Is the pitch broken? TrinityP3 study to uncover reality of modern pitching

Marketers are creating in-depth pitches for small projects, rather than long-term commercial arrangements, according to a study aiming to provide an "accurate and quantified view" of the pitch process. 

'The State of the Pitch' study by consultancy TrinityP3, is collecting anonymous data from pitches held between 1 July to 31 December this year, to reveal the current landscape for both media and creative pitches in Australia. 

Darren Woolley, global CEO of TrinityP3 told Mediaweek "What we hope to show the industry, is that not all pitches are equal. We need to start identifying where the problems are."

Early data from the survey, which is open until 31 December, suggests there has been an increase in pitches across the market this year, however, these were predominantly for smaller, project-based work, rather than long-term contracts. 

"The survey is showing that coming off the back of Covid, which for two years meant a lot of clients postponed pitches, there has been an increase in the number of marketers going to a full creative pitch or a full media pitch for a very small project," said Woolley. 

"While the traditional model was to appoint an agency for three years, now they're going to pitch and appointing an agency for three to six months to do a project. Yet the amount of work involved in winning this piece of work is the same as winning a three year project." 

"We're seeing there are quite a number of pitches, where the proposed fee is under $200,000 a year." 

"There are a lot of comments about poor practice, however, this is it's not about finger pointing. It's really about trying to inform the market about the opportunities for improvement, based on feedback from the agencies."

The study aims to provide transparency around pitching activity, which is often hidden behind non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements, in a bid to identify issues and initiative action to solve them. Woolley said TrinityP3 would reach out to industry bodies such as AANA, MFA and ACA depending on the outcomes of the data.  

--