Why we stopped pitching for free
We paid for it with a few lost pitches. Here's what we offer brands instead, and why most of them prefer it.
Ingrid VosFounder, strategyIn 2020 we added up what free creative pitches had cost us the year before: eleven pitches, roughly 4,000 hours, three wins. The ideas in the eight we lost were not bad. They were made in three weeks by people who had met the client twice.
So we stopped. Ardor does not do free creative pitches. Here is what we do instead.
What a free pitch actually buys
A brand inviting six agencies to pitch gets six ideas made without access to its data, its customers or its people. It picks the one that feels best in a room, and then spends the first months of the relationship finding out the idea does not fit the problem. Everyone loses time, and the agencies quietly charge it back later.
What we offer instead
A chemistry meeting. Two hours, free, with the people who would actually work on your business. No deck about ourselves. We talk about your problem and you see how we think.
A paid two-week sprint. If both sides want to go further, we run a fixed-fee sprint: a workshop with your team, a week with your customers and data, and one recommendation with the thinking behind it. The fee is credited against the first project if you hire us.
Our work, in detail. We will walk you through any campaign on our site, including what did not work and what it cost.
Free pitches select for the agency that is best at pitching. Sprints select for the one that is best at the work.
What it cost us
We lost two invitations in the first year from brands with strict procurement rules. We also won more of the conversations we did have, because every one of them was with someone who wanted to solve a problem together. Our win rate since then has been around two in three.
Most brands, once they hear the offer, prefer it. They get a recommendation built on their own customers, and they get to know the team before they sign anything.
If you are running a pitch
Pay for it, even a little, and give the agencies real access: data, customers and an hour with the person who owns the problem. You will get better ideas, and you will learn far more about the agency you are about to hire.
