A few weeks ago, we were invited to present a final pitch with a large national client. We diligently undertook our usual thorough approach on research, strategy, creative and media. We had some great thinking and concepts to share. But the prospect gave us a real chance to shine when they included this question in the prep materials for the pitch:
What's one thing we haven't asked you that you can tell us about yourself?While some agencies might talk about awards, or present previous campaign materials that they're proud of but which may not apply to the core presentation, we chose a different direction. We wanted them to get to know us as people - the people who would be running the account. We also wanted them to get a feel for our approach to new media/social media.
So we created a pitch blog. Yes, that's right, I coined a term. I'll say it again: a pitch blog.
The blog postings captured our thinking from the time we heard about the opportunity, to summaries of some primary source interviews and research, to thoughts on strategy within their industry. It culminated with a short video we shot around the office in a casual setting.
The sidebar was set up to really showcase our individuality and quirkiness. Here's a quick rundown of what we created:
- A donut survey powered by Slide.com. ("Donuts - is there anything they can't do?")
- An
iTunes mix of our favorite songs.- A plug-in of our favorite YouTube videos. Here's mine:
- A Meebo plugin that allows the prospect to IM me with any immediate question or feedback
- A Gaping Void widget with the cartoon of the day
- A link to a custom-built del.icio.us page with articles of importance to their business, tagged by the agency
I should probably pause for a moment to let you know that we won the account. They were impressed with our approach, thinking and hard work. The blog may have had something to do with it, too.
Next up in Part 3: what to do now that the pitch is over.
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