The art of pitching
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
