Guidelines on
client-agency relations
and best practice
in the pitch process
PANA GMM
11.25.10
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AGENDA
1.
2.
3.
4.
About this presentation
Objectives
Reasons for a Pitch
Guidelines
a. Before the Pitch
b. Pitch Process
c. Post-Pitch
5. Reference Materials
ABOUT THIS
PRESENTATION
This presentation provides guidelines
for both parties, the client and the agency,
on how to organize, conduct and conclude
a pitch process leading to a new
client-agency relationship.
Sources: World Federation of Advertisers (WFA)
European Association of Communication Agencies (EACA
OBJECTIVES
OBJECTIVES
• To produce a win/win for all parties:
• To enable clients to find the agencies that best
fit their needs
• To enable agencies to pitch successfully and
sensibly
• To help marketing procurement achieve
maximum value for the company
REASONS FOR A
PITCH
Key reasons include:
• The term of the existing contract will expire
and a review is mandatory
• Cross-country consolidations, brands
alignments, AOR assignments
• Strategic disagreements or poor creative
performance
• Poor sales results and/or lackluster business
performance
• Dissatisfaction with client servicing
• Agency wishes to take on a competitive
account
BEFORE THE
PITCH
Always try to make the
relationship work before
resorting to a pitch.
• Experience has proven that long-term
relationships benefit the health of a brand.
• Working with the existing agency to discuss
problems, and addressing them together is often a
wiser, less costly, and quicker solution.
• It is recommended that both clients and agencies
have mutual evaluations conducted at least annually.
This practice will serve as a valuable early warning and solution providing - system.
Make a priority of dealing
with the incumbent
agency fairly.
• If a client has decided to call a pitch (maybe after a
period of trying exceptionally hard to make it work), an
important early step is to discuss the situation openly
with the existing agency(ies).
• Clients should explain to the agency the reason/s
the pitch has been decided and what the next steps
would be.
• There will be occasions where the decision to pitch
will represent a vote of no confidence in the
incumbent agency. In that situation, client should
make it clear to the incumbent that it is not worth their
while to participate in the pitch.
If at all possible, avoid full creative
pitch, which can be costly and
time-consuming for both parties.
• A huge amount of time and money is invested and
often misapplied on pitching, by both client and
agency.
• Another option that is recommended in selecting a
new creative agency is via an AGENCY
CREDENTIALS PRESENTATION.
• Looking for agencies with particular
knowledge and experience of a client’s business
• Reviewing the reputation, creative work and
case histories of candidate agencies
• This option is the most efficient in terms of cost
(practically nil) and timings for clients.
PITCH PROCESS
Form a cohesive
multi-discipline
decision-making team.
• The first key step is the creation of a small steering
team which will manage the whole process, will be
accountable for its success and towards its end, will
produce the recommendation to the management
which agency should be selected and why.
• Typically “core” members are the marketing leader,
the relevant “discipline” leader (e.g. media,
interactive, marketing research), procurement
professionals, reps from product management.
• Use additional consultation if there is no internal
pitching experience
Establish a firm and realistic
timetable.
• A precise and realistic timeline for the whole
process should be prepared by the steering team.
• The timeline should include precise dates for the
various phases, including when to make and
communicate the final decision.
• Sufficient time must be allowed between the
briefing occasion and the presentation; a minimum
of 4 weeks is considered fair for a full creative pitch.
Write a clear, concise
and well thought out brief.
• The steering team should be accountable for the
production of the brief, and its quality and completeness.
• Clients should be very clear on their communication
objectives, to enable them to specify the agency’s role,
scope and budget.
• Independent of format, an effective brief should
provide information covering the following:
• Client’s expectations from the pitch outcome
• Description of the work expected from the agency
• Specific indications on requirements in terms of
organization, work processes, compensation
schemes
• The exact same brief should be given to all agencies
in the pitch and preferably, at the same time. Client
briefing and discussions should ideally be face to face.
• Ensure that the criteria for evaluation/decision-making
at each stage of the process is clear and agreed by all
parties.
• It is good to have some rules on who the agencies are
allowed to have contact with to ask questions on the
brief.
Be open about the issue of
pitch fees and expenses;
always respect national
rules and agreements.
• The main objective of the pitch fee is to motivate
the agencies, and to compensate them for the
amount of effort put in a pitch (manhours, research
and production costs, etc.)
• 4As-P will be implementing a Pitch Fee of P75,000
for a full creative pitch starting January 1, 2011.
• Agencies will not expect to make a profit on the
pitch process. On the average, agencies spend
between P300k to P500k on a creative pitch.
TPCC GUIDELINES
• 2.8 Advertisers shall conduct a fair procedure in the
bidding for Advertising Agency services.
–2.8.1 Where the Advertiser asks for a speculative
account bids from two or more Advertising Agencies,
the Advertiser shall pay speculative bid fee prescribed
by the advertising agency sector.
–2.8.2 The ideas presented in a speculative bidding are
proprietary to the bidders and may not be used
without their consent.
–2.8.3 The Advertiser shall formally inform the
participating agencies of the results of the bid.
4As ASIA-PACIFIC
•ADVERTISING ASSOCIATION OF THAILAND (AAT)
- Implemented Pitch Fees in 2003
- Fee: 100,000 baht
•ASSOCIATION OF ACCREDITED ADVERTISING
AGENCTS MALAYSIA (4As Malaysia)
– Implemented Pitch Fees in 2006
– Fee: RM150,000
Manage the
pitch process
• No agencies should be added to the list of pitch
participants after the client briefing.
• The timing of the presentation should be set to allow
the agency to present the requested work, and the other
participants to attend, ask questions and discuss the
presentations.
• Clients should not allow agencies to overrun their time.
Any extra time spent with one agency should be allowed
to all in the interests of fairness.
• Client should try to hold all pitch presentations over as
short a time span soon as possible.
Be formal about
scoring and evaluating
the pitches.
• The steering team should make sure that all decisionmakers are fully and equally briefed and present at the
pitch presentations.
• It is one of the task of the steering team to establish an
objective scoring and evaluation system assessing each
pitch and allow enough time for the participants to
attend, ask questions and discuss the presentations.
• A checklist with some kind of scoring system related to
the priorities they determined in advance can be a useful
way of keeping track of what the agencies covered and
what the client thought of it.
Making and
communicating
the decision
• After the presentation round has ended, ideally
within one or two weeks (allowing for business
discussions), the client should decide on the winning
agency.
• It is recommended that the pitch decision date is
determined at the briefing stage of the pitch.
• All pitching agencies should learn about the
decision the same day.
POST-PITCH
Manage the pitches
sensitively, and treat
documents with respect and
absolute confidentiality.
• The client should offer the unsuccessful agency or
agencies the courtesy of a debriefing.
• The unsuccessful agencies must return all
confidential material and information provided by the
advertiser. The advertiser, in turn, must return the
unsuccessful agency pitch presentation materials to
the agencies as well.
• The creative concepts produced under the
conditions of the agency pitch remain the property of
the agencies. In case ideas produced by one or
several agencies not selected are of interest to the
advertiser, the purchase of usage rights should be
negotiated.
Manage the transition
and hand-over
process with care.
• The incumbent agency’s contract should be
honored, particularly with respect to the notice
period and payment of outstanding billings.
• The client should ensure that the incumbent
agency cooperates fully in an orderly handover to
the new agency.
• The handover should involve all three parties:
client, incumbent agency and new agency.
Reference Materials:
www.wfanet.org
www.eaca.eu
www.wfamediacharter.org
THANK YOU AND
HAVE A GOOD DAY!