A pitch is expensive for everyone, you included. It is worth it when you do not know the market, or when the assignment is big enough to justify weeks of work by three teams. In every other case there are cheaper ways to reach the same choice.
When to pitch
- You do not know the market. A pitch is then mainly a way to see three ways of thinking side by side.
- The assignment is large or long-running. A three-year relationship justifies weeks of work on both sides.
- You have to be able to justify your choice. With a public assignment or a purchasing department a procedure is not a luxury but a requirement.
When not to pitch
- You already know who you want. A pitch with a foregone conclusion is an expensive formality, and the other participants always notice. It costs you goodwill you will need later.
- The amount is modest. Below a certain threshold the procedure costs more than it returns, on both sides of the table.
- Your briefing is not settled. Making three agencies guess what you want gives you three answers to three questions.
The three alternatives
The paid trial assignment. Give one agency a small, real project with a real deadline and a real invoice. You learn more about working together in three weeks of work than in three presentations, at a fraction of the cost of a pitch.
The chemistry round without work. Three meetings of an hour and a half, with the same questions. Enough to choose when you are mainly looking for a partner rather than a concept.
Awarding directly, well prepared. Entirely legitimate, provided you check the figures and references as thoroughly as in a pitch. See how to know whether an agency is financially healthy.
What not to do under any circumstances
Launch a pitch to put pressure on your existing agency. It works once, it costs you the people you liked most, and the rest of the market hears about it.
If you are torn between the two, that is exactly the question a selection process at IKAg starts with: see Agency selection & pitches.
See also: how many agencies to invite and what a pitch costs you internally.