Coinciding with Mental Health Awareness Week, the IPA and ISBA have launched  the new ‘Pitch Positive Pledge’.

The pledge seeks to improve the pitching process for agencies and advertisers for the benefit of people within the industry, the planet and profit. 

The Pledge is being supported by Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) and NABS, following reports that almost 40% of the industry workforce has felt stressed or anxious in the past twelve months. With the involvement of these mental health-focused organisations, the Pledge aims to make the pitching process more intentional, accountable and responsible for all involved to drive better outcomes such as greater transparency, and better mental wellbeing. 

Where in past, pitch guides have primarily focused on the process and ‘how to’ of pitching, they have perhaps lacked consideration of human and environmental costs. This new initiative seeks to address systemic pitching behaviours, providing a new perspective as well as a heightened focus on the mental health of people involved in the pitch which will lead to better quality of work as well as fewer costs and less wastage. Notably the pledge comes to market at a time when a growing number of indicators point to growing levels of burnout across the industry.

Raising the bar 

The full pledge can be found here and details the core commitments agencies and clients must adhere to as well as outlining the various considerations they must take into account during the three stages of the pitch process – before, during and after. In essence these suggestions are focused on the following three areas:

• Before a pitch: Be positive a pitch is required 
  • The advertiser needs to be positive that a pitch is necessary and will provide a written statement clearly setting out why.

• During a pitch: Run a positive pitch 
  • The advertiser will consider the implications of the requirements it asks the agency to fulfill during the pitch.
  • The agency will consider both the interest of their client and the wellbeing of their people throughout the process.

• After a pitch: Provide a positive resolution 
  • Win or lose, the advertiser will inform the agency of the pitch outcome directly and provide feedback on their performance. 
  • For agencies, win or lose, they will accept the client’s decision and provide feedback on how well their team handled the pitch and adhered to the Pledge.