Industry veteran Ray Sheerin, has set up a new business that aims to disrupt the traditional agency pitching model with a “streamlined, transparent and more effective way” for companies and brands to select agency partners.
Called Level Pitch, the new offering is “especially relevant to clients seeking to appoint brand, strategy, creative, digital, social and experiential agencies,” according to Sheerin.
“Throughout my whole career I have advocated and agitated for smarter and less onerous pitching processes,” says Sheerin. “Level Pitch was created to make the pitch process fairer for agencies and more effective for clients, so they can build lasting, successful partnerships. It’s better for agencies; it’s better for clients and it will help build a more sustainable agency ecosystem.”
He says the traditional agency pitch process is outdated, inefficient, and unfair to both clients and agencies. “It’s also completely unsustainable – only about 5% of the work that agencies produce for pitches gets made. What other industry could support a 95% wastage level?”
The pitching process has long been a bone of contention for many advertising agencies and despite attempts by the likes of IAPI to reign it in and implement industry-wide standards and procedures, it remains a serious and costly issue for agencies.
The IAPI Industry Census for 2023 estimated that the average creative pitch costs agencies nearly €60,000 in staff time and third-party costs. For clients, the survey found that it cost marketing departments an average of €9,000 in staff time.
According to Sheerin, Level Pitch “revolutionises agency selection by eliminating unnecessary speculative work and replacing it with a focused, merit-based approach.”
This starts with an “understanding client needs” which involves an in-depth session to define what’s working, what’s not, and what qualities matter most in an agency partner. This then moves on to a “curated agency selection” which involves a longlist of potential partners which, depending on insights the fitness of the agencies, will be “refined down to a high-quality shortlist of three agencies.”
A one-page brief that asks agencies for clear, strategic and creative thinking rather than excessive execution work will then be issued while a structured “Q&A & Chemistry Check” will test the chemistry and alignment between client and agency teams.
A fair, structured evaluation with in-person presentations scored against predetermined criteria, will then determine which agency is best suited. According to Sheerin, once this is complete, an optional final chemistry meeting can be called to confirm the cultural fit before onboarding begins.
