What's the 'New Normal' for New Business Pitches?

The advertising landscape is ever in flux, but never more so than during the last two years. And as the industry slowly returns to business as usual, the demand for modern, relevant and effective marketing communications services has soared, leading to a record number of pitches. But what has changed in the never-ending chase for new clients and agency partners? After a period of wondering whether they would have any business to come back to, it was perhaps inevitable that agencies, which have cut staffing numbers and services following the sudden and deep decline in demand, would find themselves in pitching overdrive. Client spend has spiked with lockdowns easing. Meanwhile, marketers are reviewing whether the agency relationships they have are right for this strange, new world. According to the latest research from WARC, global ad spend is expected to grow by 12.6% this year and reach $665 billion, an upgrade from the 6.7% increase initially projected. It also found that ad spend in Q2 2021 rose by 23.6% to $157.6 billion —the strongest rise in over a decade. Growth in the second quarter was driven mostly by online formats, which saw spending rise by 31.2% compared with the previous year. Suddenly, there are major account reviews by Walmart, Unilever, Bayer, Coca-Cola, Facebook, International Airlines Group, Just Eat Takeaway, Asda and many more. Agencies are seriously questioning whether or not they want to put the energy and effort into that opportunity relative to all the other opportunities that they're facing.Paul Phillips, managing director, AAR According to management consultancy AAR, agency appointments in the U.K. were up by 12% in the first six months of 2021, and there were 37% more reviews completed during that period. The data also indicated there was a 400% increase in the number of brands with budgets of over $27.7 million (20 million pounds) changing agencies, year over year. A year ago, only two such clients appointed new agencies during the first half of 2020. The return to normal Offices are reopening and in-person meetings are returning, even if much of the advertising sector has moved out of the major cities to escape the hustle and bustle, as well as exorbitant costs, of central business districts. As a result, new business pitching practices have emerged. In May, New York-based agency Superheroes turned the client-agency dynamic on its head, telling clients they would have to pitch to work with them. In return, the agency would pay a pitch fee of $500 to NoKidHungry.org for each brand that made it to the pitch stage. You now have a different environment to impress and do it through creativity to show you have cracked the challenge.Chris Kemp, chief executive, Ingenuity The idea, while in no way likely to become a trend, did underscore an important point: As clients all wanted to conduct reviews, the agency landscape had become a commodity, even if it was in the short term. Agencies, especially those specializing in media, have been able to be “far more selective” in assessing the opportunities available, according to AAR’s managing director, Paul Phillips. “If the brand has not got its ducks in a row by way of knowing what it wants, knowing what the process is, knowing who the decision-makers are, knowing what success looks like, locking in the dates, and even by having a pitch meeting on the Tuesday after a holiday weekend, then they [agencies] are seriously questioning whether or not they want to put the energy and effort into that opportunity relative to all the other opportunities that they're facing,” said Phillips. “Add to that the very genuine concerns that there are around the overall well-being and mental well-being of agency staff, who are not necessarily at the most senior end, where it can sometimes be a choice of which of my properties do I choose to work on?” The decision-making process has also been accelerated, said Ingenuity chief executive Chris Kemp, who feels more is being bought at the pitch stage. “It’s reverting back to the creative idea to win the pitch,” Kemp told Adweek, saying he believes “great planners” are the key to winning and, with virtual pitches, “you now have a different environment to impress and do it through creativity to show you have cracked the challenge." Still, Kemp warns clients against focusing on project-based hiring and underlined the need for long-term partnerships vital for brand building. “There has been more of a shift to immediacy and to seeking a shorter-term creative solution than a longer-term creative partner,” he said. Winning the Virtual Room: How Agencies' Pitches Are Evolving During Coronavirus A move away from single services, and Zoom etiquette There has also been more demand for agencies to take the lead on integrated strategic campaign planning, moving away from working with niche players and wrangling a number of agency partners. Having one partner has become the preference, best exemplified by Coca-Cola’s review bringing together its multiple international agency relationships under one or two roofs instead. Zoom has humanized pitch processes much more and created more opportunities to plug the gap left by the loss of physical meetings.Ryan Kangisser, managing partner, MediaSense Charlie Carpenter, managing director of integrated agency Creativebrief, said this is part of the new normal. “We've definitely seen more brands looking for a lead strategic creative agency, but an agency with much more of a digital or social leaning," he said. Carpenter pointed to reviews for brands including Fever-Tree, Heinz Baby and Footlocker that "have said that to us specifically.” He also revealed that brands are moving away “slightly” from the “worthiness in tone” that was a trend during the pandemic to seek a “lighter, more compelling” approach to their communications.Another change is the streamlining of the pitching process. Whereas there used to be chemistry when meeting in person, the element of theatre has been removed due to the remote nature of communications, and that has resulted in being more inclusive for all involved. “The ability to get multiple people in a room [free of travel] has expedited elements of the process but also given rise to more opportunities, albeit more informal, to build chemistry,” said Ryan Kangisser, managing partner at media advisor MediaSense. Kangisser pointed to the sudden rise in virtual cocktail-making events as well as the opportunity to “calibrate thinking” through the ease of communications when everyone is just a click away. “Zoom has humanized pitch processes much more and created more opportunities to plug the gap left by the loss of physical meetings,” he added, further pointing out that meetings can now be larger to enable every stakeholder to contribute or listen to strategic conversations. The consensus seems to be that while initial chemistry sessions and meetings are still likely to involve Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts or whatever video platform is whitelisted, the end pitching process will return to in-person presentations as clients want to return to the in-room theatrics. “While clients and agencies have embraced the Zoom pitch, given the choice, many would revert back to in-person meetings in a heartbeat,” said Kangisser. “The focus and spontaneity of a pitch have naturally been diluted by the distraction of [working from home] and a more structured and rehearsed presentation. Furthermore, the inability to truly read the room for agencies has been both challenging and disheartening." According to Tracey Barber, global CMO for Havas Creative Group, another change in the pitching process that's likely here to stay is the role of procurement, which she said was “turbocharged” during to the pandemic as costs were even more heavily scrutinized. Barber also questions the role intermediaries will play as client and agency connections became more direct. “The vast majority of the pitches we are involved in have procurement involvement, but what I find really interesting is the amount of direct contact from procurement we’re now receiving," she said. "It opens up a much more comprehensive conversation at a much earlier stage of the process, and therein lies a huge opportunity for those agencies who aim to solve business problems, not just answer marketing briefs." The Covid-19 legacy Video technology may have saved the pitch process during the pandemic, but the well-engrained (and much bemoaned) new business pitch will not change to any great extent. However, the hope of making it a fairer and less costly process will prevail, experts Adweek spoke with said. Perhaps the element of theatre may be lost, but was it ever crucial to the decision-making process in the first place? Probably not. Certainly, it seems unlikely there will be an increase in paid pitching, even if agencies in the short term are in high demand for their specialist skills. If there is a chance to find new ways of working, then this is it.