It’s pitch season. Agencies are queuing up and participating in multiple pitches to win the big accounts of some of the world’s top brands. Usually, a brand would approach an agency and ask them to showcase their most impressive campaigns that they created for brands.
Stephanie McCarty, chief marketing officer at Taylor Morrison, an American home construction company, took to LinkedIn to share a hack that she believes will help brands choose the right agency to partner with.
“Ask for the ditches instead of the pitches,” she said.
Whenever an agency pitches itself to a brand, it involves campaigns that actually made it out to the world, the ones with big budgets and glossy case studies, McCarty added. While these campaigns are important, a brand shouldn’t just ask for these.
“Because here’s the truth: the work that gets produced and paid for? Most of it is often a watered-down, compromised version of the original vision. It’s what an agency or creative was willing to do for a paycheck, not necessarily what they’re truly capable of,” McCarty said in her LinkedIn post.
“So, when you’re evaluating potential partners or hires, don’t just ask to see their “greatest hits.” Ask them to show you the work they’re most proud of, even if it never saw the light of day. The ideas that got them fired up, the concepts that pushed boundaries and challenged the status quo but never made it past the client,” she added.
According to her, this is where you’ll find an agency’s true potential. McCarty added, “That’s how you’ll know if they’ve got the chops to create something that’ll stop scrollers in their tracks and make your brand stand out. That’s how you’ll find the folks who’ll help you create advertising that doesn’t just blend in but demands to be seen.”