As clients have more customers, stakeholders and channels than ever, briefs are getting more confusing; lacking focus, strategy and asking for the "moon on a stick". As the agency, it's getting harder to know where to focus with our ideas and strategy, then sell it effectively. This presentation was originally delivered at Miami Ad School's New York campus as part of the "Industry Heroes" lecture series.

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Miami Ad School - July 2013
the pitch process

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Leads a team of creatives, planners,
analysts and generally smart people.
Responsible for managing clients.
who the hell
are we?
Let’s introduce ourselves !
Creative social planner who drives
program development for Beyond’s
global client base
Matt Basford
Director, Beyond NY
Ben Martin
Head of Planning

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INSIGHT
TECHNOLOGY SOCIAL
LESS FINANCIAL RISK, MORE CREATIVE PRECISION, AWESOME RESULTS
a little bit about us

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WE drive brand
engagement through the
CREATIVE
application
of technology

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create
let’s talk about how to
Great ideas don’t come cheap
What we are going to talk about today
Go
selland them

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A QUICK PRIMER

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WHAT ARE
CLIENTS
LIKE?
REALLY

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clients don’t know
what they want

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they have more
customers than ever

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more stakeholders
than ever

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so many channels
to cover

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It used to be really...

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20 years ago
HR Consultants
brand
HR
pr
finance
operations
strategy
marketing
learning
r&D
product development
sales
PR
Accountants
Management
Consultants
Branding Agencies
Ad Agencies
Corporate
Training
Consultants
Sales
Consultants
Product design
& innovation
agencies

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and then the web came along
brand
HR
pr
finance
operations
strategy
marketing
learning
r&D
product development
sales
Brand website
Online ads

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and got useful for more things
brand
HR
pr
finance
operations
strategy
marketing
learning
r&D
product development
sales
Brand website
Online ads
Social
E-commerce
SEM
“Fun” apps

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and a few more things
brand
HR
pr
finance
operations
strategy
marketing
learning
r&D
product development
sales
Social analytics
Digital supply chains
Digital transformation /
change management
E-Recruiting
E-Learning
Co-creation
Crowdsourcing
“Serious” apps
Digital product
design & testing
Digital service design
Brand website
Online ads
Social
E-commerce
SEM
“Fun” apps

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everybody’s getting into each others’ business
Just a few examples...
branding
PR
management
consultancies
data
analytics
Design
social
advertising
digital
Accenture
buying Fjord
W+K
aces social with Old Spice
WCG
buying predictive analytics
firm
WPP
buying AKQA
PR + data
analytics
digitalADVertising +
ADVertising+social
+management
consultancies Design

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SO WHAT’S THE NET?

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briefs are getting
more confusing

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some stats...
20%
27%
53%
found briefs complete
but lacking focus
found briefs incomplete
and inconsistent
found briefs complete
and focused
Source: Joanne Davis Consulting
...in a 2013 survey of
200 agency heads

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some confusing things that
we’ve seen in briefs...

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...leading to direct roi
via sales leads”
“the goal is conversation and
brand awareness...

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“we’re looking for a
completely immersive...
...but ultimately
simpLE EXPERIENCE”

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“we’re looking for a
very focused campaign...
...the audience is
anyone from ages 18 - 50”

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DEFINITION OF A STRATEGY:
KNOWING WHAT NOT TO DO
(THERE ARE ALWAYS TOO MANY THINGS WE CAN DO)

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some (more) stats...
2%
3%
45%
49% clients have “limited”
strategic capabilities
clients have “adequate”
strategic capabilities
clients have “excellent” strategic
capabilities
Source: Joanne Davis Consulting
didn’t respond

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we are (meant to be)
the experts!

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but we make it hard
for ourselves

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it’s time for
a different view

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THE REDUX PROCESS

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BrandBriefing inputs
agencyUnderstanding
Our know how...Their agenda...
REDUX process Starts Here:
VERSUS

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STRATEGY AND PLANNING:
IS A REDUX PROCESS.
BOILING DOWN.
REDUCING THE STOCK.
GETTING FUNDAMENTAL.

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step 1:
boil it down
create a one sentence brief

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step 2:
assess the situation
do your research

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turn unstructured data into insights & strategy
who
influences
them?
where Does the
audience spend
their time?
What drives
consideration?
What drives
brand
Preference &
emotional
connections?
?

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are there
White space
opportunities
for content?
what do they
search for?
what are they
talking about?
what content
will they
share?
turn unstructured data into insights & strategy

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step 3:
outline the strategy
in just a few simple statements

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now it’s time to
communicate your ideas
some things to remember...

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BULLETS ARE
FOR SUCKERS

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MAXIMS
ARE FOR CHAMPS

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A PICTURE PAINTS
A THOUSAND WORDS

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AN ANALOGY PAINTS
A THOUSAND PICTURES

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SALESOPPORTUNITY CLIENTRFPDOC
BYNDBRIEFDOC
BRAINSTORM REDUX RESEARCH STORYBOARDING CREATIVETHREAD
Three simple steps:
#1 - distilling the brief
#2 - stating the
situation analysis
#3 - reducing our
creative strategy to
simple statements.
A copy written
description of
our creative
treatment.
The Brief Distilled
Situation Analysis
Creative strategy
REDUX workflow:

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THE IDEA ISN’T ENOUGH

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sell it

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CLIENTS ARE ALWAYS
QUESTIONING HOW
MUCH WORK YOU ARE
CREATING FOR THEM

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AND, YET, WHAT DO THEY WANT?

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M.O.A.S

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MOAS?

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MOON.ON.A.STICK

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SO WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

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REMEMBER:
THEY ARE
BUYING YOU
AS MUCH
AS THE
IDEA

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FOCUS ON RELATIONSHIPS

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set the stage: Find common ground

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GET YOUR FOOT IN THE DOOR

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“Foot-in-the-door (FITD) technique is a compliance tactic
that involves getting a person to agree to a large request by first
having that person agree to a modest request. The foot-in-the-
door technique succeeds owing to a basic human reality that
social scientists call ‘successive approximations’. FITD works by
first getting a small 'yes' and then getting an even bigger 'yes.'”

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SELL OUTCOMES
NOT TACTICS
MAKE THE CLIENT
THE HERO

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prepare to pitch your idea in 1 minute with no notes.
answer: so what?

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But... respect your own time.
if the client is late (really late), reschedule.

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STAND FOR SOMETHING

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“Make your
product so good,
so addictive, so
‘can’t miss’ that
giving customers
a small, free taste
makes them come
back with cash in
hand.”

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THANK YOU
timefor your