Is the agency pitch process broken?
The call comes through for an initial chat. The brief sounds interesting, in the right agency sweet spot, the budget is workable and the timeframe is sensible. The big carrot though, is that this brand name would look great on the agency roster and has the potential of opening a number of as yet unidentified doors. Conversation flows easily and a fledgeling relationship starts.
But there’s a but. Three other agencies have been asked to review the brief and submit their ideas. The metrics still look reasonably good – worst case is a one in four chance of landing the business, but on initial review of the brief, the feeling is that this is winnable. So – decision made.
Two weeks of time, expertise and effort are ‘invested’ and presented, free of charge, to a panel from the potential client. They seem happy, ask questions which are confidently answered, and they are happy to engage with a few off-topic light hearted moments. They’re keen to get moving on the project so will be making a decision on moving forward very quickly and will be in touch within a week. Great – all good so far.
The week passes. And another. Nothing. A tentative follow up email, politely worded, gently asking if they had come to any decision. On occasion an apologetic response follows – they really liked the ideas – but are sticking with the incumbent/plug has been pulled on budget/didn’t think the chemistry was right/project has been mothballed but will come back if that changes…Or sometimes there is no response whatsoever. To be clear – not winning isn’t great but it isn’t the problem here. The problem is the lack of feedback and common courtesy from clientside marketeers who clearly show a lack of basic communication skills and awareness of brand advocacy. What is missed by the in-house team is the negative perception this gives of the brand they represent – and of themselves as marcomms professionals.
This is an all too familiar chain of events for agencies (perhaps more so during these times of Teams and Zoom meetings…) who are prepared to pitch to win what could be business that catapults them up to the next level. The question is – should they bother? Even if successful, pitching leaves agencies out of pocket – not just financially, but in terms of resource which inevitably puts a strain on existing client relationships and deadlines. Creative agencies find it very difficult to turn down opportunities to show off their creativity and expertise – but is there a better way which offers some security on the investment?
Agencies will always budget something for pitching as a critical part of business development, but it is a notoriously tricky element to accurately pin down. At a time when everyone is squeezing budgets and looking for efficiencies throughout their businesses, it seems a possibility that some agencies will be priced out of the pitching market as they can’t afford to make up the numbers in the process – or give away ideas for free. From the other side of the table – the temptation of getting something for nothing has never been greater. Neither of these outcomes is healthy for the industry.