Six on the longlist, three in the final. That is not a guideline but a measurement: across 79 pitch processes IKAg guided between 2017 and 2026, together good for 441 participations, six is the median longlist and three the median shortlist.
What those two numbers actually say
- Longlist: median six, ranging from one to fourteen. This is the round where you look and talk, with no work being produced.
- Shortlist: median three, and remarkably tight. Across twenty measured shortlists the number ran between two and four. For a distribution covering nearly ten years of practice that is a narrow band.
- Agency visit and final: median three. Whoever makes the shortlist usually goes all the way.
These are IKAg's own files, not a sample of the Belgian market. What they do show is a consistent practice across almost a decade.
Why three is the answer
Below three you do not have a comparison but a confirmation. Two proposals rarely produce a real choice; one of them always mainly demonstrates that the other is better.
Above four it goes wrong on both sides. For you: there is no time to properly understand each proposal, so the best presentation wins instead of the best proposal. For the agencies: the chance of winning drops below the threshold that justifies the investment, and the strongest candidates withdraw. You lose exactly the agencies you wanted.
What to do with the six
The longlist exists to cut, not to pitch. Check them on paper with the factsheets, hold short meetings, and bring them down to three before you ask anyone to make work. Every agency you send a briefing to without having spoken to them is an agency producing free work you will do nothing with.
And tell the agencies how many are taking part. It is a normal question, and the answer determines how much they put in.
See also: how to run a pitch, whether to pay a pitch fee and what a pitch costs you internally.