Just when you think you’ve cracked the code, the rules of the pitch game change again, writes Richard Robinson, executive director of Ingenuity+.

The latest wave of data from the Ingenuity+ Pitch Predictor shows the pitch train isn’t slowing but it is switching tracks.

Built on quarterly data and insights from 500 senior marketers, the Pitch Predictor explores how brands search for, select, and collaborate with agency partners, while also revealing how likely they are to go to market for new agency relationships, and in which disciplines.

With two out of three UK marketing directors still planning to pitch in the next 12 months, and ongoing pressures reshaping what brands want from their agency partners, reading the signals ahead of time is no longer just helpful, it’s rapidly become business-critical.

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It’s not about the pitch, it’s about the right process.

Just like cats and dogs, brands and agencies speak a similar, but fundamentally different, language; and if there was one word I could redefine in the lexicon of the pitch process to help all parties set up for success it would be the word at the centre of it all: Pitch.

Our research shows that brands take a far more flexible and open-minded view of what a ‘pitch’ is than agencies do.

For marketing leaders ‘the pitch’ can mean anything from an end-to-end, multi-stage process to something short-form, a series of chemistry meetings, or just receiving well-researched lists of recommended agencies to choose from.

To them, it’s not about semantics. ‘Pitch’ is simply a generic term for any type of process that leads to choosing a new agency.

Conversely agencies view the pitch as something specific, overwhelmingly defining it as the longest and most costly option available. Four out of five agency leaders believe when they hear the word ‘pitch’ the client expects a full, end-to-end process.

The exact thing many marketing leaders regularly tell us they want to see less of.

To deliver better outcomes for all the first act of a pitch is clear. Agreeing the most effective process to deliver the result everyone seeks.

Pitching remains a priority

Despite the positive shift of 11ppts, two out of three marketing leaders plan to go to market in the next twelve months, with the remaining two out of five planning to potentially call a pitch.

Not a single senior UK marketing leader is not thinking about pitching in the next twelve months.

TV, digital marketing and social media top the list for likely pitches

With half of marketing leaders preparing to pitch TV, digital, and social, the pitch market shows no signs of slowing down.

However, dig a little deeper and the biggest shift for predicted pitches comes in Production (a whopping increase of 21ppts).

While H1 has been dominated by main creative and social, my money for H2 is Production breaking into the top three for the first time driven by new models and further AI-led efficiencies.

Poor operational discipline continues to hurt

Everyone’s new business is someone’s old business, and the ability for incumbent agencies to struggle with the basics continues to frustrate senior marketers.

Despite improvements since Q1, one in four senior marketers still say operational discipline and slipping deadlines are their biggest pain points.

Marketing budgets continue to grow

79% of senior marketers claim their budgets have increased YOY (an increase of almost 7ppts in one quarter).

This mirrors the outstanding work of Dan Wilks and Credos in creating Advertising Pays 8 who identified advertising and marketing now delivers a GVA of £46.3bn to the UK economy, a figure larger than the UK’s insurance services and legal services.