The pitch: A top performance helps clients recognise true brilliance

By BRETT OETGEN*

Imagine if you had gone to see the first Lord of the Rings movie knowing nothing about it in advance.

You didn't know the story or that Peter Jackson had directed it. You didn't know that it was filmed in New Zealand or that it was only part one of a trilogy.

Imagine if the movie-going public had not been preconditioned at all. Would our reactions to the movie have been the same?

Would we have still walked out knowing that we had witnessed a classic piece of film-making?

Probably not.

Most people, lacking the intuitive ability to differentiate between classic and ordinary, would have thought it was an OK movie. They would have had no way of knowing that it was a masterpiece of its genre because no one had told them it was!

So why is it that we choose to show ideas to clients in exactly the same way? Why do we let them see the work in the vain hope that they will instantly recognise it as a brilliant piece of strategic thinking or a classic creative idea?

More time and effort needs to be put into thinking through how the client can be influenced pre-showing so that they see the work through a more educated lens.

And by pre-showing, I don't mean the obligatory "this is what your brief said" or "as the account director mentioned".

That's just predictable, boring and unimaginative waffle. Popcorn and soda before the main event.

There's a lot we can learn from the movie industry about how to effectively pitch big (or small) ideas. Too often in agency-land, the idea just flops out on to the board table and lies there, flaccidly. I've heard all the arguments - "the idea is so strong it doesn't need to be sold" or "the client will get it instantly so let's dispense with the histrionics and just show them the work".

Nice try, but those arguments are badly flawed. Most clients don't really know how to evaluate a piece of creative work, just as most people would not have known Lord of the Rings was a classic.

So we need to spend much more time thinking about how we can get the client to see the work differently. To really sell an idea we have to become a lot more imaginative with the pre-release warm-up and then give a live performance that really connects the client with the idea in a way that transcends the normal decision-making process.

So pitching creative ideas should be seen as a performance with a beginning, middle and end. And creative people should be masters at delivering performances that are engaging, memorable and convincing - after all, isn't that what creativity is supposed to be?

If the goal is to create classic work, we need to get clients believing the work is classic. So coming up with well-conceived plots, brilliantly written stories and masterfully directed performances shouldn't just be how a great commercial is produced, it should be how agencies look at presenting their work.

* Brett Oetgen has worked for several multi-national agencies and is now a consultant to advertising and other professional services organisations specialising in selling ideas and pitching new business.

Email Brett Oetgen


* The Pitch is a forum for those working in advertising, marketing, public relations and communications. We welcome lively and topical 500-word contributions.
Email Simon Hendery.