The Pitch Process is Broken. That's the topic for the first Monday Media Chat.
The topic is inspired by recent events in Belgium, where advertising agencies went on virtual strike to complain about the growing trend for clients to invite more and more agencies to pitch at any one time.
This seemed to be symptomatic of a wider issue of the pitch process, a process that just seems to be broken.
Bernhard Glock ( Media Leadership Company) and Paul Bay (citizenbay & citizensound) consider why the agency pitch is just not working and urge everyone to refresh their approach…
In the video we can only cover a few elements to this big issue. There are so many more things we want to say, but we are more interested in hearing what you have to say. We hope you will take the time not only to have a listen but also to comment either below, over at our twitter feed mondaymediachat, or sign up and e-mail us.
By the way, if you want a higher res HD version, click here.
Hey Caroline
Thanks for your insights. You are absolutely right about the Trust factor, which is why Bernhard and I raised this in another monday media chat. Hope you come back and continue to get involved...that's what this blog is all about.
Posted by: citizenbay | 04/30/2010 at 10:47 PM
Thank you very much for your insights.
Totally agree with you that in the past 18 months, clients have been abusing their powers and called too many pitches.
However, I also believe that agencies (I am refering to media agencies here) have also partly got themselves to blaim, with a lack of transparency of their business model.
You refer to consultants, saying they would never agree to participate to pitches in the way agencies do. This is true. But, consultants, I feel, are usually more transparent about their fees and scope of services (and never work for free - unlike agencies).
Trust is key and I'm afraid that in today's climate, this frenzy of pitches has led to a lot of over-promises from agencies, which might lead to another round of pitches next year - or certainly strained relationships, when clients realised that what was promised to them has not been delivered.
Posted by: Caroline Devys | 04/29/2010 at 03:44 PM
Nice comparison with the world of politics Tom.
Some in the agency world might argue that some of their clients already have them on call 24/7 though!
Mind you, with big agency networks showcasing lots of dots on maps, but not necessarily delivering 24/7 service, you make a relevant point.
One thing though, how geared up are clients to acting upon 24/7 service?
Posted by: citizenbay | 04/06/2010 at 12:50 PM
Couldn't agree more. You can compare the pitch phenomenon with political elections. Politicians should ideally be judged and evaluated on an ongoing basis, rather than every few years. Do politicians work to be elected, or get elected to work? Same for agencies: do agencies work to pitch, or pitch to work, as you say?
I really like the notion of the 24/7, always-on agency. This is still complete fiction in most full-service agencies today.
Posted by: Tom Himpe | 04/06/2010 at 12:28 PM