When is an agency pitch, not an agency pitch?

This submit is by Darren Woolley, Founder and Global CEO of TrinityP3. With his track record as an analytical scientist and imaginative problem solver, Darren provides distinctive insights and learnings to the marketing approach. He is regarded a world wide imagined leader in optimizing marketing and advertising efficiency and general performance across marketing businesses and provider rosters.

Marketing is 1 of the most obvious interaction professions. And language is an vital element of interaction. Nonetheless, as an business, the liberal application of language communicates all types of misconceptions. Now, prior to you accuse me of currently being a language pedant, I will admit that I still believe that that remuneration and compensation are not strict synonyms of just about every other. But what a do disagree with is calling all tenders, company selection procedures and marketplace testimonials a pitch.

According to Collins’ English Dictionary, to make a pitch, or make one’s pitch indicates to consider and persuade folks to do or obtain the object of the pitch. Now, this is where the argument gets nuanced. The traditional speculative inventive procedure could be categorised as a pitch. With the numerous organizations producing strategic and inventive recommendations and pitching them to the customer.

But the traditional Ask for for Proposal (RFP) or RFI or RFT, with the generally-rigid structure and considerable list of precise concerns, feels more like finishing an work software for the company than obtaining an opportunity to pitch. And while these two processes for picking out an advertising and marketing or media company are pretty frequent, they are by no usually means the only ways of deciding upon a new company. Several of which are not a marketing possibility at all but are instead a a lot more concentrated and described way to take a look at and pick the proper company associate.

Let’s seem at a several of these methodologies for choosing a new agency and discover their strengths and limitations and see if we can categorise the technique.

1. The artistic elegance parade (The speculative resourceful pitch)

Pick a couple of agencies. Give them a inventive transient. Let them operate on it and come back and pitch their recommendations. And the most effective strategy wins. A person of the most frequent ways of selecting an idea. Great if you are buying an strategy. But not so excellent for buying an agency you are hoping will deliver tens, hundreds or even hundreds of good strategies above the term. The dilemma is you do not know who, what or how they made the concept they pitched and if they could do it yet again.

This is the definitive pitch, with all its inherent challenges.

2. The Request for Proposal (The position software)

A favourite with procurement as it allows a huge-ranging evaluation of lots of aspects of the different businesses. But it is limited in this exploration by the thoughts questioned and the format in which the agencies can react. So terrific for compliance but hard when making an attempt to assess intangible abilities, capabilities, and chemistry. In point, this favours the agencies competent in writing RFP responses above all those experienced at giving the services you basically need to have.

Actually a lot more like a work application than a pitch.

3. The Chemistry and Credentials (Show and Notify)

Also recognised as the showcase, this is how quite a few professional expert services and other imaginative companies are decided on. From architects to composers, artists to film directors, and additional. It entails merely examining a showcase of the function that has been completed in the latest past and assembly with the group to make certain abilities and chemistry align. This usually means you evaluate the agency on the do the job they do for other individuals.

More present and explain to, with the company pitching themselves, not their advice.

4. The No Pitch, Pitch

It is increasingly common to just take an incumbent agency to pitch or tender at the conclude of a contract to critique the latest arrangements. The problem is the competitive pitch is created to pick a new agency with only one particular in 4 incumbents retaining the organization. This approach is to have the incumbent pitch by itself. The shortcoming is the potential deficiency of industry awareness, but this can be easily accessed by way of independent 3rd get-togethers who offer this company.

A lot more of a professional review than a pitch.

5. Strategic / Innovative Workshop (The Examination Push)

Significantly well known, it efficiently will take a several companies for a take a look at drive. Decide on a problem and provide it as a temporary so that the marketing and advertising crew can function with just about every agency on a full or 50 %-working day workshop. This is much more about the journey than a vacation spot, with the system an prospect for each customer and company to get the job done jointly overtly and transparently. It also implies, unlike a pitch, the shopper is additional probable to see the company expertise at operate, alternatively than the presentation group in action.

This is a check drive that is as shut to the serious point as you can get.

As you can see, though all of these are casually referred to as pitches, it is only the initial 1, the speculative imaginative pitch that is truly a pitch, with the collaborating businesses pitching their thoughts to earn the small business. Nevertheless, they are all labelled as pitches. But all fulfil a diverse need to have. And some are even applied in combos.

The position is fairly than equating all these procedures with pitching, we require to get started contemplating about what the purpose of the agency selection process is and then implement the finest methodology (or a blend thereof) to accomplish the preferred consequence. If the procedure is to pick a new company, then 2, 3 and 5 are the very best decision and the choice of which of these would be primarily based on the sizing of the account or agreement, timing, complexity, and hazard mitigation. If it is basically to locate a winning plan, then 1 is the best choice. And if you do not want to pick out a new company, but simply will need to evaluate the incumbent, then the the very least wasteful and most rigorous strategy is 4.

It is merely a matter of permitting language to advise reason and intent. Relatively than lazily labelling anything as a pitch.