There seems to be a little controversy in the old ad community over the new AMC show The Pitch. Should the agencies that decided to participate have done so (see Tracy Wong’s piece on AdAge today for this side of the argument)? For those that decided not to, is revealing trade secrets (the “secret sauce”) nothing but a really lame excuse?
Last week I tweeted a good luck to my former agency who did decide to participate. And I still wish them luck.
But I do have an issue with both sides of the conversation.
For those that opted out to maintain proprietary secrets, please stop. This is a creative business. Creativity happens. And it happens outside (or inside, or beside) any process, structure or trademarked approach. There is no secret sauce. Get over yourself. A great idea is a great idea. Pure and simple. Sure, that great idea has to be grounded in something that matters but last time I checked, no one has a corner on the “brief”.
For those that opted in, what was your true motivation? Very likely it was self-promotion (color me cynical.) Maybe it was the opportunity to pitch a piece of business that you may not otherwise have had the chance to pitch (the chance to make more money)? Agencies are agencies to become famous and make lots of money. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But ignorance is bliss and as a client (hypothetically speaking) that pays my agency a ton of money to think about my business, do I really want to see them so publicly pitching someone else? Probably not.
So what would I do?
I’d opt out. Not because of some secret sauce. Rather, a belief that you can’t do your best work with a camera in your face…unless you’re paid to do your best work with a camera in your face. And if that’s true, both the prospective client and current clients lose.
And if clients lose, you lose.
Northampton Consulting 