Peter Levitan & Co.

The New Business of Advertising

Search Results for: pitch

Advertising Agencies: “Do Not Pitch”

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Cruise around the world of advertising agency new business consultants and you will often hear that ad agencies shouldn’t ever have to pitch for new business. The “pitch” for not pitching is that if you do a well-targeted, brilliant in-bound marketing program you will get direct “I love you, I want you” incoming from all the qualified new clients you desire. Cool. You’ll get all the new business you want without the cost and hardship of pitching.

This “win without pitching” dream does come true for some agencies. And, I do discuss how to build and run targeted in-bound programs with my clients. These programs include the hyper-targeting of specific clients and selected categories and the employment of SEO best practices (understanding your target market; smart keyword strategies; use of longer posts; syncing your blog, Twitter, LinkedIn and Slideshare, channels; leveraging YouTube.)

However, for the vast majority of agencies, in-bound marketing simply isn’t enough.

Telling Advertising Agencies “Do Not Pitch” For New Business Is Simply BS

I’ve been involved in advertising agency new business since my first pitch (we won) for Western Union’s EasyLink email service in 1984 (yes, this was the first commercial email service — just a touch early.) I’ve run business development at Saatchi and my own agency. Guess what, unless you are the darling of ADWEEK; just won the Gold Lion and some Clios; do Apple or Samsung or Coke advertising; have some form of secret sauce (you are the first ad agency to actually get mobile advertising with ROI proof); have an outrageous database of marketing friends for continuous referrals or are well-know as a category expert…

Fuhgeddaboudit. Chances are rather high that you will have to pitch the accounts that you want. Sitting back and waiting for those love-child clients to call you ain’t going to keep your agency afloat. Wishing that you will never have to pitch is lunacy.

So, please, win without ever pitching? Maybe for the 1%. But, not the other 3,999 agencies.

My bottom line? Learn how to win more of the pitches you should be invited to. I’m going to start to write about how to pitch. It will be a good “pitch” for my business.

And…. Here is how to position your agency so you might win those pitches you are invited to.

Yo!… Don’t miss any of my brilliant (LOL, but I mean it) thoughts on new business.

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The Pitch – My New Favorite Ad Agency Name

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Meineke PitchLadies and gentlemen: The Pitch. OK… How could you not like the name of this agency?

Pitching, to consumers that is, is in fact what advertising agencies do for their clients. So, why not name your agency The Pitch?

Oh, agencies also do a lot of pitching for themselves, but you knew that. Oh, and everyone in LA is pitching something all the time. So, The Pitch is a name-tri-fecta.

Find The Pitch on Pinterest’s largest database of advertising agencies. (I love pitching that.)

Ad Agencies: Who Owns Your Pitch ideas?

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crestlogo1There is nothing I loved more during my advertising career than pitching. I loved the chase, the idea that we could come up with really brilliant thinking and work in a compressed timeframe and the camaraderie of the pitch process.

What I didn’t love was the feeling that I was often giving away our big ideas. It sucked.

To dig into the legal aspects of the issue of who owns your pitch ideas, I interviewed Sharon Toerek for Advertising Week’s blog. Sharon is an intellectual property and marketing law attorney who specializes in the advertising industry at Cleveland’s Licata & Toerek.

Read the post on Advertising Week Social Club.

By the way. I’ll see you at Advertising Week, as in next week, right?

Four Agencies Flock To Detroit To Pitch Cadillac

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Really, Could Any Ad Agency Sell Cadillacs? Even To The 55+ers?

Three of the biggest advertising agency holding firms are vying to handle Cadillac’s creative account. Agency execs from a trio of companies –Interpublic Group of Cos., Omnicom Group and Publicis Groupe– flocked to Motor City Thursday to be briefed by General Motors.

Can you imagine the promises of success they are making? What advertising message would get you to bypass Audi or BMW to buy a Caddie?

Read more from the source: Crain’s Detroit Business

Pitch and RFP Management.

I’ve worked with the best ad agency pitchmen. No question. However, even the best often had their doubts about what to present and how to construct the presentation. Sometimes it takes a fresh perspective to help craft the killer pitch.

I’ve pitched Fortune 500 companies and small local clients from Seoul to Oshkosh (yes, it’s true.) I’ve managed large and small teams. I’ve trained agencies globally. I understand the balance between delivering information and theater. I even know when to tell a trusted agency employee to stay home.

RFPs? I love it when I hear agencies say that they don’t participate in RFPs. It’s important to have a qualification system and know when to decline – and when to say yes.

Of course, RFPs have their place in the marketing world, and I’ve run submissions and pitches that have resulted in wins from AT&T, Intel, Legalzoom, Montana Lottery, Northwest Airlines, and a range of small to medium-sized local clients.

I can help you build a decision matrix and pitch system, coach your team, or help manage your pitches and RFP submissions. The goal: Win more. Sweat less.

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