Pitch Lab 2026 - Redefining the Industry Pitch

Photo credit: Stephanie Kalber Photography

By Becca Carles, Chief Commercial Officer (Media, Content & Events), Bluestripe Group

Last Thursday, after months of planning, we finally launched "Pitch Lab," our brand-new, Dragons' Den-style pitching event, and honestly? It was a complete success. We welcomed around 40 brilliant industry professionals to The Century Club in Soho for a full day of non-stop networking.

10 independent agency judges. 10 company vendor partners. 100 one-to-one meetings that set the stage for some incredible new business.

If you remember our old "Soho Sessions," consider Pitch Lab the bigger, better, and seriously enhanced version.

Our goal with Pitch Lab is incredibly simple: to cut through the noise and connect leading vendors directly with the key decision-makers at independent agencies. 

We all know independent agencies are on the rise (deservedly so), and companies are finally realising the massive benefits of working with them.

For the agencies, this is gold. Instead of wading through an inbox full of endless, cold-pitching emails, they got to meet and learn about a variety of companies in a single, focused day. 

So how did the day work?

The Pitch: Our partners got seven minutes with each agency. It was a concise, get-to-the-point introduction to their offering and how they could genuinely help the agencies.

The One-to-One: This was followed by a more relaxed 15-minute meeting. This longer slot allowed everyone to discuss specific challenges, brainstorm tailored solutions, and, most crucially, assess the chemistry for a potential long-term partnership.

With structured meetings, a great catered lunch, a mountain of Lindt chocolates, and a strange obsession with pineapple juice, which kept flowing! The day was the perfect blend of serious professional conversations and relaxed networking time. It was a recipe for making authentic connections.

The event sold out quickly, which only confirms what I think we've known all along: the key to a successful event is often to keep things simple and get back to basics. At the end of the day, our industry still thrives on real, face-to-face connections.

There’s a lot of debate around the value of industry events, but our full-day format made a powerful statement: the absolute best way to generate new business is still good old-fashioned conversation.

Everyone we spoke to left with new meetings scheduled, strong leads, and, most importantly, new connections.

While we'll see the full outcome and impact of Pitch Lab over the next few months, the initial buzz confirms it: focused pitching events are a strong industry staple, and they’re definitely here to stay.