In the world of agency New Business, you used to know where you were by simply looking at the calendar. Pitch Season ran according to the academic year, with a particular spike in activity between September and the end of November.
I’ve been working in and around agencies for twelve years now and one of the biggest changes I’ve seen has been the move away from clients awarding fee based on-going work towards discrete projects. This means not only that a lot more (usually lower value) pitches (or these days more often tenders) are held, but also that this activity takes place almost all year round.
As far as I can see this year the volume of decent sized pitches / new business efforts the agencies I work with are doing hasn’t even really eased off during the traditionally quiet months of July and August. I was rather counting on a quiet July and August to get on with some personal projects and as a result my diary is looking rather full!
It’s a nice problem for agencies (and myself) to have – but it does raise the thought that Summer used to be when agency MDs and Creative Directors could happily go off on holiday for a couple of weeks without deserting the ship and the agency’s pet projects and own marketing would actually get some attention for once. If we’re all-hands-on-deck 12 months a year, when is everyone going to get chance to recharge their batteries and take care of the nice-to-dos?
pic by AlexandraMoss on flickr, CC applies