What it comes to pitching, if you’ve been around the block, you will have trodden the well-worn path of traditional pitch processes many times. You know, the one that starts with a chemistry session, moves onto a briefing with Q&A, followed by a tissue session, and ultimately a pitch meeting.
At the most basic level, the goal at every stage of this pitch process is to determine three things:
1. Does the agency have the right approach to solve my marketing challenge – do we like their ideas?
2. Are we going to work well together as a team, potentially for years to come – do we like their people and ways of working?
3. Are the people and the ideas in line with our budget and marketing objective – can we afford them and their ideas?
Ultimately, for brand side marketers, you must be able to confidently answer these three questions to decide on an agency appointment.
At Oystercatchers, we’ve been perfecting this pitch process for more than 15 years.
And it works well every time. We’ve had some tremendous feedback on our recent work from brands and agencies:
“The process was so great throughout – the best intermediary experience I’ve had in 20+ years, hands down”
Chief Client & Growth Officer
“I just wanted to say a massive thank you for all your support and counsel over the past few months. It would not have been such a thorough and people first process without your guiding hands.”
Head of Marketing
But let’s be clear, it doesn’t mean every process is the same and we always define a bespoke approach that matches our client needs. It’s also entirely possible to innovate with the traditional steps in the process to help both brands and agencies.
Here are a few examples:
1. Tissue and pitch in a day
Typically we allow agencies time to absorb feedback from a tissue session and refine their approach into a final and more considered pitch presentation. However, if time is of the essence and you want to test what it might be like to work more collaboratively with your agency, bring the two stages together on the same day.
Note: You will need to make sure all agencies on your pitch are given equal time to demonstrate their expertise.
2. Don’t issue a pitch brief, run a pitch immersion day
When you’re shopping for a partner and not a supplier, it pays to give them a proper immersion day rather than a briefing document. This is easier for some brands than others.
For example, we’ve been working with a world-class retailer this year and the brief included a guided tour of the store, how it works behind the scenes, meeting with their buyers and the customer insights teams. This is a little more difficult if you’re in insurance but find ways to truly immerse the agency in your brand and business. It will help you to evaluate a potential working relationship and the agency team’s passion for your brand.
3. Swap Q&As for a working session
In the spirit of testing a possible working relationship, why not swap out a formal Q&A with a working session. This approach will help you to start testing out some initial ideas and directions early in the process. It will provide both sides the opportunity to test more informal working practices and get to know each other’s teams better.
So, while the industry debate rumbles along about whether pitching is fit for purpose, we prefer to talk about how to innovate and create search processes that reflect the values mapped out by ISBA/IPA’s Pitch Positive Pledge and the PRCA’s Pitch Forward initiatives.
Pitching is very far from dead as a means for marketers to buy creative, PR, media or other agency services. Let’s move the debate on from whether pitching is fit for purpose to how best to run pitches that are well defined, exquisitely managed and that work for all parties.
Get in touch with us here if you would like to explore how a pitch process might work for you.