Media pitch fatigue: Malaysia’s agencies call time on silent RFPs and uneven pitch practices

Across Malaysia’s media agency landscape, concerns are increasingly centred on how pitch briefs are structured and how agencies are treated once proposals are submitted. In conversations with A+M, many industry players point to gaps in clarity, uneven expectations and inconsistent post-pitch communication.

While pitching remains a core mechanism for selecting partners, agencies say the process is being strained by speculative requirements, unclear briefing structures and limited closure after submissions.

The Media Specialists Association (MSA) Malaysia pointed to structural issues in how RFPs are designed, particularly where agencies are asked to respond to full-scale scopes without sufficient clarity or safeguards.

“Across the industry, agencies are receiving RFPs that resemble the scope of a full-year engagement, yet are issued under speculative, unpaid pitch conditions,” MSA said in conversation with A+M.

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It added that compressed timelines and unclear KPIs remain persistent challenges. “When the process lacks structure, the result may be strategies that miss the mark, partnerships formed on mismatched expectations, and innovation that is constrained by time rather than insight.”

The association has also advocated for more structured pitch frameworks through its 2025 Media Pitch Guidelines, focused on clearer scopes, evaluation criteria and more consistent processes.

Brief clarity gaps and operational strain

As concerns around pitch structure deepen, agencies say many challenges begin at the briefing stage, where expectations are often incomplete or inconsistent.

Invictus Blue CEO Jo Yau told A+M, gaps in briefing detail force agencies to make assumptions early in the process.

“Some briefs are vague about objectives, budgets, timelines and decision criteria,” she said. “That leaves agencies guessing what success actually looks like, and whether the work they invest will even be judged fairly."

She also noted that requests for full-year strategies without clear KPIs place added pressure on agencies, particularly smaller or independent ones.

On competition dynamics, Yau said current pitch structures can skew fairness. “When a pitch expects unpriced ideas or full strategic frameworks up front, it advantages agencies that can absorb that cost internally,” she said.

“It tilts the process away from genuine competition and toward whoever can afford to give away thinking until the client signs," added Yau.

Budget visibility and shifting planning realities

Beyond briefing clarity, agencies also point to evolving budget transparency and planning uncertainty as key structural challenges shaping pitch dynamics today.

This lack of consistency, they said, adds complexity when agencies are expected to respond quickly with accurate proposals.

Ampersand Advisory CEO Sandeep Mark Joseph said variability remains a defining feature of pitch briefs in Malaysia. “Briefs come in all shapes and sizes and having seen them for over two decades in Malaysia, I do find that the quality can vary greatly,” he said.

He noted that budget disclosure has become less consistent over time. “Now, I note that many clients don’t put budgets in, or put dummy budgets,” he said. “The least they could do is put a realistic or approximate budget."

While acknowledging internal client caution, he still sees it as a structural issue. “I understand that fear, but it is a definite red flag in my book,” he said.

Scale and shifting competition dynamics

As pitch structures evolve, questions remain over whether they still favour larger agencies or whether capability now outweighs size.

Invictus Blue CEO Jo Yau said agencies with greater resource capacity are often better positioned to absorb upfront pitch demands, influencing competitive balance.

At the same time, Sandeep Mark Joseph challenged the idea that scale still carries traditional weight.

“The advantage of size traditionally was media buying clout: with almost 70% of all media budget spent in biddable auction media, clout is completely irrelevant.”

Silence after submission and relationship framing

Beyond briefing and evaluation issues, agencies say one of the most persistent frustrations comes after the pitch process ends, when communication often stops entirely.

For Yau, this reflects how relationships are defined in practice. “When brands don’t communicate outcomes, don’t share why a choice was made, or simply disappear, it says one thing: the relationship was never valued,” she said.

Sandeep framed it more directly in terms of mindset. “It signals clearly that the client doesn’t think ‘agency and client partnership’ but that they think ‘vendor client’,” he said.

“Ghosting is just unprofessional corporate behaviour,” he added.

Pitching remains dominant despite reform pressure

While there is growing pressure to rethink how agencies are evaluated, pitching continues to remain the default mechanism for most advertiser–agency relationships in Malaysia.

MSA continues to advocate for more structured alternatives such as credentials-led evaluations, chemistry sessions, structured Q&As and paid discovery phases to reduce speculative burden.

Yau supported clearer frameworks and more defined early-stage engagement models to improve fairness and reduce ambiguity.

Sandeep, however, said conventional pitching remains deeply embedded in industry practice. “Every agency looks good in their credentials and cases, and those presentations definitely won’t help procurement or marketing departments make a decision,” he said.

“I don’t see a substitute of the beauty pageant, hackathon format of conventional pitches, any time soon,” he added.

As Malaysia’s media ecosystem continues to evolve, industry voices converge on one point: while pitching is unlikely to disappear, clearer briefs, more consistent expectations and improved communication standards could significantly reduce friction in the process.

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