Credit: Alex Perez via Unsplash https://unsplash.com/@a2eorigins
Lydia Feely, general manager at pitch doctors Trinity P3, apologised for triggering the AdNews Brisbane L!VE audience by saying: We’re going to pitch.
“Those four little words stir up so much emotion, and not craziness, just emotion, in the industry,” she said.
“It's just the excitement, the fear, the hope, that's what we see … the dream of what's possible, and the burden of what's involved.”
The current market feels like a pitch frenzy and that's because 2024 started slow.
“What we have found is that in now second half of the year, we're making up for that,” she said.
“We are expecting that momentum to continue into 2025.”
Feely has seen the end of some long term relationships between brands and their agencies this year.
These include McDonald's and DDB after 53 years, Suncorp and Ogilvy after 20 years, and Myer and Clems after a decade.
“What's driving long term relationships breaking up?” she asked.
“The main one we see is that it's business-led. So what we mean by that is that our clients' requirements are changing.
With changes in the business landscape, with new technology, clients are changing their business model to try and get that growth.
“And because of that they're having a look at their agency models and how they're going to get their growth.”
A second reason for changing agencies is a procurement directive. That's not new but more and more procurement is becoming involved.
“There's not much you can do about that,” she said.
Another trend is project based pitches.
“This is definitely an emerging trend, but the majority of pitches are still retainer based," she said.
“What I've seen in part of these… is that they might start as project pitch, and then as the pitch has gone on, it's then turned into an awesome ongoing work.
“It was only when they saw maybe the caliber of the agency and felt comfortable that they then said, ‘Okay, now that's ongoing work’.”
Another trend is partnerships for both creative and media.
“What we're seeing is a number of creative or content pitches for the execution to be elsewhere. S they might come up with the idea or the content, and then they'll hand it over for in house or either a lower cost agency.
“On the media side, we're seeing part of the pitch being media planning and buying, and then the paid social is being handed over and executed in house.
“That's what we call partner pitches.
“What we see the majority of pitches are national. They're not local.
“The state based ones, they're happening all the time. But what happens is that in that market, the clients generally know who's the round and who's available.
“We don't get we don't get called in to run that much. Where we do get called in or hear about the pitches is when they're after a national solution, or when they've got the national audience, or they're looking to go into different markets.”
AdNews would like to thank co-curators Brisbane Advertising Association and Brisbane Advertising and Design Club. AdNews would also like to thank supporting partners Audience 360, Blis, Nine and Quantcast alongside associate partners QIC, Listnr and MIQ for making the event possible.
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