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Yesterday I took part in a PRCA discussion on best practice in pitching – an admirable effort by the PRCA to bring agencies and clients together to talk about one of the biggest issues in the industry.  Pitching takes up a vast amount of time for both client and agency, much of it probably wasted because the process isn’t quite right.

Apparently (and I can believe this) almost 1 in 3 pitches are done without a written brief, and a large percentage come with no budget attached.  This can only lead to clients ending up with the wrong agency or not finding what they were looking for at all, with nobody winning the work.  The other worrying statistic was that many pitches now involve six or more agencies – this is for the actual pitch, not just a chemistry meeting.  There should never be more than 3, or maybe 4 including the incumbent agency.  It’s just a waste of everyone’s time to see more than that.  Do clients realise just how much time and effort goes into each pitch?  Of course, it’s also up to each agency to decide whether or not to pursue the opportunity!

Everyone seemed to agree that the client should explore all the other options before calling a pitch, including identifying why they think their current agency isn’t up to the job, and understanding the skill set of the agencies they already use.  Obviously there’s a job for the agencies to do here aswell, to make sure they are regularly reviewing their work with clients and updating them on developments in what they can offer.

Looks like the PRCA will be updating their guidelines on selecting agencies for clients.  That should help, although I doubt it’ll radically change how things work!

Eddie

Our sports team had a busy time of it last week…

On Tuesday night there was a launch event for Skate3 – the latest skate boarding title from EA Sports, followed by a trip to Celtic Manor on Wednesday ahead of a day spent with Rory McIlroy to promote Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.   Rory, who is no 9 in the world at the tender age of 21, showed plenty of patience as he worked through a busy schedule of motion capture sessions, photo shoots and media interviews.  He even found time to head on to the course to show us all how to ping a 3 iron 210 yards onto the 17th green!  Why can’t I swing a club like that?  He got a par 3 on the course and then headed back inside for his first go on the new video game.  Showing his genuine talent for golf in any format, he stepped up and got a hole in one on the same hold that he’d just played outside.  Incredible, and all captured on video which will be up on the web very soon!

After that was all done, we raced back to London for the Sports Industry Awards – a very glam event.  Our Great Exhibition campaign with the ECB was up for the Best Use of Digital award.  It was one of the last ones to be announced and nerves were building, before we got the great news that we had won!  Cue lots of excitement around our table and the chance to meet Kirsty Gallagher and shake hands with El Tel.  Excellent!

Then it was up bright and early for another Skate3 event at 8.30am on the South Bank, where a load of skaters had gathered to celebrate EA Sports City Skateover – spending the day skating around London.