How do we improve the pitch process?

12 Nov 2025

I went to an event at the House of Commons in January about it. Every few months there is a new hot take on it.

Honestly, I just think we need to make it more human and honest…

The pitches that we’ve done at DACRE this year, even if we haven't won, the good ones haven’t felt like the usual traditional pitches.

A handful of people meet somewhere that is outside of the day-to-day on neutral ground like a coffee shop.

Brands come with a sort of 'north star' of what they’re looking for, an analogy is normally good here. What are the dynamics at play? How is the business doing? Who is who in the organisation? What has or hasn’t worked in the past? What budgets are on the table? How do you like working?

Agency side actually listens and is totally transparent if they can help and what can be realistically achieved. This is hard (even if you want to say yes) but it just comes back to bite everyone. Be helpful with what you can help with and what can’t. People always respect candour and opening up about what you’re not so good at vs true experts in.

Then whether it’s a test brief, a more trad pitch process, as long as it’s kept small, short and transparent then you’ve got a strong foundation where a few people know each other, an idea of how each others business works, what they value and what the pitch is actually setting up to achieve.

Sometimes we just need to strip stuff back rather than making it bigger and bolder...

Image credit: Mad Men