk about how they would market the app.

Team D: Promoting the brand through elderly homes, this business’s target customers are 25-45-year-olds btw and it’s listed on the paper that they gave us.

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I understand somewhat why my team didn’t win, I was nervous presenting and my presentation could have been revised a few times. But I don’t understand how the other team got 1st and 2nd place even though their presentation was only minimally better.

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What I don’t understand is that as a business, your lifeline is revenue. Our team and Team B addressed the issue allowing them to advertise without getting taken down by Instagram and Facebook. While the other team never addressed the business aspect of their idea. They did say that they will be implementing the 1st place and 2nd place ideas to their business. I just think that having to invest $30k on a learning app(Team C), without knowing how it would generate revenue, don’t know if people will even download the app is not a very smart move. The target customers that they have are 25-45-year-olds but they think that promoting their brand in local nursing homes via posters, etc. is not only a good idea, but even better than affiliate marketing or getting testimonials. If they implement the $30k app idea or nursing home idea, they stand no chance against their competitors. I think that the owners had a lot of passion for the product which is why they probably picked Team C and D. But from the point of view of a business, this is probably one of the worst decisions I ever heard of.