They are the norm in the advertising industry, but are pitches really absolutely essential? Born to recreate (without much success) real interactions between agencies and clients, “pitches” are in the eyes of many a holdover from the past whose expiration date has long expired. This is what Avi Dan believes, who in an article for Forbes denounces the colossal waste of time and money that “pitches” constitute. At the end of the day, he denounces, in 99.9% of cases, works born in the heat of a contest never see the light of day . And they don’t do it because the pitches are not real, they are speculative in nature and they rarely anchor truly authentic and valuable insights.
Do pitches make sense in the current economic environment?
The “pitches”, which last for many months industry email list and often involve the best creatives within the agencies, have extraordinarily prohibitive costs. In fact, the tender price can represent between 30% and 40% of the overall costs necessary to operate an agency. Needless to say, such figures are absolutely unaffordable in the current uncertain economic climate . It is also worth noting that pitches not only entail financial costs but also human costs. The enormous pressure that creatives must deal with in the “pitches” seriously undermines their mental health and contributes to the exodus of talent that is hampering agencies today , Dan emphasizes.
More conversations and fewer presentations to forge the relationship between agency and client
Even so, the most important thing when BLB Directory choosing one agency or another is whether or not it fits with the brands’ plans and if there is chemistry between one party and the other , Dan emphasizes. And the key to figuring out whether or not there is chemistry is for agencies and clients to socialize and invest time together. Sharing a coffee or a meal can be more enlightening than sharing a presentation (no matter how fabulous it may soon seem). It makes no sense for agencies to put up $500,000 or a million out of their own pockets to prove they know how to do something that can be verified in many other ways.