VCCP and OLIVER partner with The King’s Trust to further The Challenger Academy’s mission to empower young talent

• The partnership will see VCCP and OLIVER support students across Staffordshire and Nottingham to create a national advertising campaign for The King’s Trust, gaining hands-on experience and the confidence to navigate their next steps
• The initiative comes at a time where growing uncertainty exists amongst many young people when transitioning from education into work, training or their next chapter

Today, creative industries educational charity The Challenger Academy, global integrated agency VCCP, and global in-house marketing transformation company, OLIVER, have announced a new partnership with The King’s Trust for this year’s ‘Biggest Pitch of the Year’ – giving young people across Staffordshire and Nottingham the opportunity to create a brand campaign for the charity.

Now celebrating its 50th year, The King’s Trust helps young people build the confidence, skills and opportunities they need to move into work, education or training. Its support includes one-to-one mentoring, hands-on skills training and employability courses, connections with industry experts and employers, and a non-judgmental environment where young people can build confidence at their own pace.

The programme will challenge students to develop a social-first campaign encouraging young people to use The King’s Trust to help them figure out their next step. The brief responds to the uncertainty many young people experience when transitioning from education into work, training or their next chapter, and asks students to create ideas that make their peers feel understood, supported and optimistic about their future.

The Biggest Pitch of the Year builds on the success of The Challenger Academy and VCCP’s programme in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, while continuing its expansion into Nottingham with the help of OLIVER. This eight-week crash course in advertising provides students with mentorship from agency professionals across research, ideation, and campaign production. OLIVER will once again partner with Bilborough College in Nottingham to mentor their students. Meanwhile VCCP will collaborate again with Stoke-on-Trent College, Stoke Sixth Form College, NSCG Newcastle (Under-Lyme) and NSCG Stafford. 

Since its launch in 2021, the Biggest Pitch of the Year programme (formerly the ‘Intercity Student Challenge’) has grown from working with one college to five, has engaged over 350 students and has delivered more than 12,000 hours of work experience.

The programme kicks off in Nottingham on 7th October, followed by Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire in the week commencing 12th October. Over the following weeks, students will experience the process that creative agencies go through to develop campaigns for leading brands and organisations, working through research, strategy, creative development and production with support from industry professionals.

Students will first research the experiences of 16-25 year olds, exploring the pressures young people face during moments of transition, how they use social media and what types of content they trust and engage with. They will then use these insights to develop a social-first campaign for The King’s Trust, including a big creative idea, campaign line or slogan, examples of social content and a clear call to action.

The programme will culminate in semi-finals in the week commencing 7th December, when The King’s Trust, OLIVER and VCCP will select a winning team from each participating college. Those teams will then go head-to-head at the grand finals in London in March 2027, competing for the opportunity to see their creative vision brought to life in a real-world campaign.

Following the final pitch, the winning team will collaborate with The King’s Trust to refine and adapt their campaign, ensuring it aligns with the organisation’s brand voice, strategic goals and production guidelines ahead of its public launch.

The brief asks students to challenge the idea that young people need to have their futures figured out, exploring messages around there being no single path to success, the value of taking small steps and the reassurance that young people are not falling behind.

Ian Baxter-Crawford, Head of Youth Marketing at The King’s Trust, said: “Talent is everywhere, but opportunity isn’t always equal. That’s why The King’s Trust is proud to support The Biggest Pitch of the Year, giving young people the chance to build confidence, develop real-world skills and show the power of their creativity. The best ideas come from young people themselves, and we can’t wait to see the fresh perspectives and bold thinking they bring to this challenge.”

Michael Lee, Chief Strategy Officer at VCCP and Co-Founder of The Challenger Academy, said: “The Biggest Pitch of the Year is about giving young people access to the kind of creative experience and industry connections that can be difficult to find at the start of their careers. This year’s partnership with The King’s Trust gives students the opportunity to tackle a genuinely important issue for their generation, while showing what they can achieve when given a real brief, real responsibility and the support of experienced creatives.”

Nick Myers, UK Chief Strategy Officer at OLIVER, said: “The Biggest Pitch of the Year gives young people the opportunity to stop being the audience and become the authors, experiencing what it is really like to work on a live creative challenge. Partnering with The King’s Trust makes this year’s brief particularly meaningful, because the students will be developing social-first ideas aimed at helping people their own age navigate a period of uncertainty. We’re looking forward to seeing the insight, creativity and fresh perspectives they bring to the challenge.”

The 2026/27 programme comes at a pivotal time for young people navigating the transition from education into employment, training or further study. By placing students at the centre of a real creative brief, The Challenger Academy, VCCP, OLIVER and The King’s Trust aim to provide practical experience, industry exposure and an opportunity for young people to demonstrate their creative potential.

The Biggest Pitch of the Year programme will continue to bring together education, the creative industries and brand partners to create meaningful pathways for young talent, while giving participating students the opportunity to build confidence, develop industry skills and work on a campaign with the potential to reach a national audience.

Source: VCCP

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