A pitch from Adam Ferrier

To not make too much of a point of it - if you find yourself 'pitching' for anything you're kind of fucked.  

A very smart creative chap I know (Simon Veksner) said to me once, 'There's no selling, just listening and delivering'. I love this concept and it's stayed with me. 

Agencies come across as passionate used-car salesmen (even when they are women) as they are so in the business of trying to sell an idea. 

Instead, I suggest focusing on:
a) co-creation - people value what they've helped build
b) clarity - we all prefer the simple to the complex
c) rationalisation - be really good at explaining why you've recommended something, why you know it will work, and how it will work. 

It's point c) where marketing sciences can help articulate and explain the inner machinations behind creativity and give language to explain the effect our craft can have. 

I've seen too many creatives say 'trust me', or look blankly at each other, or say 'it just looks great', or sigh as they don't know how to explain why what they think it’s good.

How creatives get trained and tough these days is embarrassing and detrimental to their careers.

It's all about the idea – and not how our craft works. It's changing, but slowly. A surgeon is not just taught how to remove a limb but they are also taught why removing a limb might be a good idea, and how to explain the benefit of the limb removal to the patient.  However, the worst thing our industry has done is call a few of them 'creatives'.

Our clients come to agencies for creativity – not for a select few of them to be creative and the rest not.

It's fucking absurd. If you work in an agency where some are bestowed the title of 'creative' and others are not, get the hell out of there.  

Nelson Mandela said “The oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed”. I feel the same way about 'creativity'. Calling some of us creative and others not isn't cool. 

So finally if you must pitch - please try and not separate the creative bit from the rest of it – it's all a creative solution to a business problem. It's what we (all) do.