Agency pitch

The Agency Pitch is simply put a presentation with which one strives for a contract. It is one of the most common ways companies choose an agency. The agencies try to get a certain budget from a customer. This type of competition is intended to ensure the selection of the best service provider for the support of a company. Agency pitches are made especially for the selection of an advertising agency , media agency , PR agency , internet agency , event agency or design agency .

procedure

In the first step, a long list of around seven to ten agencies is usually defined for the customer , which are suitable for the area of responsibility. After viewing the longlist, the company makes a shortlist of agencies that are invited to the actual pitch. As a rule, this is a maximum of three other agencies in addition to the previous budget holder.

The briefing is the most important basis for the task. It forms the basis for the pitch and is the essential interface between the company and the agencies. After receiving the briefing, the agencies will be given an opportunity to re-brief if necessary . The re-briefing is used to determine to what extent the task was understood in the interests of the company.

A pitch is often not rewarded , but the winning agency receives the actual assignments within the budget for at least one or two years . A pitch fee is usually granted for more extensive pitches or pitches for a singular project. The fee usually covers the technical costs and travel costs as well as at least partially the workload for pitch preparation. Some agencies refuse to participate in unpaid pitches. The agency associations General Association of Communication Agencies (GWA) and Society for Public Relations Agencies advise agencies against participating in unpaid pitches. Specialized media publications such as W&V or Horizont are also advocates of rewarded pitches. Some agencies do not accept pitches with insufficiently informative briefing or the lack of the possibility of re-briefing.

A larger pitch can also contain several stages of presentation. In technical jargon, such intermediate stages are also called shoulder gazing , in which the customer is presented with unfinished ideas and concepts.

Experts today speak out in favor of a variant of the classic pitch. Since it cannot be guaranteed that the right agency partner will be found through a pitch, it is becoming more and more common to do a kind of workshop with the selected agencies. Everyday collaboration is simulated here using a fictitious and real project.