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There’s a disturbing trend in clients using pitches to solve problems rather than choose agencies – ie, to find the right idea, not the right agency.

It’s disturbing, because it means they get a lot of good thinking – arguably, our most valuable commodity – for free. That’s not good for agencies. But it’s also not good for clients. Because they get an idea based on a rushed, pitch-frenzy process and therefore a superficial understanding of the brief, the market and the client.

Even worse, the idea you present may be one you’ve developed to impress the client, not solve the problem. As I always say, in a pitch the client is the customer, not their customers. I’ve always been tried to pitch the idea that will win the business first, and answer the brief second. Now that these are one and the same thing, it’s harder and harder for everyone to get it right.

How much would you pay for three words? Let’s look at it another way – how long does it take to write three words? That is, at your hourly agency rate, how much would a client have to pay for the few seconds it takes to write three words? There’s only eight letters in the three words, so now we’re probably talking just a few pence. How about £50million? Of course not, I hear you laugh. Why on earth would you? Well, the three words in question helped push an already established company into the stratosphere, helping it become a multi-billion dollar global empire. Now, how much would you pay for ‘just do it’? (more…)