A pitch is not a competition but a purchasing procedure with creative content. Run it as a competition and you pick the best presentation; run it as a procedure and you pick the best partner.
The four steps
1. The longlist. About six agencies, built on what you need rather than on who you know. In IKAg-guided processes six is the median. Check them on paper: services, sector experience, size, group structure and the figures from the annual accounts.
2. The chemistry meetings. An hour and a half per agency, with no work produced. You are looking for two things: whether they ask the right questions, and whether you want to sit at a table with these people for two years. After this round three remain.
3. The work-up. Three agencies, the same written briefing, the same deadline, the same fee. In guided processes three is also the median shortlist, and that three is remarkably tight: across twenty measured shortlists it ranged from two to four.
4. The decision. On a grid you fixed before the first presentation, with weights per criterion, where everyone scores alone before anyone talks.
The four things to fix in advance
- The budget. Without one you get three incomparable proposals.
- Who decides, and how many people will be in the room.
- The criteria and their weights. Assigning weight afterwards always means your favourite wins.
- What happens to the work shown. See may I use the work from a pitch.
The mistake made most often
The briefing is given verbally and slightly differently to each agency. You then compare three answers to three questions. One written document, one question round, and the answers sent to all three at once: that is the whole difference between a selection and a guess.
And tell the ones who did not win
Call the losers yourself, with the reason attached. The agency world is small, and how you close a pitch decides who turns up for your next one.
For the longlist the factsheets are the fastest way in: per agency the services, the sectors and the figures from the annual accounts. If you would rather not run the process yourself, that is what IKAg does under Agency selection & pitches.
See also: how many agencies to invite, how to write a briefing and how long a pitch takes.