How not to pitch for a new client
I am undecided about whether this is the ultimate send-up or just crass arrogance. Agency.com put a video up on YouTube showing themselves doing a 3 day preparation for a pitch to the sandwich chain, Subway.
This purports to be the 5 minute video about themselves that the client requested as stage one of the pitch selection process. I do hope that is is not what they submitted. The results
Now, in the UK we lead the world in creative advertising and we try to be deeply professional about how we approach new business and maybe Agency.com is not riding the peak of the creative wave at the moment and this is lost in a transatlantic mis-translation.
BUT
10 Reasons why this is creatively poorly executed, deeply embarrassing to watch and cringingly arrogant
1. Put yourself in the client’s shoes… how will they respect your agency’s creativity when the unauthorised ‘viral’ campaign you create gets deeply criticised worldwide, in no time at all?
2. The pitch process is virtually non-existant - there is no plan, no over-riding simple message about the brand. It’s all about the agency.
3. It shows advertising people at their most show-off arrogant. Great for the industry. NOT.
4. It proves that bad viral works really well particularly when posted to key gossip websites and blogs.
5. Didn’t they think through the implications of what they were doing in the context of trying to win a new client?
6. Anyone know if Subway threw them out on their ear or hired them?