5 tips for agencies on building your pipeline and winning pitches

Increasing competition. Marathon pitches. Smaller budgets. Those were just a few topics covered at the Mirren Live conference on Tuesday in New York. The conference convened during a time when new business executives have their hands full. There are pitches aplenty, but reviews seem to be getting longer despite accounts being smaller than in years past. Meanwhile, clients are looking for strategic partners that can bolster their efforts in nascent areas such as influencer marketing. Also: Seven reviews to know about this month Below, Ad Age lists five key tips and takeaways from the conference on building your pipeline and growing your business. Ad Age Small Agency Conference & Awards Join us July 23 & 24 in Boston Learn more here Give marketers specific solutions Marketers from the NFL, Crayola and Mastercard emphasized the importance of strong creativity and working with agencies that both challenge and surprise them. They also underscored that shops should truly understand their business and demonstrate how creative efforts tie into the company’s overarching strategy. “What we’re looking for is not service providers. We’re looking for partners,” said Victoria Lozano, executive VP, marketing at Crayola. “We’re looking for people who are going to creatively help solve some of the key issues that we have.” All of the marketers highlighted the importance of building trust with agency partners—a process sometimes made easier through consistent face-to-face interaction. To build a collaborative relationship, agencies should also drop the ego and focus less on selling themselves to clients, according to some of the marketers on stage. Asked about what they would do if they had to start their own agencies, some marketers mentioned the growing need for integration, especially as it relates to influencer marketing, which has risen in significance as brands chase the coveted Gen Z demographic. Read more: Inside the state of influencer marketing agencies “A lot of our most creative and impactful work is not the two-minute ads we’re running on the Super Bowl. It’s [more so] some of the creator stuff we’re doing,” said NFL Chief Marketing Officer Tim Ellis, pointing to the league’s recent collaboration with streamer Sketch, who announced a pick for the Houston Texans during the 2024 NFL Draft in April, as an example. @nfl #cadestover, what’s up brother ☝️ #sketch #houstontexans #nfldraft #nfl @Sketch ♬ original sound - NFL Cheryl Guerin, executive VP, global brand strategy and innovation at Mastercard, said she would “come up with a new concept” for business-to-business marketing, which she said is sometimes too focused on lower-funnel work. “The approach to B2B seems to be broken,” Guerin said. “I have to go to five different agencies to get what I need across the spectrum on B2B.” Recognize that not all growth is good Many agency executives bemoaned the general state of reviews, voicing frustration with clients’ deadlines, prolonged pitches and shrinking budgets. “I wish the whole industry would confidently say ‘no’ more often,” said Maggie Jennings, chief growth officer at Tombras, in a rallying cry met with applause from the audience. “No to contractual terms that make no sense. No to pitches that continue to go on and on and on. No to [working] on holidays.” Executives went back and forth on producing spec work, which can be expensive and require lots of manpower, despite often never seeing the light of day. Some agencies have even claimed to have clients appropriate their initial concept work. “When I learned about catch-and-kill stories, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s what [clients are] doing to my work.’ As in, if I accept this $25,000, now I can’t even repurpose this idea without you feeling like it’s yours,” said Chaucer Barnes, CMO at Translation, referring to potential clients. “I never want to take another dime for spec work.” A panel featuring new business chiefs ended with a call to consultants to kill the pitch and introduce agencies directly to clients. Lisa Colantuono, president at AAR Partners, said she is already speaking to a “very large marketing organization” about the process, but declined to name the group. Focus on building existing business Agency executives also discussed ways to expand organically. Laura Davis, co-chief client officer at Media.Monks, said she abides by a “land and expand” philosophy, and that the agency has implemented a KPI called “plus-one activity,” where it identifies room for growth, such as geographic expansion, with existing clients. “Each of our group account directors is accountable for their particular portfolio,” said Davis. “I look after 500 clients. We’re not expecting every one of those 500 clients [to expand, but] we have an identified list of 41 clients that we believe have that level of growth potential. Each of those is expected to have at least one ‘plus-one activity.’” During its quarterly business reviews with clients, Media.Monks not only analyzes its own performance, but also works with a strategist to bring forth potential topics to discuss, such as a cultural trend or a new capability—potentially opening the door for new growth opportunities. Know when to stop selling Bianca Guimaraes and Kevin Mulroy, executive creative directors and partners at Mischief @ No Fixed Address, explained the Ad Age 2024 Agency of the Year’s creative and strategic process, highlighting the power of catchy ideas. “Great [campaign] names do half the selling for you,” Mulroy said. When presenting provocative or risky ideas, it’s imperative to address potential concerns and hurdles before the client does, Guimaraes said. She added that, by doing so, agencies can begin to show clients that “we have as much to lose as they do.” One of the biggest lessons, according to Mulroy, is “don’t make ‘Jaws’ without the shark.” Mulroy emphasized that, if the client isn’t willing to buy into the core idea of the creative, it’s time to kill the idea and go back to the drawing board, however painful that may be. And, once you finally do “get a yes, shut the fuck up and stop selling,” added Mulroy. Ad Age Creativity Bookmark our section covering the best in brand creativity every day Read more here Look for bright spots Kate Byren, senior marketing consultant at R3, explained why she is seeing an uptick in social media reviews. “A lot of it is about measurement. People have no idea how to quantify the value of their influencer spend,” said Byren, also noting an increase in “smaller areas,” such as PR and dynamic creative optimization, where marketers want specialization. Several consultants mentioned an increase in creative agency of record reviews, as some clients look to consolidate their agency rosters. Ron Harrison, senior partner at SRI, said that many agencies lack the ability to play nice with other shops. As a result, some CMOs are looking for “one solution that checks all the boxes, with deep resources across the board.”

5 tips for agencies on building your pipeline and winning pitches

Featured Stories