Marketers: More awareness needed to curb unethical pitch practices in Malaysia

In a bold statement to the press, the 4As Malaysia spoke out strongly against "unethical and unfair" pitch practices, This comes as members said they are now seeing an increase in the appearance of clauses found in the fine print of RFP documents, granting an automatic ownership transfer of ideas.The 4As called for the practice to "cease immediately", adding that such a demand for free ideas "contradicts core business principles and global norms of business dealings".While the 4As largely represent the agencies in Malaysia, marketer Juliana Chua (pictured left) who has both client and agency side experience say that any party that initiates the fine print of automatic ownership transfer of ideas, clearly shows they are generally unaware or do not value the agencies' tedious ideation process.The general manager - marketing, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur was last the general manager at Ignite KL for close to two years, and was also business director and head of activation at TBWA\ KL. She added, "If clients recognise the effort that the agencies have invested, they would not suggest such a clause in the first place." She urged agencies to show the ideation process to validate the value of their ideas and in turn, clients will look at the pitch process with a renewed view.Also weighing in on the conversation is former Uber marketer Geraldine Wong (pictured centre), who said that while she does not hear of such unethical practices often, she does know of clients who think they own the creative ideas post pitch, even if the account is not award to an agency. For these clients, education is needed and time is also needed.At times, clients will "cherry pick" from all the agencies that pitched for the account, she said, adding that seasoned marketers, however, will refrain from such practices. She added:When it comes to a creative, generally everyone thinks the ideation process is an easy one and everyone can do or comment.She added that more awareness needs to be had so that creative directors have their work respected. While having the 4As is the first step towards raising awareness, Wong said there is a need for more marketer forums and associations to boost awareness and have more leaders from both the client and agency side discuss this issue.Meanwhile, marketing director of McDonald’s Malaysia Eugene Lee (pictured right), said the company is "definitely against" any unscrupulous stealing of ideas from proposals. Moreover,  it would never engage any agency with the intent to receive "free ideas" and use them as its own. He added that it is definitely unethical when companies and clients carry out such practices, as plenty of hard work goes into a pitch or proposal. Lee said:We feel that if an idea is used, whether partially on in its entirety, the agency that came up with it should be compensated.Read also:What marketers should consider before kicking off a pitchPitch fees? Why not, say clients4As Malaysia issues letter to MAS for pitch fees4As to conduct ad industry study, special focus on local agencies