How to win creative pitches

In another life, I spent five years working as a New Business Director for an advertising agency. Omnicom trained me in the dark art of winning credentials and creative pitches. Now I advise agencies on how to write and structure their pitch documents. Here are a few of the most important principles.

Son of a pitch, this creds needs a theme.

A good salesperson will always have an angle. Before any call, they’ll decide what they’re going to lead with. In branding-speak this is ‘how you position yourself’. But however you want to phrase it, it boils down to deducing what sets you apart from the competition and, more importantly, why this is beneficial for the client.

Out-position, out-fox

Once you’ve decided this, it should become the theme of your pitch. Let me give you an example. We recently advised an agency on a creative pitch for the inflight magazine account for a five-star, Asian airline. Now, there were seven agencies in the running. One was the incumbent with the benefit of being local (more convenient for the client etc.) Another was a big player. Stiff competition then. So what angle was going to out-position these other six contenders?