Before we start the year in full force, here are 6 principals to get our pitch ethics right

Pitches and new business are the lifeblood to the advertising and marketing scene. But extensive pitching results in exhausted agencies, an impact on talent churn and at the end of the day, sometimes unfortunately, mediocre work.

In light of these issues, the Association of Advertising and Marketing Singapore (AAMS) has unveiled a guide to Pitch Best Practices with the aim of improving industry pitching standards in Singapore and the region. According to the study, while pitching can help an organisation takes its marketing and advertising to the next level, during a time when marketing budgets are shrinking and partnerships are evolving, marketers must structure their pitch process to be more effective and efficient.

The study states that pitches should ideally be called only if there are strategic disagreements, competitive business wins or fundamental concerns with a lack of chemistry or management change on either side. Should an agency not be able to meet a clients requirement due to lack of capabilities, then yes, calling for a pitch might just be the answer.

However, it is recommended that marketers devote time and effort to fix a broken agency relationship, before committing to finding a new agency.

Considerations to keep in mind

Pitch processes can be expensive. In addition to out-of-pocket costs (travel, research, search consultant fees, and other) there are also opportunity costs of employee time that can be expended in more productive ways. A typical agency search can take 12 to 16 weeks to complete and cost 100-200 hours of executive time.

Typically, clients who see reviews as a strategic undertaking would engage the expertise of an external consultant to bring in objectivity and best practice to the process. It is not cost effective to hire consultants for project based engagement.

Moreover, marketers must also take into consideration that the time spent on defending the business by an incumbent agency, is time siphoned away from thinking about the client’s ongoing marketing issues. If marketers go ahead to call for an agency search without truly determining what the root causes of incompatibility could be with an incumbent, the marketer might inadvertently bring the same problems into the new relationship.

Pitch principles to adhere to

1. Marriage, not a fling

An agency-client relationship should not be one which crumbles at the first sign of distress. While having project based partnerships are gaining traction, Best practice dictates entering a minimum two plus one years contract is what would pay off in the long run so your agency partners have enough time to get acquainted with your business.

An efficiently run pitch process is time intensive on both sides, so pitching campaigns, rather than long term contracts, is not the most effective way to “try” out which agency would be the right fit.

2. Don’t just choose ideas

Similarly, using a campaign to gauge an agency’s creative prowess is not a sustainable manner in which relationships can be fostered. Speculative creative ideas rarely hit the spot on solving a client’s marketing problem as it’s not possible for any agency to be fully immersed in your business in the process to understand your challenges.

3. It takes two (or more) to make magic

In modern marketing, there is often no one clear agency lead for everything. Collaboration and co-creation are the new norm. Marketers must think of their partners, in house teams, external agencies and tech vendors as an ecosystem. When all the components come together, that’s when the real spark ignites.

4. Respect cuts both ways

An agency (and a client) who feels respected will see better outcomes and reputation – after all, who doesn’t want to do the best for a partner they enjoy working with? Brands need to also be cognizant of reputation as in our fluid economy. Talent flows between agency, advertiser, media owners and technology platforms, and reputation (and horror stories) are shared.

5. Less is more

Think carefully of the amount of information agencies need to share during the RFI stage. Ask only what you intend to use for the evaluation. When evaluating based on challenges during a pitch, one is ideal, two is max.

In the same vein of thinking, refrain from adding too many agencies to the mix.

RFI should be sent to maximum of eight agencies - with the exception of open tenders where this is beyond control. After the shortlist, no more than three agencies should be moved to the RFP stage.

Anything more unnecessarily complicates the final agency selection and is discouraging to the finalist agencies that will view their chances of winning as slim.

6. Recognise agency effort and intellectual property

Idea theft is real. Still to date, the marketing community often sees ideas being taken from one agency and given to another at a lower cost. In the age of social, if such a campaign is identified, it can do your brand reputation more harm than good.

Meanwhile, paying a pitch fee could also gain your brand the right reputation as being a fair client who recognises the effort put in during the pitching process.  If an agency is expected to travel, the travel cost should be borne by the advertiser.

Meanwhile agencies too must ask the right questions before joining the pitch process. At the end of the day, winning the account must add value to the business not in monetary value but also growth and recognition. Agencies must the contract tenure and consider if the business will allow the agency to do differentiated work within the category. The right partnership should take the agency further and develop new opportunities that will enable their talent to grow and be inspired to work on the business.

Agencies must investigate the intention of the pitch and the relationship the client might have had with the incumbent before diving in blindly.

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