Finding the right media agency is hugely important and highly valuable for any company, often generating exciting new ideas, connections, and opportunities. However, we all know that the pitch process can also be hugely time consuming and costly for both clients and agencies alike. From the initial briefing, chemistry meetings, submission and reading of documents, not to mention the final pitch presentations, the process can be long and complex.
In an effort to address this, move progressively forward and help ensure that everyone involved gets the most out of the pitch process, IAPI put together the Media Council, a working group from client leadership teams across Dentsu Aegis, Core and Group M, looking at how the process could be made more efficient, and effective.
The group, alongside selected certified Pitch Consultants, the Association of Advertisers in Ireland, and the Marketing Institute, today have published the ‘IAPI Media Pitch Guidelines’. These guidelines act as a client roadmap for the media pitch process providing a recommended approach for each step along the journey of finding the right media agency. It includes recommendations on writing a brief, setting clear timelines, providing a detailed scorecard, and managing feedback.
Fiona Field, Deputy MD of Mediaworks and IAPI Board member commented: ‘I would like to thank the Media Council and in particular Olwen Inglis and Jade Finn for this significant body of work, which is designed to improve and set new standards in terms of pitch guidelines, which we believe will help both agencies and clients alike going forward and into the future. ‘
The thinking behind this piece of work, besides providing a clear structure for a good pitch process, was also to start an open dialogue between IAPI, media agencies and pitch consultants, to ensure a process that is transparent and fair for all involved.
The guidelines are available free to download here and any queries can be directed to charley@iapi.com
The IAPI Media Council has been working on the pitch guidelines for several months with the project led by Fiona Field, Core; Olwen Inglis and Jade Finn, Dentsu Aegis, and Jonathon Conlon and Peter Flanagan, Group M.
