London agency Mother has created an initiative that will see its first-year profits from new clients donated to charity if the clients skip the pitching process.
The ‘Pitch It Forward’ scheme intends to halt the “relentless pitching merry-go-round” as it helps young people take career paths in creative industries.
The news comes days after Dentsu unveiled its first ever dedicated emergency carers policy to coincide with Carers Week this week.
The initiative applies to any new clients that choose to appoint Mother after a ‘chemistry meeting’ and do not opt to carry out a competitive pitching process. The first year profits from this brand-agency relationship will be given to non-profit organisations that support young people on their journey to creative career paths.
The announcement comes as part of the agency’s ‘Make Our Children Proud’ ideology that intends to make the advertising world more appealing to the next generation.
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“After 25 years of pitching at Mother, deep down – no matter how hungry we are for it – we know the creative advertising pitch process is a time consuming and sadly sometimes wasteful exercise,” Mother London partner Chris Gallery told Campaign Live.
“The best work always comes out of strong relationships with clients, built on shared values, ambition and purpose.”
“So why don’t we aim to build these strong relationships – and the basis for a successful partnership – earlier in the pitch process? For some clients, we believe we can and asked ourselves: what if we used the remainder of that ‘pitch time’ for good?”
‘Pitch It Forward will be open to clients in London, New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Singapore.
When asked if the scheme would realistically work for the agency Gallery said: “I look forward to losing pitches against other agencies but at least we won’t have wasted all that time.”
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