Pitchens dramaturgi

“You either win or lose and the experience either makes you more prepared, more experienced, more creative/strategic, or more crazy.”

Seana Mulcahy på Online Spin, ritar upp pitchens manus på ett rätt roligt sätt. Visst är det så att det är en viss skillnad på den amerikanska marknaden och den svenska (europeiska) men ändå – the war room är där.

  • Agency gets a call or package from an outside search firm, or a brand marketer inviting the firm to pitch. Depending on how big (monetarily) the pitch is, this information comes to the head of biz dev, the COO, the CEO, or another big title.
  • A rough “pitch team” is selected based on creativity and smarts, or sometimes just plain availability. And the whirlwind begins…
    Email after email and meeting request after meeting request begin to swarm like bees.
    You find yourself juggling current client work, other new business pitches, and the new biggee.

  • Becoming expert in the art of hoop-jumping, you move from meeting to meeting, “war room” to “war room.” (Typically the name given to conference rooms that become unavailable and taken over solely for the purpose of the pitch.
  • A group of people are asked to craft responses to the RFP (request for proposal). This could go through several rounds.
    Sometimes agencies are given an assignment or a business challenge; sometimes they are not.

  • The great minds, eyes, and ears brainstorm into the wee hours of the night on a constant quest for “the big idea.”
    White boards are populated with scribblings, “war rooms” are packed with old ads, competitive ads, packaging, brochures… anything and everything about the company to gain knowledge, insight, or ignite the big idea.

  • Rounds of pitches are often protocol. They can happen at the agency, the prospective client’s office, or off-site. Location plays a huge role in the pitch. Agencies want to house pitches to have home court advantage, which cuts down on travel expenses, etc.
  • Depending on the number of rounds, agencies quickly (sometimes within days) get eliminated.
  • For those who are lucky to remain, they may get assignment after assignment to complete in mere days until the next round.

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