Amid Rising Mental Health Concerns, Should the Pitching Process Be Rethought?

Several agency leaders notably the Goodstuff Founder Andrew Stephens have called for the pitching process to be rethought Certainly the whole thing needs to be better managed but the people who can make that happen are ahem the consultants and the agenciesI should declare an interest We do run pitches occasionally Itamp8217s not something BJampampA actively seeks to do in large part because I believe that there are far too many pitches and they are often called for the worst of reasonsKelloggamp8217s used to give all their brand managers a basic guide to working with ad agencies The first paragraph said something like quotIt is not your job to change the ad agency It is your job to get the best from the ad agencyquotI39ve always lived by that When asked to run a pitch the first thing we try to do is to talk the client out of it Why do they want to pitch What are they hoping to achieve Has it occurred to them that the issue whatever it is could be at their end not their agency39s Have they talked openly to their agency39s leadersI39m not naamp239ve enough to believe that most pitch consultants will do this After all running pitches is not a large part of what we do But even when we do them we are very clear as to the rules of engagement The consultant39s task as I see it is to make life hard for the client by ensuring every agency does a wonderful jobThat takes time so the consultant needs to ensure participants are given the time It39s no good just agreeing to the client39s timeline and then beating up the agencies to ensure it is metThe consultant is hired to give proper bestinclass advice And that very much includes advising even pushing back on the timelineConsultants should make themselves available to the agencies throughout the process Try and answer their questions listen to their concerns find answers from the client if you need toI39ve been in enough pitches as the agency to know how important the role of the consultant can be I39ve also seen enough terrible examples of how not to do it quotDon39t question mequot quotDon39t expect me to revert to the client for youquot quotJust do what you39re toldquot quotKeep to the timingquot quotSorry the rules have changed but no you39re not to know why nor will you be given any more timequot I39ve had all of these and more from wellrespected in their own heads at least pitch consultantsToo many consultants have never run pitches as an agency aren39t experienced and are simply following ordersAfter the event the consultant needs to feedback honestly and constructively Tell the losing agencies why they lost Telling them the client quotjust wasnamp8217t excitedquot by them is neither helpful nor constructive It may be part of the truth but explaining why is always appreciatedAvoiding feedback is cowardly and unprofessionalAgencies can help themselves too If you39re not given the time to do your best say so Loudly and upfront Donamp8217t feel you have to pitch everything After all if clients run a terrible pitch odds are they39ll turn out to be dreadful clientsLast week Brandtech Group acquired Jellyfish This isnamp8217t the place to comment on the deal which I do think is an excellent one for both parties but I was very taken with Nick Emeryamp8217s comment on pitching in an interview with The Media LeaderquotWe donamp8217t want to be in the business of yearlong procurementled pitches for 120day payment terms If you are that kind of client then donamp8217t bother Iamp8217d much rather be the kind of New Age version of BBH where you donamp8217t have to pitch if you donamp8217t want toquotI always loved pitches the drama the excitement the teamwork and yes the stress But I can well see that others feel differentlyIt doesnamp8217t sit well for consultants and agencies to complain as if the stress and strain happens in a world where they have no say and no responsibility They can do something about it Yes so could clients but clients hire consultants to run these things for them The responsibility sits with the consultants and the agencies themselves They can encourage and drive changeBut they donamp8217t and I very much fear they wonamp8217tPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Amid Rising Mental Health Concerns, Should the Pitching Process Be Rethought?

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Brian Jacobs

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