To Pitch or Not to Pitch. That's the Big Question!

A Pitch... Let's kick things off with our take on the definition. A pitch is a battle royale among two or more agencies where strategy, creativity and finance take a role.

But you know what else a pitch is? Ever thought of it this way? It's basically an advertiser's invitation for us to pull out all the stops, dedicate weeks of our precious time and hand over our best work on a silver platter, for free. And then, face the music if it wasn't up to snuff.

This isn't us moaning, by the way. Pitching is a client-acquisition dance we've choreographed ourselves within the industry. Your average ad person? Think Golden Retriever. Spot a potential client, and we're all tail-wags and happy wiggles: "We get to pitch, oh joy!"

Yet, the pitch arena is no joyride. It's among the most intensive sprints in our line of work, and with a success rate hovering around 33%, it's often more heartbreak than high-five.

Hence, we're proponents of the thoughtful pitch. "Be the change in the pitching climate," so to speak. We've drafted some pitch rules for this very reason. Thought it'd be neat to share them on our website. Thinking of pitching to us? Check out our terms:

Scope, Please? We want to know upfront: Is this pitch for a project or a long-term relationship? Either way, we're curious about the nature and scale of the assignment. And, oh, the budget (our potential income) is pretty crucial, too. Why? Because we're about to invest a lot of hours (read: heaps of cash) into this. We need to know it's worth it.

Our benchmarks are:

• For one-off projects, we're talking a minimum income of €60,000, offering either a creative jackpot or significant exposure to new potential clients. If it's not going to put us on the map creatively or business-wise, it better bring in at least €150,000.
• For pitches aiming at a long-term relationship, the client must represent a yearly potential of at least €250,000, confirmed by the client and achievable within a year.
• No budget insight? Count us out, unless it's an advertiser we can confidently assume meets or exceeds our benchmarks.

A few things need clearing up before we dive in:

• How many agencies are in the ring?
• What's expected of us, deliverable-wise?
• What's the decision-making process, including criteria?
• Who's calling the shots?

Our criteria include:

• No cap on agency numbers from longlist to shortlist, provided the deliverables match the competition level. RFIs or Chemistry meetings are cool, but we're not unveiling our creative or strategic jewels just yet. That's for the shortlist stage, where we cap it at four agencies max (us included).
• Deliverables: In the longlist phase, we'll showcase our agency, engage in Chemistry meetings, and pull off some spontaneous, fun stunts to advance. Strategy and creativity are for the shortlist phase.
• Decision-making clarity: We want a clear understanding of the criteria, process, and the decision-makers' roles.
• Pitch Compensation We aim to be compensated for pitch-related expenses and, ideally, for the winning concept. But it's not a deal-breaker. We'll weigh the potential costs against the chances of victory and future gains.
• Copyrights and Intellectual Property Losing the pitch doesn't mean losing rights. The intellectual property of any ideas we submit remains ours, even if compensated. Winning, however, means future contracts will dictate terms.

Feel welcome. The Ultimate Pitch Menu, if you will. That's how we roll. Looking forward to vetting this checklist with many potential new clients. Got questions or wondering if we're game to pitch for your business? Better safe than sorry—give us a ring: 06-11306867...