Pitch Positive Pledge seeks to to improve pitching behaviours

The Pitch Positive Pledge, a new initiative from advertising trade bodies the IPA and ISBA, seeks to make the pitching process more intentional, accountable and responsible for both advertisers and agencies. 

Why it matters

Historically, pitch guides have focused on the process and ‘how to’ of pitching and have lacked the consideration of both human and environmental costs. The Pitch Positive Pledge brings a new perspective, aiming to drive more transparency and better mental wellbeing, resulting in better quality work, fewer costs and less wastage.

The Pledge

The Pledge addresses the three stages of the pitch process – before, during and after:

• Be positive a pitch is required (before): the advertiser will be positive a pitch is necessary and will provide a written statement clearly setting out why.

• Run a positive pitch (during): the advertiser will consider the implications of the requirements it asks the agency to fulfil; the agency will consider both the interest of their client and the wellbeing of their people throughout the process.
• Provide a positive resolution (after): the advertiser will inform the agency of the pitch outcome directly and provide feedback on their performance; agencies will accept the client’s decision and provide feedback on how well their team handled the pitch and adhered to the Pledge.

Background

Pitching is just one of the difficult contact points between marketers and agencies. Last year, for example, the BetterBriefs project estimated that as much as one third of marketing budgets could be wasted due to poor briefing (listen to Pieter-Paul von Weiler and Matt Davies, founders of BetterBriefs, discuss this on a WARC Talks podcast). 

What next? 

More than 70 companies have already pledged their commitment and an industry survey will benchmark current pitching activity (with questions addressing the areas of mental health, wastage, costs and effectiveness) in order to be able to chart progress.

Sourced from IPA [Image: Getty]