Pitch
Clients who make agency decisions, live in a world of career consequences, good or bad. Given the stakes, why, then, do so many bad agencies seem to win so many pitches? The consequence is that client/agency relationships that used to last for decades, suddenly fizzle out in 2 to 3 years.
When the pitch becomes a “beauty contest” and, a creative shootout, it doesn’t tell you much of anything. Very few shops are brave enough to go out on a limb these days. It's just too risky. They're absolutely going to play it safe, no matter what. They are going to look at what you've done in the past, get a sense of what you like, and give you more of the same. More of the same may not be what your brand needs. Perhaps because of that, 90% of the “winning campaigns” in a pitch never see the light of day!
Marketers just don’t understand, or seem to ignore, the harm that picking a bad agency can do to their career. The big holding companies spend more time chewing over revenue, margins, operations, staffing and process, than is ever spent talking about brands, clients or ideas. Perhaps, because of this thinking, CMOs pay the price of a short tenure and are replaced every 3 years.
Instead of a superficial “creative beauty contest”, as it were, a smarter pitch would be focused on the agency team, including a nod to hiring a group of people who truly understand that creative isn’t just a commodity. For them, marketing isn’t a science, and data isn’t the answer—it’s just another way to look at the problem.
Hire a passionate team, where a copywriter thinks about your business problem while walking their dog; a strategist who goes for coffee just to come up with more insights; an account person who researches stores in their own time, just to find out what the competition is doing. Teams that are all-in as the brand’s biggest fans.
Many pitches are already doomed before they’ve even started. The first mistake that many marketers often make is, to mortgage their brand and their career to the procurement department. They do so by letting a procurement executive run the pitch. Procurement executives may be terrific at negotiating, mostly for tangible objects like travel or furniture. However, they don’t have a broad knowledge of the essence of ‘agency-ness’.
The second sure way to screw up a pitch is marketers that manage the pitch on their own. They, too, lack a deep knowledge of agencies’ talent and momentum. The mistake marketers often make is, that, they look at hiring an agency as an isolated event, whereas hiring an agency must be viewed from the larger perspective of the supply chain.
Sadly, the pitch is sometimes the high point in the agency/client relationship. Agencies may over-promise and then, under-deliver, but, equally, clients may brief poorly or be seduced by enticing showmanship or short-term tactics. The objective evaluation of the agencies selected to pitch is the answer:
Don’t be dazzled by personality and technical wizardry. A degree of showmanship is fine but, behind this, there always needs be a substantial and workable proposal. Agencies know how to seduce clients with a dazzling pitch, often without substance. If you choose an agency based on an emotional reaction to a campaign, chances are that you're not going to wind up with the right fit agency.
Don’t be swayed by size or reputation. Big agencies may not be better than small ones, and the quality of resources devoted to your account will depend on how thinly the team is spread over several clients. A great team in a mediocre agency is better than a mediocre team in a great agency. A pitch is not about hiring an agency, you are hiring the team within the agency. You are hiring, mostly, the 7 or 8 people who work at these agencies and will be your day-to-day team.
Don’t hire a professional pitch team. The people who present to you should be the everyday people who will be working on your account. Be wary of professional pitch teams. They are often very impressive but will be of no use to you if they have little or no day-to-day involvement with your account.
Don’t ignore the importance of stability. You need to evaluate just how long the people who will be working on your account been together as a cohesive group. Do they seem to work well as a team? Find out what is the rate of staff turnover. Finally, ask yourself does the agency has long term clients, or a high rates of client churn?
Don’t be sold something you didn’t ask for. Each agency pitching will have experience and strengths but don’t allow this to dictate your decision if they are irrelevant to your brief.
Don’t think short term. Choose an agency that you will be comfortable working with for the next decade, at the very least.
Don’t buy on price. This works both ways. Advertising is a professional service, and you’ll need to pay the right rate for the talent you want to work with. On the other hand, you certainly do not wish to pay high rates to subsidize the holding company’s overhead or swanky offices.
