With the media pitch process now seemingly swamped in administration and bureaucracy, shouldn’t we be encouraging clients to hold back the spreadsheets and focus more on the very innovation and ideas that they are hoping to unearth from an agency in the first place?

I doubt I am alone in thinking that it won’t be long until the scope for ‘human chemistry’ and ‘culture fit’ will become a completely insignificant factor in agency selection.

So, is it time our industry took a stand against the commoditisation and automation of a process which takes significant time and resource for agencies to participate in and readdress the primary focus on the thinking, quality of work and personality of the prospective agency? Surely, these are still the foundations of successful working relationships?

I guess, the counter argument will always be “if you don’t like it, decline”. That said, I don’t believe any agency does “like it” and the danger is that, soon, the reliance on data will make us all look the same (which we are not) and ultimately make it harder for clients to actually find their perfect agency.

So, what’s the solution?

I believe, we should be dealing with what really matters first and only then deal with the administrative and contractual elements to underpin and frame the relationship because, funnily enough, spreadsheets are quite irrelevant if the prospective client doesn’t like you in the first place!

Duncan Collins

Managing Director