{"id":13505,"date":"2025-05-16T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/?p=13505"},"modified":"2025-05-14T13:45:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T17:45:37","slug":"teamwork-made-my-day-pitch-perfect-my-first-pitching-experience-at-the-2025-prsa-la-western-district-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/teamwork-made-my-day-pitch-perfect-my-first-pitching-experience-at-the-2025-prsa-la-western-district-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Teamwork Made My Day \u201cPitch Perfect\u201d: My First Pitching Experience at the 2025 PRSA-LA Western District Conference\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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As a graduating senior at my first PRSA c\u200bonference, I experienced many activities. I took advice from industry professionals on maintaining relationships. I gained insight on building friendships from the co-founder of Allison Worldwide, Scott Pansky, in his \u201cPlaying Together in the Sandbox\u201d story. I networked with industry professionals and students on the 21st floor of the Sheraton Universal Hotel. Even though they were all amazing experiences, my day wouldn\u2019t have been \u201cpitch perfect\u201d without my \u201cHoney Roasted\u201d team.  <\/p>\n\n\n

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Each student was assigned to a random table, each named after a Wonderful Pistachio flavor \u2014 I got \u201cHoney Roasted.\u201d After seven students from different Southern California universities sat around the table, we bonded over becoming aspiring PR professionals. Then, Emma Galloway, co-president of CSUN PRSSA, welcomed Melissa England, senior director of consumer public relations \u200bat \u200bThe Wonderful Company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After introducing the company, England announced that students would get to craft the perfect pitch for the Wonderful Pistachios\u2019 new flavor launching in the \u200b\u200b\u200bs\u200bpring.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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We were only given one hour to make our campaign and three minutes to pitch it to her and three other judges from The Wonderful Company. To land a place in the top three, each group had to create a campaign with the goal of driving awareness, conversation\u200b,<\/s>\u200b and sales for their new flavor among Gen Z and millennials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the timer started ticking, several thoughts raced in my mind: Will we get along? Will we successfully craft the perfect pitch? Will we pitch well in front of so many people? My worries came to a halt when a member chimed in with her structured plan of delegating tasks to two teams of four. One team would focus on the company\u2019s social media SWOTs (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and <\/s>threats), and the other team would focus on researching the company\u2019s previous campaigns. Then,<\/s> we each shared ideas like partnering with different influencers and brands and promoting at different pop-up event locations. Finally,<\/s> we got a few tips from the judges for our campaign,<\/s> such as focusing on our objective and keeping the brand\u2019s mission in mind.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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Despite our great teamwork, we naturally faced several challenges planning the campaign. One challenge was figuring out our theme. We went back and forth with ideas until we decided on mine, which was a slogan that captured their new flavor\u2019s character and nutritional value. Another challenge was setting a realistic goal. We ideally thought of increasing audience engagement by 30% on The Wonderful Company\u2019s social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. However, we reduced our goal to 15% as the results would be tangible within three months of the product launch. Our main challenge was focusing on our strategies and tactics. W\u200bhen w\u200be would focus our energy on irrelevant strategies that strayed us away from our objective\u200b, \u200b\u200bone of o\u200bur team member\u200bs\u200b \u200bwould bring\u200b\u200b us back into reality\u200b.\u200b W\u200be \u200bfocused\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b on\u200b what we could\u200b do \u200b\u2014 structuring our presentation and assigning speaking parts \u2014 in the last 15 minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ding! The alarm goes off. \u201cTime\u2019s up!\u201d England shouts through the microphone. We submitted our presentation and sighed with relief until one of the judges shuffled their hand in a box to randomly pick a team. Then they announced, \u201cHoney Roasted team. You\u2019re first!\u201d I took a deep breath and headed toward the stage with my team.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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My heart was \u200bthumping\u200b\u200b fast as I walked up to the stage past the judges, and my darting eyes quickly scanned the room for a wall until they softened when I looked at my team\u200b,\u200b brimming with nervousness and confidence. They felt the same way I did, and I was assured that we could pitch in front of 66 PRSSA students and four judges. As soon as we started talking, we confidently pitched our campaign. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200b\u200bAfter everyone finished pitching their campaigns, the judges left the room to determine the winners. They came back in and announced the top three. Third place went to the \u201cRoasted & Salted\u201d team. Then, second place went to\u200b \u2026\u200b\u200b the\u200b\u200b\u200b \u201cHoney Roasted\u201d \u200bt\u200beam! First place went to the \u201cSea Salt & Vinegar\u201d \u200bt\u200beam. We were all shocked. We couldn\u2019t believe it. We celebrated and cheered to our perfect pitch.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a clich\u00e9, yet it is true: Teamwork makes the dream work. In the world of PR, teams are essential in creating a successful campaign. The challenges our team faced and the strengths we utilized highlight\u200b the significance of teamwork. Teamwork is a work in progress. You learn each other\u2019s strengths and weaknesses. We clash with our different ideas and opinions. But that is the beauty of teamwork, and new friendships may also blossom. Teamwork is not the end of pitching but the start of crafting the perfect pitch.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Melissa Aragones (she\/her\/hers) is a senior at California State University, Northridge, who will graduate in May as a communication studies major. She currently works as a social media manager and peer coach for the Mike Curb College\u2019s Peer Coaching Program and is a member of CSUN PRSSA. In her free time, she enjoys watching K-dramas with her mom and doing Pilates. You can connect with her on LinkedIn<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a graduating senior at my first PRSA c\u200bonference, I experienced many activities. I took advice from industry professionals on maintaining relationships. I gained insight on building friendships from the co-founder of Allison Worldwide, Scott Pansky, in his \u201cPlaying Together in the Sandbox\u201d story. I networked with industry professionals and students on the 21st floor of the Sheraton Universal Hotel. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":13506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[169,14],"tags":[3839],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13505"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13505"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13516,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13505\/revisions\/13516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}