Sorin Patilinet, Mars’ Senior Director of Consumer Insights, outlined the brief by saying that they were keen to hear from start-ups who are using innovation to glean key and new insights that they were currently missing. Key to the brief, was the idea that the insights they would potentially gain, would be long-term. 

Dig In will now have the opportunity to scale their business with Mars through a £20K pilot pitch. 

Dig In’s solution was based on their already existing and impressive engagement with the UK’s half a million strong university student population. 

Dig In CEO Christopher Platt explained: “If you're under 25 years old, you may well know who Dig In is already. That's because what we do is we provide welcome boxes, we provide a conduit between brands that want to reach students.”

We added: “If we're talking about future proofing your consumer insights, then I would say, why not continue to make sure you've got a continual reach of the brains and thoughts and decisions that are being made by new entrants into the economy year after year after year. They not just 'students', they are brand new entrants into the economy with low or no habitual brand preferences for brands to overcome.”

Most of the insights Dig In can excavate are done via the Dig In app. The App is essentially a gamified serving tool. In its first year Dig In put out their first survey to check in the ROI of the sampling activity. 104,000 students responded to a 25 question survey. Meaning they ended up with an average of 110 different data points per question - marketing gold dust.

Speaking of the winning pitch, Patilinet said: “I truly believe that product is the best form of advertising. So I think you're bringing advertising in the box, which is great. I love the solution. And I think it's a potential start of a long conversation with those new audiences. The online platform that those students can then follow up to basically get deep dive research insights is what we are looking for.”

You can watch all the MAD//Fest London action including the PITCH//IT sessions from on our YouTube channel. Just select the ‘House of Innovation’ playlist for each day to catch all of the pitches.