#pitchtips

[brian-a-navarro]

[pitchtips]

Get The In-house Agency's Vote

Did you know that according to a 2013 ANA survey, 58% of all brands have an in-house agency? Compare that to the 2008 number of 42% and we see a serious trend. 

So it's not too surprising that a pitch consultant recently pointed out to me in an email about new business trends the influence of in-house agencies in AOR pitches:

"[The nature of a pitch] will also be impacted by whether there is an in-house agency. We see that more and more."

Okay, in-house agencies are the outside-agency's reality when pitching. How, then, should agencies approach this touchy dynamic in a way that allows the candidate-agency to strut their stuff, but do so without alienating the in-house agency?

In short, how do we get the in-house agency's vote?

To answer that question, I asked two Ideasicle clients of mine, both of whom have gone through relevant pitch experiences, and both of whom are creative directors of their respective in-house agencies, to get their advice.

Jamie Graham, Creative Director at Constant Contact.

Jamie Graham is in a very unique position, in that he has a long creative-directing career at outside agencies like Arnold, Y&R, Grey, among others. But was also at the helm of Constant Contact's in-house agency when they transitioned from having an outside agency to bringing it all in-house. 

His advice for us starts with the practical:

I think the dynamic which would benefit all is this: The in-housers have the advantage of knowing their product, their prospects and their internal politics. The pitchers have the greater advantage of not being indoctrinated by these ‘guardrails’. The two teams can help one another.

Well put. In-house agency creatives know things about the client that you don't, and, better yet, know things from the perspective of a creative person, which makes their insights doubly valuable. 

Graham goes on to give us the finer, more subtle influences and motivations:

Treat the in-house creatives as equals. (Even – perhaps especially - if they clearly aren’t.) So yes, involve them, pay attention to what they’re doing, but don’t pander to them. Chances are, they would love to ‘up their game’ and whatever is holding them back, the smart pitching agency can help remove. 

I find this insight fascinating because rather than being a threat to the in-house agency, your agency could be their creative liberator, if you play your cards right. 

And if the in-house agency believes your agency is the ticket to their own creative liberation, you are more likely to get their vote.

Jane Scanlon, Associate Creative Director at Staples Advantage.

Jane Scanlon recently lived through a major AOR pitch for the Staples business and so has fresh insights for us. She sent me a list of bulleted points, so let me just post them all, exactly as she wrote them, and then comment:

"Understand that your in-house counterparts may have a vested interest in their company and want to do what’s best for the bottom line.

Weird phenomenon: Inside clients may give more credence to ideas provided from an outside source. Be mindful of this potential bias.

Treat the Agency team as subject matter experts. But offer to provide additional data or research — there’s always room for more customer insight.

Helping in-house creatives look good helps you look good. And that means more potential business with your mutual client.

Fresh thinking from outside is exciting and inspirational for in-house creatives so bring it on!

Sense of humor. Mutual respect. Nuff said."

Lots in that list. Very encouraging to see that she welcomes fresh thinking ("bring it on!"). Love that, and it could mean when presenting the most "out there" ideas in your pitch, look at the in-house creatives in the room when you present them. They are the most likely to get the ideas, and visibly appreciate them.

I think her first point about in-house counterparts having a "vested interest" in their company and a sensitivity to their "bottom line," tells me they could be a short cut to your agency's best ideas. Meaning, their opinion is laced with respect for their business AND for doing great creative work. 

But the point Scanlon makes that really pops out at me - if not screams out at me - is the idea of helping in-house creatives "look good." Not because it's the right thing to do, but according to Scanlon it might get you more business down the line.

You can increase the odds of winning a pitch by connecting with the in-house creative.

Find a way to talk to the in-house creatives during the pitch process. Even if you're not supposed to due to pitch consultant rules. Find a way at the dinner, before a strategic workshop, or even just call them.

When you've got their attention, use them as a secret sounding board to preview ideas. Doing so will do two things: one, show them huge respect, which they will appreciate (and remember); two, will give you a more informed opinion than from a more business-oriented client.

In short, the respect you show by reaching out will improve your pitch and your odds of earning their important vote.

[pitchtips]

The Last Mile To Victory: Tone

My palms sweat when I recall this story, but I will recall it once more if it means you can avoid my fate. I won't say which pitch, but it was when I was biz dev director at Arnold. It was a huge account - $400 million, if memory serves - and, if I may say so, we had set this one up perfectly. The client loved the core team, they loved our strategy, they even started to love lobster despite not being from the East Coast. 

Nothing could possibly get in our way. The client told me as much privately. It was ours to lose and only the final presentation left to go.

You can probably see where this is going.

We got into the room and started our presentation to about ten clients. The laptop froze up after about five minutes. Wouldn't work. But not to worry, we had a second laptop under the table with the same presentation ready to go. I sprung from my seat, cracked a joke or two, unplugged and plugged some cords, and we were up and running again. 

We went through the strategic story from beginning to end. All good so far. But then we got to the creative.

Ah, the creative.

It was at this moment that I wished that laptop, the second laptop, and every laptop within 20 miles spontaneously combusted into flames.

As our creative director presented the first campaign, I could see our main client (the one I knew best) start to squirm in his seat. He was a little Type-A anyway, so any discomfort immediately showed. By the third and final campaign, this client was up and out of his seat nervously getting water. 

To make a long story short, we lost. And we lost because, while the creative was technically "on strategy" it was not "on tone." Breaking the unbearable news to me on the phone, the client said, "I thought you guys were kidding and that you would finally get to the real creative. But you never did." 

Dammit. The wrong tone killed us.

It's not enough to have good momentum, a great relationship, a great strategy, and a deep understanding of the marketplace. You have to discuss and articulate  the appropriate tone for the brand. We presented work that, tonally speaking, would have been appropriate for Budweiser, but not for the serious institution we were pitching.

By getting the tone so wrong, the client's confidence in everything else about the team, the strategy, and the lobster, fell down like a house of cards.

How to nail the tone.

If the creative brief is the boat, then tone is the rudder. Make "tone" an official part of your agency's creative brief. What are the 4-5 words that best describe the tone the creative must take?

In the pitch, make tone a part of your strategic work session with the client. Use flashcards with words on them if you have to. But force the conversation with your prospective clients now. Don't leave the room until you've all agreed to those 4-5 words.

If there is no creative work session, force one. Don't let the final presentation be the first time the client sees the work. I could have avoided the loss described above had I forced a check-in with the client - even a web presentation. If I had, the client would have course corrected us, for sure.

My palms are all galvanic right now, but I must admit I feel a little better turning this horrible loss into something potentially positive for you.

Getting the tone right won't necessarily win the pitch. But getting it wrong will most certainly lose it.

[pitchtips]

Stay On The Consultants' Radar

Fact is, the pitch consultants of the world are an important gatekeeper in the competitive world of agency new business. There are just too many agencies in the world for any one client to keep track of them all. So pitch consultants like Pile, SRI, Ark Advisors, and others, are enormously helpful in getting a client to a smart short-list of about 20 agencies. That's a lot of power, so getting your agency on the consultant's radar is critical.

I've worked with, and interviewed, many pitch consultants over the years. Here are a few things I found out as it relates to staying top-of-mind.

Think of it as a campaign.

I advise the agencies I work with to get systematic with pitch consultants. It takes time for consultants to remember your agency, its capabilities, and identity. So put a "media schedule" together with your planned activities with each consultant mapped out. Then stick to it. Thinking of it this way will help ensure that you don't over, or under, communicate with them. Or worse, forget a consultant altogether by mistake. And that you will have a consistent presence that will shape the consultants' view of your agency.

Be known for something.

As part of this campaign, and like any campaign you create for your clients, think about your agency's single most important message and hit it over and over with every interaction. If you're not sure what that could be, then Pitch Tip #3: Find Your Agency's Obsession is a great place to start. But then every interaction - from an email to an in-person meeting - becomes "further proof of our obsession." Eventually, your agency's obsession will be known in a "second nature" way to the consultants. That's gold. Because you need to be remembered if you're going to recommended.

Include live events.

You'll want to get in front of the consultants, in person, at least once a year, if not more, to have an official meeting. Have your top brass fly out to them, or invite them to your place. It's worth it because a human interaction is far more impactful and memorable than an email will ever be.

Pitch consultants will only recommend agencies they know will impress their clients. They do not like "wildcards" in pitches. So if a consultant has never seen your agency in action, put on a show. Show them you have the presentation chops (and that you will not embarrass them in front of their client).

Then, throughout the year, if you happen to be in the city of a consultant, invite him or her out to lunch or dinner. Keep the lead warm. And for god's sake pay the bill.

Use email as continuity.

Pitch consultants hate physical, high-impact mailers. Don't bother. I was told by one consultant that he throw them out. Too bulky, hard to file, and they get too many of them. So don't waste your money. 

Every pitch consultant I spoke with said that email was their preferred method of communication with agencies. And it's not surprising. It's light weight, easy to consume, and easy to file. One said she creates a new email folder for each agency she's following so it's easy for her to keep communications organized.

They truly want to hear from you, so don't be shy. 

It's their job to know about your agency. As such, pitch consultants are highly motivated to understand you. They will take an in-person meeting if you plan ahead. They will go out to lunch if they can. And they will actually read your emails you send. But one last thing. Only email them if you have some news. Could be something like a new strategic hire, a new account win, a new blog post, a new capability, or a new campaign. But do not waste their time or annoy them (ever, not just in email) or it could work against you.

Now, get out there and start getting on radar.

[pitchtips]

The Pitch Is Equal Parts Dictatorship & Democracy

Good pitching is as much about coming up with ideas quickly as it is about good decision-making. In fact, I'd argue that having the confidence to make key decisions liberates the ideas. Here's why.

The democracy keeps the ideas flowing. The pitch team should be encouraged to stretch their official capacities at all times. It doesn't matter if a PR person comes up with a great tagline. It's still a great tagline. It doesn't matter if a creative person articulates the key strategic statement in the brief perfectly. It's still a great strategic statement. In this way, the pitch team operates like a democracy because ideas are allowed to come from anywhere. We're all in this together.

The dictatorship keeps the ball moving. At the same time, a pitch has harsh deadlines. For that reason, I recommend that agencies assign a pitch captain to every pitch. Let the pitch team continually come up with lots of ideas on research, strategy, go-to-market ideas, messaging, even presentation ideas. But all the while the pitch captain is empowered to make the key decisions every step of the way (short of creative decisions, which I believe should still fall with the creative director).

Those decisions will unleash further thinking and ideas, but only if they're made. What I do that combines democracy and dictatorship is pin the best idea so far - from the democracy - on the wall for whatever you're working on at the moment and tell the team, "This is it until someone beats it." That way, the team can move forward developing the idea in the short term, but you've also let the team know that they can still try and beat it if they want. 

Without the dictatorship, too many paths will be followed needlessly. Worse, no decisions will be made until the night before the meeting - when you absolutely have to make them - and that means the delightful liberation of a smart decision can't possibly be realized in time.  

[pitchtips]

Tip #1: Lose Early. It's Cheaper.

One thing I always tell the agencies I consult with is this: it is far less expensive to lose at the RFP stage of a pitch than in the finals.

Too many agencies try to over-calculate what to say in their RFPs in order to get into the next round of a pitch. But inherent in “calculating” the answers is the fact you are not staying true to yourself, as an agency. The good news from all this calculating is that you might make it into the next round. The bad news is that the client will find out sooner or later who your agency really is.

Much better to prepare the RFP on your terms. Answer the questions truthfully, with an authentic spirit that truly reflects your agency’s culture and values. Be who you are times 100.

If the client doesn’t like your submission, too bad. But they didn't like it for the right reasons, and you didn’t spend $200,000 on a pitch you can’t win. If the client does like your submission, you can move forward with absolute confidence that you can be yourselves for the rest of the pitch.

Which, incidentally, increases your odds of winning the pitches you do get into.

So the next time you get knocked out of a pitch after a heart-felt RFP submission, don’t get bummed out. Go out and celebrate with some of the money you saved.