Agency pitching—how to overcome conflicting client demands

It’s time for a reality check. The demands that have grown up around pitching have left us in a bit of a mess. Marketers and their procurement teams are relentlessly focused on streamlining, efficiencies and ways to keep costs down. And we need some honesty about the impact it’s having. As an industry, we are continuously aiming to deliver disruptive growth, but we will simply not achieve the impact we are seeking until we acknowledge, and align on, how to overcome four conflicting ideologies hindering the pitch process: We want only people who will work on our business to pitch and present This is unrealistic because agencies don’t have expensive talent sitting around waiting for an RFP to come in. Even less so in a world where clients’ desire for efficiency has driven out any ability there might have been to have a bench of unutilized talent. Clients would do better to understand the culture, tools, methodology and process of an agency partner that can drive repeatable and consistent results rather than worry about who’s in the room on Day 1. See all of the 2024 Small Agency award winners here Category expertise is required, but no conflicts are allowed There’s an obvious contradiction in this, isn’t there? But there’s a subtler problem beyond the premise that you can’t be experts in a category if you don’t already work in it. The truth is that often, the very best disruptors in business or brand don’t come from a background of existing expertise in a category (Steve Jobs and Apple, for example.) In fact, the opposite is often the case. By the very nature of seeing something fresh, a team can approach a category convention from a wholly new perspective—presenting a business solution that hasn’t been seen before. We’re really excited to get to know you better, but we can’t speak with you directly To create an even playing field, clients, procurement and consultants impede agencies from having an open and collaborative approach to pitching. We are restricted from speaking to clients beyond limited and defined Q&A sessions. But we don’t represent businesses that operate in off-the-shelf solutions. The best agencies and the best clients work together to arrive at compelling and impactful ideas. This restrictive pitch process doesn’t help clients get the best work or a good sense of working with the agency, and it doesn’t help the agency develop the relationship and understanding to deliver their best. We want AI to make your work as efficient as possible, but not any of the risks This one is tough. We all recognize the Wild West nature of this brave new world of AI, but for clients not to shoulder any of the risks and instead expect agencies—big and small—to do that for them? It’s a bit of a catch-22. AI can make us smarter, faster and better. Disruptive creativity is what will help us all get to breakthrough work, and AI is a vital enabler of getting us to the very best creative ideas. But this technology is developing so fast, and not being willing to share in the responsibility of keeping up—for the sake of the rewards it will undoubtedly deliver—well, it’s not exactly the “we’re in this together” message, is it? As I’m sure most agencies can attest, the positive experiences largely do outweigh the negative, and the industry has built some solutions. The Pitch Positive Pledge promises to respect timelines and people’s mental well-being, and it has gone some way to doing that. That said, there are still businesses expecting agencies to work to their timelines and rules in the pitch process, but there isn’t the same discipline being brought to bear in their own approaches. I wouldn’t presume to start rewriting the pledge, but perhaps there might be an addendum or two to be added. Then, we can all sign up. Ad Age Agency Report 2024 Revenue and analysis for agency companies Click here

Agency pitching—how to overcome conflicting client demands

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