As part of my occasional series of posts on Insights Based on Freelancing at Other People’s Agencies, this time my thoughts turn to Pitching. I’ve worked on rather a lot of pitches recently, of all shapes and sizes. Since the last couple of agencies I was employed by worked in a fairly similar way, I’d … Continue reading Pitch perfect?
Tag: Pitching
abandon hope, all ye who pitch (or tender) round here
It’s slowly dawning on me that it’s not just the large-ish integrated agencies I used to work for that get seriously messed about in tenders and pitches by clients. Every agency I go into seems to be in the throes of some kind of new business related angst. Take, for example: The client’s tender where … Continue reading abandon hope, all ye who pitch (or tender) round here
There’s no business like new business
More than for any other specialism, the First Client Meeting or New Business Meeting can be particularly challenging for Planners. Account Handlers can communicate their excellence by being all organised, professional and empathetic. Creatives have their showreel and the option of a ‘challenging’ personal style statement to fall back on. Meanwhile the Account Planners have … Continue reading There’s no business like new business
when the brief is more away-with-the-fairies than ‘challenging’
We’ve all been there at one time or another. The client pitch brief that asserts their ambition for the brand to be seen as the country’s leading X or most aspirational Y. When you know full well that the brand has more baggage than Terminal 5 on a BA strike day, is right up there … Continue reading when the brief is more away-with-the-fairies than ‘challenging’
*my* fantasy agency
Ben over at IFIABTWC has been writing about his Fantasy Agency (which he says would be called Pavement). I’m definitely with him on: The office shuts at 6. You can work afterwards if you really want to, but that's up to you. No one wants to stop you working hard but Pavement does not want … Continue reading *my* fantasy agency
not so perfect pitch
screengrab from the infamous agency.com Subway pitch video I’m prepping a pitch at the moment. So I was interested to read Merry Baskin’s piece in March’s Admap about the pitch process. Merry’s Ten Top Tips for Agencies includes ‘Rehearse. Three times- once for content and storyline, twice in front of an audience and thrice, the … Continue reading not so perfect pitch
Clients behaving badly
New Business is turning into a bit of a farce at the moment. A client I pitched for in November (who announced within 24 hours that we were down to the final two agencies) let us know today that they’d finally made the decision to appoint the other lot. That’s three months it took them … Continue reading Clients behaving badly
pitching should be a two-way process
At the Northern Planning Summit last Thursday night in Sheffield we ended up discussing what would you chose not to pitch for as an agency?, which encompassed wider issues like are they flogging booze/sub-prime finance/fags/politics (delete according to where you draw the line) and are they likely to turn into the client from hell? Which made me think alot … Continue reading pitching should be a two-way process
This is getting ridiculous
I'm nearing the end of a Big Pitch (the fact that most of my recent posts have comprised details of cross-country odysseys might have been a clue). The thing is, I've visited the same town in the South East of England three times in the last couple of months, but have I visited their famous … Continue reading This is getting ridiculous
The art of the Perfect Pitch
I’ve finally got my hands on Jon Steel’s new book Perfect Pitch (the new business guys had been hogging the agency copy). I’ve only had chance to get through the first couple of chapters so far, but I’m so fired up. Jon also wrote the modern Planner’s bible Truth, Lies and Advertising, which I’ve gone … Continue reading The art of the Perfect Pitch