| ‘Smart Agencies
Are Turning To Joint Pitches’
2005 was a tough year for marketing agencies. A general
downturn in business has been exacerbated by a trend
for widespread pitches which are time consuming and
expensive.
This trend has seen some marketing consultancies
jumping into bed with specialists at the pitch stage.
Andrew Cook Director of Sales at prize promotion specialist
Unmissable, explains why this approach can work so
well.
For marketing agencies pitch work is always an extremely
hectic and time consuming period and with more companies
expecting agencies to present their ideas four or
more times whilst competing against as many as 10
other agencies, it puts huge pressure on the account
teams.
That’s why we’re seeing more agencies
begin to team up with specialists like Unmissable
at this crucial first stage. When you stack up the
advantages it’s easy to see why.
Firstly, and crucially, it reduces workload. Once
you have the strategic approach in place then a specialist
supplier can take care of the necessary research and
come up with the innovative ideas that will bring
the initial concepts to life adding value to the pitch
document.
Time is also saved when it comes to putting budget
costs together as the specialist should be able to
put 100% accurate costs down on paper there and then.
Because the figures are exact agency planners can
then see just how far their budget can go across other
areas of the campaign.
Peace of mind is another advantage not to be underestimated.
Working so closely together means that agencies know
the ideas can be delivered and won’t prove to
be hollow promises when several stages down the line
they start to look at the logistics of delivering
them.
When it comes to building integrated campaigns this
joint initiative also works well often being able
to illustrate how a strong creative strategy can be
leveraged across a number of different mediums.
Finally for prospective clients it can be reassuring
to see specialists in their field at a pitch. It shows
not only that the lead agency has a strong network
of contacts but also that they can work together as
a team and that everyone is on strategy from the outset.
The advantages of joint pitching works both ways.
If the pitch team wins then both marketing agency
and specialist supplier get business.
But, it has to be a team effort on a level playing
field, therefore unless there is a specific amount
of research or money invested in providing creative
ideas suppliers need to work with agencies - not against
- and in doing so should make it policy not to charge
agencies any fees for generating ideas for pitch documents.
This approach will encourage agencies to use their
suppliers at an earlier stage in the process and is
just one reason why Unmissable has been able to develop
strong relationships with many of our clients.
Specialists also need to be prepared to allow part
ownership of previous work so that successful case
studies can be used to illustrate experience in specific
and relevant fields.
Both parties must work closely together and there
are no guarantees of future business. However, we’ve
found that working together like this builds solid
working relationships and, importantly, trust. In
addition to which, when the business does come in
the resulting campaigns are stronger and run more
smoothly because everyone has been through the strategy
and planning from the very first creative brainstorm.
My top five tips for agencies looking to involve
suppliers in pitches would be:
Top Tips:
- Provide as much information as possible to your
supplier from market background through to the nuts
and bolts of the brief.
- Begin talking as soon as possible – there’s
never enough time to put a presentation together.
- Take the time to meet up so you both get to know
each other’s business and know that you can
work together.
- Work as a team – close working relationships
come across in pitches.
- Overall if you have a good agency/supplier pitching
relationship work on it – those agencies and
specialists who develop strong relationships and
seamless presentations will undoubtedly be in a
stronger position to increase their success rate
at multiple pitches.
- ENDS -
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