FCB Kinnect’s Kartikeya Tiwari: If we win a mandate, we would want to execute what we have pitched
The digital marketing agency’s national creative director and senior vice president is clear: “The work in the pitches never actually gets realised. We would prefer brands to give us a brief for something that is a real problem. If we win the mandate, that is the actual campaign that sees the day of light. And, we want to pitch that. And that's what has started happening in the last few years.”
Kartikeya Tiwari, national creative director and senior vice president, FCB Kinnect, spent most of his working years in digital marketing agencies. From his observation and experience, the process of pitching has become way more process driven.
Earlier, agencies would be invited by the client’s brand team or by the pitch consultants. Today, it’s the client’s procurement department that sends out an RFP (request for proposal).
Agencies consider whether there’s enough money in the deal, whether they’d like to work with the brand, whether they have enough bandwidth in terms of people, etc., before they decide to pitch.
After the agency accepts the invitation, the next step is aligning the procurement team (of the brand) with a business development person (of the agency). The discussion ranges around budgets and costs. Then comes the briefing, where the marketing team explains the business problem that needs to be solved, and what they are seeking from the agency.
After the briefing session is done, the first round of "a tissue-paper session" is conducted, which is basically bouncing off of ideas. In an interview, Tiwari explained that though a very new concept, it’s not compulsory, and is asked by new-age clients who are running short of time to risk later. “It is conducted so that the output is very close to what they want to actually execute and not something just meant to impress them,” he said.
Edited excerpts:
This is the season of pitching. I was told that once the agencies accept the brand’s invitation, the first two days go in showcasing their portfolio. What is your take on this?
The showcase of portfolio by brands happens at the RFP stage. And, based on the portfolio, the agencies get invited.
For example, some companies have a mandate that we need agencies that have at least 10 years of experience. So they look at everyone's portfolio and they will eliminate everyone with under 10 years’ experience.
There is no fixed way of pitching. It varies from company to company. In new-age startups or mid-scale agencies, agencies go and introduce yourselves to the brand. For example, “Hi, we are FCB Kinnect. We are 13 years old. These are the kinds of brands we work with. Let us show you a few case studies of our work.”
Sometimes in the case of bigger brands, they have already seen the work of the agencies, based on which they send out the invitation. But we still need to introduce ourselves. They might say, “We've seen this piece of work. Let's continue ahead.” Then they want to know other things like: “How big is your team? How many offices do you have?” Some may ask, “How much is your annual turnover?” To which the CEOs say, “We can't disclose that to you.” But it often gets asked.
Questions like “What's your attrition?” are also asked, and these days we are getting asked that question a lot. So, these questions do get asked at the introduction stage. Then we get the brief, which can be a written document. We always insist on a meeting, where we can ask them questions as well.
Then we get time to brainstorm, ideate, think of solutions, think of a creative route, make that into a campaign or a long=term strategy or a plan.
Could you also touch upon the ‘tissue session’ in detail?
Before we create assets which is effort and time-intensive, we sometimes would like to do a tissue session with a client, or sometimes clients ask for a tissue session. This is just to make sure that when we meet the brand after one month or three weeks, it is in alignment with their expectations.
Then they will either sign off by saying yes, no or maybe and these are things one could think about.
What is the duration of a creative pitch?
It depends on how big the mandate is and it is subjective. Sometimes, brands have two to three sub-brands with two to three mandates. Brands want to see how they will work for this brand, and how they will scale this brand. Preparation time can last for two to three weeks or sometimes a month. Again, it is subjective.
It depends on: How urgently does the client need it? How quickly can an agency turn around? If an agency is caught up during the peak advertising period, and if the brand asks for a pitch today and says, “Come up next week.” We'll say, “We can't. Sorry, we are very busy. We can come back in two weeks.” If that doesn't work, we will step out of this.
Remember, I had said they filter, then they approach. To say yes, agencies need to consider: Do I want that business? Is this the kind of brand we want to work with? Do we have the bandwidth of people and do we need to take up more work right now?
If an agency loses the pitch, what are the steps to be considered to prevent ‘idea shopping’?
Sometimes idea shopping happens. And some agencies charge because of that, and some ask for an NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Brands send an NDA when they share the brief with the agency.
Sometimes the clients love the ideas shared by us, but issues like finances and timelines not aligning usually crop up, among a list of other reasons, like the desire for a different execution, etc.
In that case, they pay us for conceptualisation, whereas, they make a deal for the execution part with another agency.
In that case, they pay us for conceptualisation. And they execute it with someone else and then pay them for execution.
Could you touch upon Round 1 and Round 2 of the pitching process?
In the case of a global company, an MNC or a government brand, they seek a long-term relationship. Then, they'll have two to three rounds of a pitch. In the first round they have 10 agencies. Based on the first round of presentations, they will eliminate some and come to the second round of smaller agencies who will pitch. Then, they will select the winner, which is based on the quality of work, the kind of people they met. That's a very big factor.
Third is the money factor. For some brands, money is the most important thing. Their decisions are taken based on who is within their budget.
Some brands are like, “We have enough money, we want to work with the best.” So they will negotiate with the best.
Then, maybe they will give the agency feedback. They will go back, make the changes and come back for Round 2. Hopefully there is no Round 3. Or after Round 2, maybe they say, “We have shortlisted you and one more.”
Then the negotiations happen after Round 1. Now, it's about cost, people and commitment. Then they negotiate on price with the finalists. Then they declare one as the winner, and the mandate is awarded.
It's a long process. Keeping oneself motivated during this period is tough. Maybe after three rounds of pitches, or after one and a half to two months, the brand may say no. In fact, for the creative and strategy and art departments, you literally put a chunk of your life into that pitch. You get attached to it emotionally. Creative work is emotional.
What was your first pitch at FCB Kinnect?
I was a one-man army, doing everything, right from making the presentations and follow-up calls, to fulfilling certain other tasks.
I remember telling everybody “Just believe, we'll figure it out." And it happened. We did the first creative campaign for them, and it was a big one for us at that time.
The learning for me was that we often think it's about the work, and the presentation we are going to do. But the learning is about way more than just that.
What are the pain points when it comes to pitching?
Number one, sometimes I feel the reason for not finalising with an agency is the brand not giving an honest reason. Imagine, you've done a pitch for three rounds or two rounds. And you can sense that they love the work that you've presented. They have been discussing it with you even after the pitch. And then, they start negotiating with you. And if you've quoted X, they tell you, “We have 50 percent of X in the budget.” Then, they award the mandate to another agency. It's clear, that's why they went for that. They just can't say that openly.
The other reasons are also like, one person has an ego problem with a superior, and are not awarding the mandate for that. But they can't say that honestly. And they will engage with an agency for two months on their pitch process.
So my biggest pain is not winning despite having all the ingredients to win.
A second pain point is multiple rounds of pitches. I know what the pitch process does to you. It leaves you exhausted mentally, physically, and emotionally. It's an energy-, time- and emotion-consuming task.
Sometimes clients change the brief between round one and round two. Then it gets difficult. Let's say in round one, they've told the agency to come up with a broad digital strategy for the brand. So the agency works on a very detailed plan of what their next one year should look like as a brand. The agency has pitched for round one, and they qualified them for round two. And now a new brief comes in. You feel like you have put a lot of energy into something that is not useful at all.
The work in the pitches never actually gets realised. It is something that never really happens. Now, “Jo hum pitch karte hain, wo asli mein campaign banti hain. Aur hum wahi pitch karna chahte hain." (What campaign we have pitched, and if we win the mandate, that is the actual campaign that sees the day of light. And, we want to pitch that)
We don't want to pitch what will never see the light of day. We would prefer brands to give us a brief for something that is a real problem, and if we win, we would execute what we have pitched. And that's what has started happening in the last few years.
How different is the pitching process for startups compared to established brands?
Some of the big brands now also include a pitch consultant. Their job is to just make sure that there's no bias in this process. What info was given to A agency must be given to B agency.
We work with Amazon also, and we don't pitch to them because now we've worked with them for the last six years. But they're very proper about processes. While at a startup, the founder might be sharing his business problems while taking a walk with you. That's the difference. The involvement is way more casual and way more informal. In the case of established brands, it's much more structured.
Who are your longstanding clients?
Our longstanding clients are Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, Amazon and Lodha Group, among others.
