The best pitch is where the client has a genuine desire for change and a clear roadmap, says Seema Punwani of R3

This is the season of the pitching process. And, most of the brands including Culinary Brands have opened up for a creative pitch. Most organisations have hired a pitch consultant for a smooth pitch process.

But who is a pitch consultant? As Meenakshi Menon, a former pitch consultant at Spatial Access, puts it, they are someone who takes into account all the factors that are part of a brand’s business plan.

When Storyboard18 got in touch with Seema Punwani, partner, R3, a global consultancy group, on the role of pitch consultants, she stated that a pitch consultant is leveraged for their independence and objectivity. “A pitch consultant would do everything like prepare the evaluation criteria, look at the scorecards, facilitate conversations, help the client prepare the scope of work templates, and the pitch challenge. So it is basically running the pitch from start to finish. And how that helps is that we will come with our independence. Because there are so many pitches that we've worked on, we have collective expertise across brands, across categories, across markets and across agencies.”

Edited excerpts:

Could you explain the role of pitch consultants today? How has their role evolved over a period? Can you just walk us through what pitch consultants do?

The main reason why a pitch consultant is leveraged in any kind of pitch process is for our independence and objectivity. So we don't have any axe to grind. We will see what the client needs, and based on that we will be able to explain to the client what would be the best agencies that they should be inviting to the pitch process and then also help run the pitch process from start to finish.

So we would do everything like prepare the evaluation criteria, look at the scorecards, facilitate conversations, and help the client prepare the scope of work templates and the pitch challenge. It is basically running the pitch from start to finish. And how that helps is that we will come with our independence. Because there are so many pitches that we've worked on, we have a collective expertise across brands, across categories, across markets and across agencies.

And so we can help clients by giving them more nuance and more insights into the whole process. And finally, from the client side, it just helps a client to focus on the BAU (Business as usual) work while handing over the reins of pitch management to us because a pitch is a very time consuming project. So brand managers would have to do their regular business, regular work. Make sure their brand is launched, look at the product and the pricing. And that takes away their time if they have to focus on a pitch.

So if they are going to use their brand managers and brand directors to run the pitch, then they have to take their time away from doing the actual BAU work. So, the role of the pitch consultant is basically to manage the entire pitch process from start to finish, including recommending the right kind of agencies that the clients should look at.

What is the fee of pitch consultants and how has it evolved?

The way we charge our fees is based on the scope of the project. So if the pitch is for a single market, say the pitch is only for Singapore or for India, and it's only for one agency, then the cost will be much less than if it's some kind of pitches that we do, which are global pitches.

That means the pitch is handled at a global level and it's across multiple markets. Or sometimes we work on integrated pitches. So we don't only need to look creative. We need to look at creative agencies, media agencies, and PR agencies. So like any other work in our field, it is all based on scope. How big or small a pitch process is, which is dependent on how many different stakeholders are involved.

For which brands have you been a consultant?

We have worked with most of the global brands across the world. Everyone from Mastercard to Unilever to Coca-Cola, Nike, Samsung, BMW and Standard Chartered.

How different is a global pitch as compared to local a pitch?

We have handled a few Indian brands, but usually, our work from India involves global or regional brands that have a strong India presence. So it is usually part of the global and regional pitch, but we have done some specific local pitches for India alone. Our process does not change.

It's exactly the same. But just what changes is that if it's a one-market pitch, it can be done in a much shorter timeframe than if it's a global and regional pitch. Because when it's a global and regional pitch, the stakeholders are very multi-layered as opposed to an India-only pitch where you just have to deal with the India head and the India marketing team.

And it's a lot faster. But in terms of our expertise and our process, it stays the same.

How different are the expectations of new-age brands as compared to established brands when it comes to pitching?

So the expectations are still the same. But what happens with new-age brands is they are a lot more open to working with smaller agencies, boutique agencies and independent agencies.

They want agencies that are disruptive, that are nimble and that are agile. They are not necessarily wedded to the big networks. They don't necessarily only want to work with agencies that belong to a WPP, IPG, OMG, etc. They are willing to bet on smaller and independent boutique agencies.

What are the challenges a pitch consultant faces? Any examples to provide?

The main challenge is always stakeholder management. So before we start a pitch process, we always have a NEEDS analysis where we talk to all the different stakeholders and understand what their needs are.

And based on that, what is working in their current model? What are their pain points with the agency? And based on that, we will come up with a recommendation of what the agency model should be. Now to get this approved, especially if it's a global or regional pitch, there are lots of stakeholders, and within each client organisation, there are also lots of business units.

So there would be, say, a brand unit. There could be additional marketing, a loyalty marketing unit, or there could be a lot of sub-brands. So getting everyone aligned towards the agency model and then getting everyone aligned towards ‘this is our shop list’, is what usually takes a longer time.

So it is something that we have already built into our process because we know that these are very big decisions. So there will be a multi layered and multi matrixed involvement. And that is one of the key challenges. But because we've worked on so many pitches and we already know that this is coming up, we account for it initially when it comes to our timelines and our processes.

Have there been any instances when a pitch was prolonged than its usual time limit? What are the usual reasons and impacts of any kind of disruption in the pitch process?

There have been times, but usually, it falls again to stakeholder management. So, sometimes it happens that the procurement team, for example, comes later into the process.

Then they are asking questions that the marketing team may not have considered before. Or sometimes, suddenly, local markets want to have a say. So, what we do is, right from the onset, we get the clients to commit to what they want to do. Who are the people involved in this pitch and what are their roles and responsibilities?

For example, if it's a regional pitch, then does the local market have the power to vote on who the agency should be, or are they only meant to give you input? So once the initial time to decide the roles and responsibilities to decide who the key decision makers are, sometimes can take long, but R3 always believes it's worth spending this time upfront. So later there are no issues by people saying, ‘Oh, how come you never listened to me?’ ‘Or why didn't you consider this particular agency?’ So we always say it's best to have the right people involved from the get-go.

I don't think any of our pitches have lasted a year. But, some have definitely prolonged more than the original timeline. And usually, it is to do with stakeholder involvement. Sometimes there are other things, for example, the management that started the pitch process in the middle of the pitch process has left the organisation and there's new leadership coming on board. Then the new leadership wants to again look at everything with a fresh eye. So sometimes with leadership or talent changes, there can also be delays.

When you got into the pitching process as a consultant, what was the learning like? Could you provide examples?

A lot of our consultants come either from the client side or from the agency side. So I came from the agency side and when I started working on a pitch process, I realised how much work is actually also done by the clients.

So usually agencies always feel that. ‘Oh my God, a pitch is so stressful on us. We have to give so many ideas. We've spent so much time’. But actually, a lot of the serious clients are also spending a lot of time on the process because they want to make sure that all agencies are given an equal and fair opportunity.

They have to spend time deciding what should the pitch challenge or the brief be such that they could compare all the agencies. And as a consultant, the best part of this is that we have a very bird's eye view. We can see what the clients are doing. We can see what the agencies are doing.

And thus our advice becomes more valuable because we have this entire 360 view.

When entering for a pitch as a consultant, what are the factors you keep in mind? How does an agency participate in this, and after a mandate or before a mandate has won do you still favour the long standing agency-client relationships primarily?

We always say at R3 that a pitch is meant to find a spouse and not a fling. This is always our guiding principle. We do not encourage clients to run a pitch for a campaign or a project but to always run a pitch to appoint a long-time partner. And what we do before we start the pitch process is the NEEDS analysis, where we speak to all the different stakeholders, senior people, working people, local markets, regional markets, and global teams, and then we understand what the overall needs are.

The agency selection is based on the agency model. For example, for one client, we might say that you need to have an integrated model, which is that your media, creative, and PR agency should come from the same network. So that process will then be very different. Because if it's an integrated approach, we can only invite agencies that belong to big networks into the pitch.

But for some clients, we might say that you can have a global media agency, but for creative agencies, you need to have very strong agencies in these five key markets. Then we can actually invite some independent and boutique agencies from those markets as well. So which agencies are invited to a pitch is largely dependent on the model that has been agreed on with the client.

To further explain, NEEDS analysis is when we speak to all the different stakeholders at the clients and we understand what their needs are. So what is working for them in their current model? What are their current pain points with the agencies? Are there certain new capabilities they're looking for?

For example, in today's world, a lot of clients want agencies who have expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning. So if that is a very important part for the pitch, then we'll make sure that the agencies that we select for the process have expertise in technology, expertise in data, expertise in AI, ML, etc.

What is your take on the agency-client relationship in the digital space?

Firstly, in today's world, we also have to be clear on how we define a digital agency. A digital agency that is more tech based; tech builds and website builds tend to be more long-term relationships because you cannot build something like that in a very short time.

And also there are more stakeholders from the clients involved. For example, there might be a tech team involved as well. When it comes to digital, like social or content, it is possible that clients are looking at more short term or campaign kind of engagements. But when it comes to R3, we don't usually work with clients who are not giving their agencies more of a contract rather than just working on short-term campaigns.

And honestly, if a client just wants to look at digital agencies or content or a social agency, just for a particular campaign, then it's highly unlikely they will come to R3 to run a pitch for one campaign. Then they'll probably just do it on their own. So, our recommendation always is that agencies need to be given a fair shot with at least a 2-plus-1-year contract at the minimum.

In fact, most of our pitches, our contracts are as high as 3 plus 3 or 3 plus 2.

What are the factors you consider to retain an agency for long after they have won the mandate?

As I mentioned, when we start a pitch, we always ask the client to let the agencies know how long the contract is. If a contract is for three years, for example, then the agency is already assured that unless there's a big issue and they mess up the relationship, they will have the business for three years.

So we always look at long-term relationships in which clients and agencies can build brands together because usually, it will take about six to eight months just for an agency to understand the client's business and understand the brands. So if it's a one-year contract, then they've spent more than 50 to 70 percent of the contract just understanding and not even being able to develop enough work that is based on the learnings.

The other thing we always propose to clients and agencies is to have quarterly or biannual agency evaluations. So R3 runs a process called CAPE, which is called 'Client Agency Performance Evaluation'. So if you're evaluating the agency every six months, then there are no surprises and shocks at the end of the relationship.

So every six months, there is an opportunity for clients to give feedback to agencies, agencies to give feedback to clients, and then to course correct. So you're actually making your 3-year or 4-year relationship very worthwhile and you're constantly incorporating the learnings.

What is your take on idea shopping?

Idea shopping is something we completely discourage our clients. In fact, we always tell our clients that a pitch process is not to find the right idea, it is to look at an agency's approach and ways of working. Because an agency may not arrive at the right answer, but it may have a very good thought process and strategic thinking.

So, idea shopping is something we completely discourage. Having said that, there are clients who do that, but usually, these are the clients who are not serious about partnership. And again, clients who are not serious about a partnership, it's very unlikely they will come to R3.

We have done pitches where clients have been very upfront and have told agencies that any idea that they present in a pitch, the client wants to buy the idea off. So in this case, the agencies are fully aware and they are also compensated. So once the client buys the idea of the agency and owns the IP, then the client can go and do whatever they want with it.

They can get it executed by another agency. They can keep it for the future. So there are clients who are very honest about the fact that ‘Yes, we are looking for ideas. But we are willing to buy the idea’, so the agency is not just doing free work.

Have there been any situations where the brand changed the brief in the middle of round 1 or round 2?

It can happen. It's not happened a lot with R3 and the reason is that we spent a lot of upfront time in getting all these aspects aligned. So we would start the process of the pitch brief much before the agencies have been involved and we make sure that the right people from the clients’ side are involved. So it shouldn't be that suddenly one client is coming in to say 'Oh, but I don't, I think the brief should change. I think the brief should be from brand X and not from brand Y'.

All these discussions and all these alignments are done before the agencies come into the process.

In the history of pitching, which is the best pitch?

It is kind of like asking ‘What is the best food in the world?’ Like every dish, every pitch is also unique. The best foods are the ones that are authentic and have the right flavours.

So the best pitch is the one where the client has a genuine desire for change and not only a desire but also has a clear roadmap on how to get there. Plus, in a pitch process, a pitch that is engaging, where clients and agencies have various opportunities to interact, those pitches tend to be the best ones.

For one of our hotel clients, for example, during the pitch process, when we had shortlisted agencies, instead of just giving them, ‘Oh, this is the pitch challenge brief’ in our auditorium or over email, we got the clients to take the agencies on a behind the scenes tour of the hotel. So what do the hotel suites look like? What are the different dining restaurants? How do they choose which restaurants come into their hotel? What is the guest experience like? What is the loyalty program? So it was almost a three-hour tour and one client took one agency. So, they had three to four clients taking three to four agencies on this large tour.

That was very successful because agencies could actually feel being in the midst of the client's business, and it also gave the opportunity for the client and agencies to have a chat, that is outside of meeting rooms, boardrooms and Zoom calls. So, we have tried to replicate this for some other clients as well.

But again, depending on the timeline, not all the clients, it's possible. And sometimes, some clients, especially in the tech space, for example, there's a lot of confidential information. So they may not be able to actually have this kind of live experience, but wherever possible, this is something that we encourage our clients to do.

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