Letters: Time for industry to work on pitch guidelines

19 April 2007

From Richard Bland, creative director, Ware Anthony Rust



Having worked across conventional and digital media platforms for the past 30 years, I felt a strong connection to the issues raised in the article 'Creative agencies call for pitching rethink' (NMA 12.04.07). And who in our industry doesn't connect to these problems? For too long a pitch has meant giving away our crown jewels, then struggling to recoup the time invested over months, if not years. And that's if we win.

However, this problem is not restricted to digital businesses. Working at Ware Anthony Rust (WAR), an agency that specialises in a range of disciplines including PR, advertising, design and digital, I see this issue crop up again and again in almost every pitch undertaken. And I hear contacts, working within other agencies, bemoan the same situation.

This topic is never far from the agency agenda and desperately needs sorting, but is no closer to a resolution now than when I started. The high ideals of greater professionalism and partnership are unarguable. The principle of a charter to which all become signatories is excellent. But galvanising this into a workable solution seems beyond our grasp.

So why can't we find a resolution? Is it because at the end of the day we're all too concerned with our own businesses to worry about our comrades? And when push comes to shove, and the bait of a great piece of business wafts beneath our hungry noses, do too many of us descend into that blind feeding frenzy of opportunity that ignores the misfortunes of others, until we ourselves fall victim again.

In order to protect our most valuable assets, we as an industry need to collaborate to eliminate this problem once and for all. Instead of pouring our heart and soul into every pitch, we should be channelling our energies into work that will see the light of day.

WAR would relish the opportunity to form an industry-wide alliance to protect our businesses and ensure the focus remains on producing creative work.

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