Why Advertisers should not run “do it yourself” pitches.

One of the sad facts of life in the ad business in 2024 is that there are a lot of pitches. From an Advertiser point of view this would indicate that their search for the ideal partner is not going well, so they must repeat the process endlessly. Not good.

From an Agency perspective winning new business used to be important. Nowadays, it is crucial for survival. And it is not uncommon for the senior agency team to spend 30-40% of their time on pitching. Also, not good.

Something is wrong in the way pitches are run. Given that the majority are of the “do it yourself” variety, run by Marketing and Procurement, here are four reasons why they should get professional help to choose the right Agency

The advertising market is hugely complicated and no one at the Advertiser knows it well enough.

Depending on the market there will hundreds, if not thousands of Agencies to choose from. There are small, large, local, regional, international Agencies. Some have been in the market for decades, others for months.

There are Ad, Media, PR, Digital, Multicultural, Marketplace, Performance, Social Media, BTL, TTL Agencies and many other types. There are platforms like Google and Meta which will tell Marketers that they don’t need an Agency and that they will gladly give them a full-service solution “for free”.

Many of these Agencies will also promise that they can handle all the different disciplines under one roof and do it as well as any of the specialists. As a bonus, they will make sure that all communication is “integrated” and “full funnel”.

Additionally, the fate of any of these agencies can change instantly. They could lose a major account and be forced to lay off many people. Or they could win a massive account and be distracted hiring 50 people and digesting the business.

Finally, there is huge personnel rotation in the industry. Any Agency can lose its stars in the blink of an eye and, while the Agency name remains the same, the quality of the thinking and product just took a huge hit. Or a no name Agency may have just hired the next rising star and may be about to take off.

What you see in the pitch and the “day after” are often completely different things

Given the huge competition, and the “life and death” nature of winning new accounts, many Agencies have adopted a “win at any cost” approach. This has many dangerous implications for the Advertiser, even if they are not obvious during the process.

For example, Agencies will devote huge resources to preparing the pitch. All the senior people will be involved, and no expenses will be spared. However, once the account is won, those same resources will now be dedicated to the next pitch and sadly, not to the (now) existing account.

Also, Agencies are very experienced at “staging” pitches and will use every trick in the book to win. Everything in the presentation will be prepared and rehearsed, down to the smallest details. Client LinkedIn profiles will be scrutinized. Do not be surprised if it turns out that the Agency Managing Director coincidentally happens to love cricket as much as the Marketing Director, or that both happen to share a love for fine tuscan wine.

Sadly, what you see is often not what you get.? Once your account has been reeled in and the real work begins, you may see other, more junior faces, and much of the magic and the shared passions disappear.

The pitch process must be run by people who know what is needed for success on both sides

Most Marketers will have prior knowledge of a few Agencies, and they may get recommendations from their colleagues. In a market that is as complicated and changing as this one, this is not enough to make the right decision. It is crucial to move beyond the “I’ve heard about X’, or “I worked with Y 10 years ago” and choose the right partner, with the correct and proven capabilities, that will best address the Advertiser’s current needs.

Additionally, to get the best results from an Agency, there must be a true win/win. This means that the Agency must be making enough money to be able to focus all their resources on the Client Brand and not be distracted by their own lack of profitability. Also, there needs to be a shared creative vision for what the product should look like, and a clear agreement on the processes required to get there. This means having a briefs and approvals process that works efficiently for both Advertiser and Agency. Finally, there must be agreements in place about how to handle the inevitable emergencies and differences of opinion. ?It is also crucial that a “Rules of Engagement” document exists to provide ground rules and to ensure that both sides are held accountable for their commitments.

The whole Marketing budget is in play

In a pitch process it is very easy to focus only on agency compensation. This is the very definition of penny wise and pound foolish. All the work that the Agency does, be it strategic, creative or execution, impacts the totality of the marketing budget. The right Agency will turbocharge the marketing budget and help build the top-line. The wrong agency will contribute to wasting the budget. It is that simple. And it goes without saying that either result will have a major impact on the marketer’s career.

Finding the right agency, with the right capabilities and putting in the right processes, at a fair level of compensation is crucial for success and is not easy.

Given the reasons highlighted above “do it yourself” pitching is clearly not the best way to approach this process. Marketers are used to working with subject matter experts to help them solve business issues. ?As such, they should stay away from “do it yourself” searches and use a Search Consultant to help them with this crucial activity.

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