Some say everyone loses in a creative pitch - not true
It's coming up to my ten-year pitchiversary and in that time, I've seen a shift from genuine excitement at a new business brief landing to a "Ditch the Pitch" battle cry from senior leaders across the globe. Barrie Sepping's claim that 'Everyone Loses in a Creative Pitch' naturally caught my eye…
Key points
- The Numbers: the average pitch costs participants $5000, requires six different people and takes 80 hours to produce
- The Rise of the 'Bottom Drawer': marketers favour agencies with deep, recent experience in their industry/market, so the volume of unsold or cancelled campaigns builds, as does the desire to re-use them to recoup costs
- Biggest Bugbears: brief specs shift, fake pitches are designed to give the incumbent a wake-up call, budgets are overstated, ideas get "borrowed" and agencies are ghosted (a third of respondents were not informed of the result of their last pitch)
- Suggested Solutions: a small, standardised pitch fee to cover costs, set head hours/budget allocations and agreed criteria, i.e. 'have they done it before, is the work any good, what are they like to work with and how much do they cost?'
I admit that working on new business can be exhausting. More often than not, it requires long[er] hours, a thick skin and an uncanny ability to navigate big egos.
Sepping highlights many of the pitfalls that pitchers can experience. Clients who demand a "perfect-fit" team get particularly short shrift. Now, I can't deny that some chemistry meetings I've attended have been more nerve-wracking than first dates, but I don't think the best solution is to ask everyone involved to get inside an escape room.
Sepping's other solutions sound great in theory but, again, are too simplistic in practice. A fee would be welcomed by most agency leaders but how much is the right amount? Enough to prove there's skin in the game, but not so much that clients are put off and stay where they are?
Setting a time limit is another worthwhile consideration. But, if it's too short, how do we find people who are ready to work together, have deep business and market context and thoroughly understand the [new] brand? If it's too long, could we lose momentum, start second-guessing ourselves and trip at the finish line?
The current pitch process is far from perfect and fake pitches, changing goalposts and IP theft are all red flags that should alert agencies to pull the pin. But to put a blanket ban on all pitches would mean losing an awful lot. As a natural optimist, I think sometimes it's worth focusing on the positives.
I love pitching. I love working with new people, I love the camaraderie a tight deadline creates, and I love the thrill of going into a room to present ideas you are genuinely proud of. I don't want to lose all of that because of a few bad apples.
