Marketing Entities Pledge to Promote a Constructive Image: Can They Successfully Mend the Damage?
In an effort to enhance the pitching process within the UK advertising industry, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) and the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) have joined forces to launch the Pitch Positive Pledge. This groundbreaking initiative aims to create a more positive, fair, and respectful environment for all parties involved in the pitching process.
The Pitch Positive Pledge is supported by mental health charities such as CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) and NABS (National Advertising Benevolent Society), emphasizing the importance of mental health and wellbeing in the industry.
The key guidelines of the Pitch Positive Pledge focus on several key areas:
1. Bringing joy back into pitching: By simplifying the process and reducing unnecessary complexity, cost, and emotional strain, the Pitch Positive Pledge aims to make pitching a more enjoyable experience for both agencies and clients.
2. Promoting smarter, fairer, and more efficient pitching practices: The Pitch Positive Pledge encourages the adoption of practices that respect the time, creativity, and resources of everyone involved in the pitching process.
3. Encouraging a culture of respect and understanding: The Pitch Positive Pledge seeks to foster a culture of respect and understanding around mental health challenges associated with pitching, supported by CALM and NABS.
4. Ensuring pitches are transparent and equitable: The Pitch Positive Pledge aims to minimize excessive demands or unrealistic expectations often placed on agencies by ensuring pitches are transparent and equitable.
5. Facilitating better collaboration and partnership-building: The Pitch Positive Pledge encourages a more collaborative approach to the pitch process, with the aim of strengthening client-agency relationships.
The Pitch Positive Pledge has secured 70 signatories, including brands, agencies, and intermediaries, pledging to work towards these new pitching guidelines. This broad commitment indicates a significant step towards improving the pitching process in the UK advertising industry.
Pitching, at its worst, can lead to late nights, low morale, and diminished creative output for agencies. The Pitch Positive Pledge is a response to these issues, aiming to transform pitching from a stressful and costly exercise into a creative opportunity that builds strong, positive relationships between brands and agencies while supporting wellbeing in the industry.
For brands, procurement-driven pitches have the potential to diminish relationships with agency partners and lead to churn. The Pitch Positive Pledge offers a solution, working towards the development of a new set of guidelines for pitching in the advertising industry that will address these problems and improve the overall pitching experience for all parties involved.
The Pitch Positive Pledge, endorsed by mental health charities, aims to foster a business environment within the UK advertising industry that not only prioritizes the wellbeing of individuals but also promotes efficiency and respectfulness in finance-related aspects of the pitching process. This new set of guidelines for pitches encourages smarter and fairer business practices, emphasizing collaboration, transparency, and equality, while also striving to make pitching a more enjoyable, less stressful experience for all parties involved.
