Some Thoughts on Pitching

So, when I worked at studios and agencies, we were forever pitching. And pitching is hard, exhausting work, and always takes away resources from the actual clients and jobs and projects you already have. Because I’m a producer, I’m always paying attention to these things, and pitching is expensive. You spend a fortune in labor on a gamble that you’ll get the job. And you do it over and over again.

And clients expect it. They expect to be flown in and wined and dined and courted by all your key people and be blown away by all your best work. Then they move on to the next agency, like the belle of the ball, until they have been wooed by everyone.

At the time, I read a lot of articles in AdWeek and the like, espousing the revolutionary new idea that pitching is a bad practice for agencies, and a poor investment of company resources. And I marveled at stories of artists and agencies and studios that are so confident that they don’t pitch at all. Either clients want to do business with them, or they don’t. It felt like a breath of fresh air.

After all, no other business works that way. You don’t go into a hair salon and say “I might want to get a haircut here, but first show me all your best haircuts, and let me read your resume, and suggest three haircuts I might like, and photoshop them onto my face, and then I’ll make my decision.” You don’t go into a restaurant and demand to examine and sample all the food before you decide to eat there. We don’t go around in life auditioning trained professionals and demanding their best ideas and their highest quality work before we deign to do business with them. Why does advertising work that way?

One side effect of the inbound marketing trend is that a lot of businesses are skipping agencies altogether and producing their own content in-house. But they aren’t really producing it; instead of hiring agencies, they are hiring individual writers, videographers, photographers, and designers to create for them, and managing the projects themselves. This saves them a ton of money, although it seldom results in better outcomes.

What’s bothering me lately as a writer is that on many of the higher-paid freelance writing sites, you are expected to pitch.

Really?

I mean, really?

You want writers, people who you are reluctant to pay even a minimum wage, to do the research on your company, your market position, your customer, your existing content, and your objectives. I’m supposed to learn all that on my own, without even having a call, and then come up with the perfect idea for content that will embody your brand voice and position, and connect with your audience, and drive your KPIs?

That’s the hard part, ladies and gentlemen. That’s what all the experience and education and expertise is FOR. Anybody can write. It’s coming up with the idea, figuring out WHAT to write that is the hard part. And that’s the labor you want done for free, with no copyright protection, and no assurance of eventual payment.

I mean, at least in an agency you can back door some of the upfront costs into the work budget, and recover a little. But with a single blog post at a set budget, there’s no room for the writer to be paid for their thinking.

I don’t like it. I want to spend the time doing the research and the brainstorming and the creativity with clients I can really collaborate with, who can respect the work, and know that it has value. I don’t want to spend all that time and mental effort on someone who wants the work for free. For a potential client who is so lazy that they just sit around and wait for a world full of hungry freelancers to create their marketing strategy for them. For people who don’t value the experience and the process by which these strategies are created.

I admit that I still have a lot to learn about pitching, and that it’s the way of this weird world I am in. But I have serious misgivings about it, and about the trajectory of an industry that continues to debase and devalue creativity.

 

 

 

Photo by Jose Francisco Morales on Unsplash

Brilliant branded content: Happiness Machine by Coca-Cola

The original Coca-Cola Happiness Machine video is several years old now, but just as delightful as it ever was. It’s not only a wonderful concept and experience for the people participating in the video, but it remains a mesmerizing content video in and of itself; eminently watchable, over and over again.

This video triggers a strong empathetic response in the viewer; we respond authentically to the authentic emotions of the people we are watching. We share their surprise and delight, and celebrate with them. It’s no surprise that this video has 8 million views; it makes you feel good, every time.

Coca-Cola has gone on to produce several more of these kinds of customer experiences – about one a year, all over the world. Here’s another favorite:

Several years ago I listened to a Coca-Cola ad exec speaking at the Portland Creative Conference (I am so bummed I don’t remember her name and can’t find it now), and she explained that Coca-Cola specifically sets aside 10% of their ad budget to try new things that depart from their traditional (very successful) strategy. Of course, Coca-Cola has an absolutely enormous ad budget, so they can do a lot with that 10%, but I think it’s an incredibly intelligent approach. Spending a small portion of your budget to try new things creates the opportunity to test concepts and potentially connect with new audiences, and helps keep a brand from stagnating. Even a successful marketing plan, repeated over and over until it becomes a formula, has the potential to lose audiences; the content gets stale, even if the intention is nostalgia.

These videos are remarkable as branded content.

• They reinforce core brand position. They are a logical progression of the “teach the world to sing in perfect harmony” and “have a Coke and a smile” that are indelibly linked to Coke brand history, philosophy, and core principles.
• They are watchable and sharable. As above, these videos are intrinsically compelling because the people in the videos are not actors. The emotion is absolutely genuine, and triggers the same emotional response in the viewer.
• These are authentic, delightful customer experiences. The delight and pleasure of the people participating in the Coca-Cola happiness project is authentic and infectious. The “feel-good” emotions associated with the brand are deep and lasting; these people will remember and talk about this experience for their whole lives. Viewers of the videos will be reminded of them when they see a Coke vending machine (and may try it out, hoping for a surprise).
• These videos cost nothing to make. Compared with a traditional TV advertisement, these videos are incredibly cheap. Even when you factor in the cost of prototyping or modifying specialized vending machines, trucks, or phone booths, they remain inexpensive. They don’t require sets, actors, lighting, expensive permits; the camera, audio, and insurance costs for these kinds of things are low, and logistics are easy because you stage the shoot where you want.

The Happiness Machine (and the rest of the happiness series) are brilliant branded content. They reinforce brand position, are watchable and sharable without expensive ad buys, are inexpensive to make, and create lasting, delightful experiences for leads and customers alike. Well done!