We fought bravely
Any agency will tell you that pitch work is a mixed blessing. On the one hand it offers a great opportunity to get ideas in front of a client and, if done correctly, can result in a juicy job and a long relationship filled with equally juicy jobs. On the other hand, pitches are a gamble which need resources and money in order to do justice to the brief.
But that’s business in a nutshell.
I’ve seen a wide variety of pitch work over the years and each agency varies on the stance it is prepared to take. Some agencies won’t deign to participate at all. They run with the idea that their past work should be a good enough guide as to what can be expected. It’s an understandable position. Pitches aren’t often the best way to get work from an agency. Sure we will throw resources at the brief and come up with the best ideas we can but often the brief is just part of what the client wants taken into account. Pitches exclude the role of collaboration in creativity and collaboration, as I’ve written before, is a vital part of creating a campaign. In an ideal world, pitching would be outlawed. It can devalue the creative process and certainly undermines the client/agency relationship.
On the upside, however, it does give the client a choice: a choice of ideas and a choice of approaches. That is, as I understand the process, its main appeal to the client. To extend the initial metaphor, it’s like spread betting. You know that you aren’t completely wasting time because chances are you will hit the jackpot with at least one idea.
At Head First we engage with the pitch process. It’s a lot of work because we like to give it our all. Of the different creative teams we run around here we like to get at least one idea from each before filtering them down to a selection of presentable ideas.
But we don’t always win.
One such example of what I still see as a great and potentially iconic approach to advertising is our work for Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. Our approach was bang on for the target market and had high value as a visible and memorable piece of creative. That’s not to undermine the winning creative idea in any way of course. I don’t believe in the “one is better than another” approach. I see different work as exactly that: different. It’s down to the client to choose which is most appropriate for their marketing vision.
Bastards 
