Quick pitch turnarounds: Should agencies take responsibility and push back?

Brand pitches with quick turnaround times are commonplace in the industry. Recently, Cyberview, a majority-owned company by Malaysia's Ministry of Finance (MoF), published a tender with a turnaround time of approximately two weeks. According to the tender seen by A+M readers, the briefing is held on 26 July at 11 am and closes on 8 August noon - effectively giving agencies eight days, excluding the briefing and submission days.

Moreover, the agency must have experience in delivering brand or marketing communications, productions as well as advertising and promotions. A+M has reached out to Cyberview for comment on the short turnaround time.

This tender was posted on the Classified section of the New Straits Times on 24 July and came shortly after the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents of Malaysia (4As) lambasted advertisers for short pitch timelines and slow post-pitch evaluations and selection processes. In this instance, 4As confirmed to A+M that it has also reached out to Cyberview.

According to the 4As, advertisers want creative and inspirational ideas but do not plan ahead to allow sufficient time for agencies to have face-to-face meetings to discuss the brief, ask questions and to talk through the initial thinking with the advertiser.

“Two weeks for the advertising agency to strategise, create and present its pitch proposal, yet three months or more for the advertiser to decide. Is this reasonable or rational?” the association added.

While this practice is rampant, Juliana Chua, general manager – marketing, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur told A+M it is hard to control clients because they will always push the boundaries.

According to Chua, the 4As should first look at its member agencies and find out if they are accepting such pitches. If that is the case, the association should find out why the agency is allowing the client to propose such quick turnaround times. The 4As currently has guidelines for pitch fees in place and it could potentially do the same by having similar guidelines for pitch timelines, Chua said.

Chua, who has experience in both the client and agency side having helmed roles at Ignite KL, TBWA\, Zenith Media (before it was renamed Invictus Blue) and GroupM, said while some agencies might decline pitches due to quick turnaround times, there are others that might "try to undercut" competitors by agreeing to everything clients put forth.

In fact, the 4As should hold agency members who even accept such pitches accountable for their actions. This has to be a group effort.

"If all the members agree that they will not accept pitches with short turnaround times and adhere to the guidelines set, clients will have no choice but to follow," she explained. She added that 4As should set guidelines and tell member agencies that they if they do not adhere accordingly, for example, they will need to forfeit their membership. So the responsibility goes back to the agencies and not the client, Chua said.

Chua said while clients naturally would love to give agencies a longer lead time for the pitch but it is not always ideal. As such, it is best that the 4As members themselves set the rules and the clients will decide whether to adhere or not. She added that if the agency insists on accepting the short timeline, then the 4As pitch fee ruling shall not be applicable so the agency will know what is at stake and decide from there. When asked if having such guidelines might cause clients to stay away from engaging 4As agencies, Chua said it would not be the cause.

"Either they go with agencies under the 4As and comply with the guidelines or they engage other agencies. But at the end of the day, it's all about getting everybody in on it," Chua said.

(Read also: Brand pitches with quick turnaround times: Why are we still allowing it?)

Meanwhile, McDonald's Malaysia's marketing director Eugene Lee said a pitch timeline of 30 to 45 days, in his view, is acceptable. According to him, businesses are often working on compressed timelines themselves.

With the way the marketing landscape has changed, Lee said agencies today do not have the luxury of time in real world situations, and often need to work round the clock and move fast. Lee explained:

Having a compressed timeline often is a test of these real world situations on how an agency adapts and overcomes this issue.

As for the slow post-pitch evaluation process, he said that appointing a new agency is not a small matter. "A lot of factors need to be considered and it’s often a multi dimensional evaluation that could end up involving conversations with regional and sometimes global offices. Hence, the reason why results are slow to be decided," Lee explained.

To help curb such practices, Lee said marketers should inform regional and global teams that a pitch is happening, have them be involved in the evaluation process right from the beginning and invite them to sit in on the pitch presentations too. He added:

Work quickly and make sure management is aware of the pitch, and get them to dedicate time to ensure the evaluations and results are done and made swiftly.

Meanwhile, Timothy Johnson, INTI's senior vice president of marketing, products and partnerships, said a minimum of three months is an acceptable timeline for a pitch turnaround. He added that the rampant practice of quick turnarounds and slow post-pitch evaluation is likely "because there is no alignment with the relevant stakeholders who ultimately will approve the exercise". To curb this, marketers need to engage the relevant stakeholders, be it the board or the senior leadership team, to endorse the direction and budget that is being discussed, Johnson said.

(Photo courtesy: 123RF)