Rising Stars Pitch Competition

During my time at Tech Nation, we were launching a new competition with a nationwide audience that would compete with the likes of Pitch at the Palace and Virgin Voom.

Previous competitions had been criticised for the lack of diversity of the winners, so this became the basis for our advertising approach.

• We removed language that felt excessively gladiatorial and masculine and focused on the idea of stepping up and being the next big thing

• We filmed a mix of real tech founders from a variety of different backgrounds, with very different companies in the launch video

• Each section/video was tied to local landmarks and well known areas to ensure that a national focus didn’t just feel like lip service

As well as main hero video, we also created a selection of shorts with regionally targeted messaging. Posters and flyers were also created and distributed to tech-focused co-working spaces across the country.

Around 20% of entries for the competition came from the advertising campaign. The programme easily conquered its diversity targets, with a selection of winners that truly represent the different types of people running innovative startup companies in UK tech.